Posts by Kurgan

Who had Pat Gelsinger retires from Intel on their bingo card?

Re: Wintel Reckoning

The lock-in is still present today, up to a point. But I think it's MS that rules the market and gives peanuts to its vassals (intel and amd) with the windows 11 forced PC replacement. Probably it was not so 30 years ago, but it's been like this since at least 20 years. Businesses need to run Windows, and Windows needs (well, needed) X86 or AMD64 cpus to run. Today windows can run on ARM, but it's a very marginal market anyway.

Mobile is a very different story but that ship has sailed for MS and Intel (and AMD) 20 years ago.

SpaceX closing in on approval for 25 Starship launches in 2025

Re: Head of FAA

And of EPA and FCC and whatever agency may have some saying on his business.

Starlink finally files proper paperwork to operate in India

This is the whole point. Once starlink lets the government monitor and censor the communications, then it will be licensed to operate in India.

FortiManager critical vulnerability under active attack

The cloud version?

What I don't get is "users of the cloud version". I mean, it's on Fortinet's servers, so why don't they patch it immediately? Why should a cloud user be still using an insecure version?

IPv6 may already be irrelevant – but so is moving off IPv4, argues APNIC's chief scientist

ipv6 is a mess and ipv4 will not die anytime soon

ipv6 is a mess. it has been made overly complicated, IMHO. And if you don't use NAT (NAT in V6, I mean) you'll end up having to renumber your entire LAN if you change provider (unless you own your own v6 netblock and have it routed through your current provider).

And anyway if you want your internet to work, you still NEED v4 until everyone else (100% of them) is on v6 too. And this statement says it all. Since everyone still needs v4, why bother configuring a dual stack solution?

Since I need v4 anyway, I just stick with it.

Now think of this and consider that "I" is everyone (service providers, content providers, users, etc) and you'll see why v4 will never go away and v6 will never reach 100% coverage.

If Dell's Qualcomm-powered Copilot+ PC is typical of the genre, other PCs are toast

Re: Function keys on a touch bar?

I'm a proud owner of a Thinkpad with a nice keybaord and no shitty design.

Tesla trounces shareholders who alleged Autopilot was all share-pumping lies

Gullible and greedy investors...

Well, putting aside the actual risks related to a FSD that does not do what it promises, I'd like to point out that investors should be smarter and less gullible.

Here the issue is that when they see an occasion for big profit they just go for it without stopping to think "is it too good to be true? is it too risky?" Then they sue when they lose money on it.

Come on, it's like idiots who sue because coffee is hot.

Cisco calls for United Nations to revisit cyber-crime convention

Think of the children

.. of course.

ICANN reserves .internal for private use at the DNS level

Re: Would have prefered "*.int"

Yes, there was indeed .local, but then some smart ass stole it from us.

Chrome Web Store warns end is nigh for uBlock Origin

Firefox everywhere

I have never used Chrome. Firefox on Linux, windows, and Android.

With Ublock on all platforms.

Secure Boot useless on hundreds of PCs from major vendors after key leak

Re: The only thing worse than bad security

Like... a BIOS? We had it, when IT was not such a shitshow.

We all know that UEFI is a pile of useless trash and that Secure Boot was invented to make sure that only windows would be able to boot (and then failed at that).

I'd really like to have old BIOS back.

Kaspersky challenges US government to put up or shut up about Kremlin ties

The issue is not if there IS a backdoor now

While maybe there is no backdoor now, the issue is that there can be one tomorrow. It's not an issue with Kaspersky but with the fact that their business is based in Russia.

Thunderbird is go: 128 now out with revamped 'Nebula' UI

Re: Betterbird on macOS actually exists

It's called better for a reason.

But still betterbird has the same 115 UI that sucks sooo much.

Firefox 128 bumps system requirements for old boxes

Re: Website Advertising Preferences

I have just discovered about this thanks to this article, and immediately disabled it.

HP to discontinue online-only e-series LaserJet amid user gripes

Too late, HP

I only buy Brother printers.

Despite OS shields up, half of America opts for third-party antivirus – just in case

Re: Tired

Actually every AV vendor is more or less tied to the government of their own nation. This is why you should avoid Kaspersky (because Russia) and also avoid American ones (because America).

I'd consider F-secure which is tied to a smaller and probably less intrusive government.

Re: Even paid AV has become an ad platform

You are right, of course. But at least check some decent software, not the worst AV software in the world. Have a look at NOD32 or F-secure.

Also, as a general rule, consider that every software that comes with a new computer is crap. Avoid it and find a different solution.

Re: Best anti virus

Malware exists for Linux, of course, but *usually* (not always) linux users are good enough at avoiding it.

Also, clam is completely useless, sadly.

UN telecom watchdog wags finger at Russia for satellite interference

Russia is waging non-conventional war

Russia is waging non-conventional war since a lot of time, and we just stare at them and do nothing because we are afraid of them.

systemd 256.1: Now slightly less likely to delete /home

Boot time has NEVER been a real issue. On servers, bios / uefi startup time is measured in MINUTES, OS startup time in seconds. What are we talking about? This whole mess has almost NO benefits (almost, something is actually a little less than useless) and has become a mess.

Ukraine busts SIM farms targeting soldiers with spyware

Is this enough for execution?

Ukraine is at war, this is sabotage or espionage. Is this enough to be executed?

Wells Fargo fires employees accused of faking keyboard activity to pretend to work

Re: Whatever happened to measuring output?

You don't measure this ONCE, but in the long run it's evident if you are actually doing something useful or not.

Google to push ahead with Chrome's ad-blocker extension overhaul in earnest

Yes, I hoped I coul manage to get my customers to use Chromium, but I see that the shit is deeply radicated into Chromium, not just Chrome.

And since every fucking web app nowadays requires Chrome (or Chromium-based browsers, maybe) then yes, Google has won and we are fucked.

I still use FF and linux and will continue as long as I can, but the ads war is lost, and to be honest it's been lost since years, not just today.

GhostStripe attack haunts self-driving cars by making them ignore road signs

Overcomplicated

Nice but really overcomplicated and non practical. There are a lot of other simpler attacks, but it you are a hitman from some TLA maybe it's a really new way to make someone have an accident without anyone noticing, if you can drop your projecting machine and remove it without being seen or recorded by any person or surveillance camera along the road.

Tesla devotee tests Cybertruck safety with his own finger – and fails

Re: "The frunk is powered and shouldn't be closed manually"

Since it's powered if you operate it manually you will damage the servo, probably.

Ten years since the first corp ransomware, Mikko Hyppönen sees no end in sight

If you want to die, it's a good career

Yes, infosec, the career where you are going to die young because of stress. No thanks.

Valve vexation: Boeing's Starliner grounded again

Re: Lucky

Only because there has been no flight at all.

Broadcom throws VMware customers on perpetual licenses a lifeline

Chinese hypervisors?

Someone in the west is really going to use Chinese hypervisors? A very bad idea IMHO. Even worse than using Vmware at current prices.

I really hope that we'll see more market share for open solutions like Proxmox VE.

Open source versus Microsoft: The new rebellion begins

I predict...

They will fail because of people that will take bribes from MS to get them back in the game. Simple as that.

Happy 20th birthday Gmail, you're mostly grown up – now fix the spam

Re: Gmail is the worst thing that could happen to email

Actually I have it to none already. In my experience having DMARC set for outgoing trafic (on the incoming one, do what you like with your antispam rules, of course) even at none, helps in not being rejected.

Re: Gmail is the worst thing that could happen to email

Microsoft is not so bad, it has a procedure for requesting delisting that works. If my domain or ip is listed (and it seems that they blacklist more or less everything) you get an error message that states what's wrong and how to solve the issue. You fill a short web form and you are delisted. Never had an issue with that. (Of course if you send spam you'll probably fool them once and then be blacklisted forever)

I have been managing mail servers for 20 years, and the only provider that makes me go crazy is Gmail. Everyone else is more or less fine or at least it answers your emails if there are issues.

PS: I don't like MS365 for a lot of other reasons, but their antispam service is not as bad as Gmail's.

Gmail is the worst thing that could happen to email

Gmail is not email. Gmail is something similar to email, but different. Its "labels" system is non standard and IMAP clients do "more or less" work.

Also, their antispam rules are obscure and if you are "bad" in their eyes, like my domain is, there is NO WAY you can actually ask them what's wrong. You are just fucked.

My domain is a business one, used by one person (me). My mail server has never sent spam or even legit bulk mail. I have DMARC DKIM SPF and all of that is needed. I have no issues with every other email service IN THE WORLD. But gmail (the free version) files my emails in spam. At least the business version does not.

I hate Gmail.

Cloud server host Vultr rips user data licensing clause from ToS amid web 'confusion'

We take Privacy seriously, of course.

"We do not use user data," Kardwell stressed to us. "We never have, and we never will. We take privacy and security very seriously. It's at the core of what we do globally."

Yes, of course. Your terms and conditions say the exact opposite of this, but we believe that you are indeed concerned about privacy and security and not about selling everything to everyone for AI training.

Boeing top brass stand down amid safety turbulence

Re: Talking of Boeing

It seems that it's already all covered up.

Claims emerge that Citrix has doubled price of month-to-month partner licenses

Re: Recipe for a low cost virtual desktop

I know they are not "virtual" but actually "remote" desktops. I also know that they work for a 10 users org and not a 200 or 2000 users org. But they are really cheap, they work well, and for a small office they are just fine. And of course they have to be maintaned and updated and so on, but it's not such a big deal once windows update works and also the auto update on the other software (browsers and the accounting program they use) works.

Recipe for a low cost virtual desktop

I have a small customer that uses 10 Dell refurbished mini-PCs as virtual desktops. Small, not too power hungry, really cheap, they just work. Windows 10 pro and RDP, No monthly fees.

UN: E-waste is growing 5x faster than it can be recycled

Tell it to Microsoft and windows 11

As I have stated before, tell it to Microsoft that is making us dump millions of PCs because windows 11 does not support older hardware.

LockBit ransomware kingpin gets 4 years behind bars

FOUR YEARS?

Only four years? I'd give him four years for each victim.

'We had to educate Oracle about our contract,' CIO says after Big Red audit

Re: Advice in dealing with Oracle audits

If you do, then try and find alternative solutions and stop being an Oracle customer.

Chip lobby group SEMI to EU: Export restrictions should only be used in self-defense

Re: As a Dutchman I'm pissed off

Economy was cool when there was no (open) war. Now the world is changing again for the worst. We are at war now, the free market is a thing of the past.

HDMI Forum 'blocks AMD open sourcing its 2.1 drivers'

This is the result of DRM

This is what happens when DRM comes into play.

GitHub struggles to keep up with automated malicious forks

Re: Forks have always annoyed me

You are right. I too have forked some projects and never did anything on my forks. I have forked them for "archival" and for "bookmark" purposes. Which is in fact wrong.

At least there should be a way for everyone to jump back from a fork to the original project, and if a project is a fork it should be clearly visible. A way to make users aware of the whole "fork tree".

Dell promises 'every PC is going to be an AI PC' whether you like it or not

Re: The public

It's never the tech that sells devices, it's the functions

Quite true but not completely true. It's the AVAILABILITY that sells devices.

If I'd like to have a product that's, for example, secure and long lived, and all I can buy is an insecure device that lasts 2 years, I'll end up buying what the market offers anyway, because I need one and I cannot have it the way I'd like it.

Then the sellers will boast that "EVERYONE IS BUYING AI PCs". Well of course, we have no choice.

Re: HAHAHA

MS fixed this for them, with windows 11 and its NEED for new hardware. And since it seems that no one can live without windows, we are screwed.

Re: well, he's half right.

MS, Apple, Google. Stay clear of these and you can be quite fine.

Yes, I know, this means NO PHONE and a Linux PC. There is no other solution to this problem.

Re: NO!

I have used Dell laptops (high end one) since 20 years with Linux. My latest one is a Thinkpad because Dell no longer allows me (a simple consultant, not a big business) to have an American keyboard on a laptop bought in Italy. NO WAY.

Hold up world, HP's all-in-one print subscription's about to land, and don't forget AI PCs

Customers are happy with subscriptions?

Really? i can't believe it.

Toyota admits its engines are overrated – by its own power testing software

So maybe...

So maybe the issue is that NO engine manufacturer can actually make engines that perform as the regulations require, so every manufacturer is actually cheating since at least 10 years?

The self-created risk in Broadcom's big VMware kiss-off

I was lucky

I have been lucky. Working in a very small business environment I have used Vmware once, and after that only Proxmox (KVM). Since I'm a Linux expert, it has been quite an obvious choice. Now I have at least one less problem than a lot of other sysadmins: no Vmware to migrate away from.

Still I don't expect that a lot of people will migrate away from Vmware and to open source solutions: I think that while most will remain with Vmware, the ones that will migrate will choose Hyper-V.

CERN seeks €20B to build a bigger, faster, particle accelerator

Re: Priorities

Sorry but currently we need more weapons, not less weapons.