Posts by 0laf

Windows 11 needs an XP SP2 moment, says ex-Microsoft engineer

Re: Wait

I think that's it really. For home users (not gaming so much) Linux has been perfectly usable for a long time. Now the gaming stuff is much improved.

But it's not Linux that is winning users it is MS that is losing them.

W11 doesn't work for them or the upgrade from W10 is too expensive. Some will move to Linux but I suspect the majority of users that move away from MS will be people who just give up on the format and start to use a phone or tablet for everything.

Businesses won't shift, but the sovereignty concerns caused by the Great Orange Leader might start to move those rusty gears for government. If nothing else they might well force a legal split in the hyperscalers into US/EU entities

Power crunch threatens to derail AI datacenter construction

Re: Do those responsible for these projects never stop to wonder?

If they drum up enough F.U.D. and generate enough fear amongst politicians then they will probable get all the data access and grid upgrades they want without spending a penny. With a bit of luch and by greasing the right palms they might even swing a tax subsidy

Tablet market stalls because there’s not much new worth buying

Re: No Great Loss ... 100% Correct.

I'm happy to stream thing I will likely never read or listen to again. It save the clutter and I won't miss them if the supplier takes them back.

If i really like it I'll buy it, ideally second hand.

Sopme things are gettign quite rare now (90 UK comedy shows are my usual hunt at the moment as they seem to be disapearing, have you seen the price of a "Filth, Rich and Catflap" DVD!)

UK's Ajax fighting vehicle arrives – years late and still sending crew to hospital

Re: So the UKs answer to "The Pentagon Wars" then

From what I've seen/read the capability of a Bradley to take out a MBT like a T72 is still a bit of a hail Mary move and not advisable.

Big Tech's control freak era is breaking itself apart

Re: There isn't, won't, and can't be a magic bullet

"Good, fast, cheap", you're not wrong there. But with functionally stupid leaders and a lazy disinterested populous Fast and Cheap aways wins.

Props for bringing up Slackware. The first Linux distro I ever got working in about 2002 (after failing to get Debian to work).

Microsoft apologizes for not explaining cheaper no-AI M365 plans, and all it took was a government lawsuit

Re: Actually, this is where "AI" is a tool

GPT is pretty good at helping fix Linux installations and choosing FOSS alternative software

Pop!_OS deejays prepare to release holiday remix along with Cosmic v 1.0

A few months ago, not this release.

I didn't pick up it was a beta, everthing I saw indicated it was a full product and even sold preinstalled in Pop hardware.

I did like it but it didn't work on my hardware. The software centre / store was particularly good.

The sweetest slice of Pi: Raspberry Pi 500+ sports mechanical keys, 16GB, and built-in SSD

I have no use for this

Still want one.

Anyone developing a clamshell case and a battery to go with this?

Make it into a nice (if chunky) little portable.

UK chancellor Putin the blame on Russia for cyber chaos, but evidence says otherwise

Re: Evidence

If only Rik was still here to keep going with "The New Statesman"

Re: Evidence

Tax the rich.

Except they like to use the Guardian definition of rich which = earning more than the UK median, owning a house, having a car, having a private pension, having savings.

But doesn't seem to include - earning more than £1M (including through stock options, paid through intermediary businesses, loan based income and any other non-salaried income), having more than £100M in assets, being a pal of a minister, donating more than £100k to the party

Ditto for businesses.

Return on investment for Copilot? Microsoft has work to do

Re: Do you mean forece upgrades.

I thought forced auto-enrollment was an acknowledged dark pattern and made the contract unlawful, at least in the UK/EU?

Office 2016 and 2019 face October 14 execution date

I got through university using MS Works which came with a W95 machine.

It's the final countdown: Windows 10 hits end of support in less than 30 days

You've alsoways got SUSE as an option as well. German I believe.

Totally not enough to put me off. I find the Mint setup actually very nice.

I'm sure some of teh games could be made to work, No Man's Sky the most recent attempy which from a quick browse generally has very good Steam/Linux compatability.

But it is the usualy Linux issue of everything being great unless it isn't and fixing things is often a bit of a chore which I don't have time for.

Shaders and NVidia the main suspects I think

Anthropic to pay at least $1.5 billion to authors whose work it knowingly pirated

Re: You know what...

It stops being illegal when you deal with billions (£$€) apparently

Who are you again? Infosec experiencing 'Identity crisis' amid rising login attacks

There is often no choice.

Having to set up alternative or burner accounts to log into services is a step too far for most

Google tries to trump iPhone launch with AI-powered Pixel 10 range

Adding features no one wants, that impact performance as a selling point?

That a brave strategy

Commodore Amiga turns 40, headlines UK exhibition

FB has recently revealed to be quite a thriving antique Amiga scene. There are lots of people out there providing expertise in restoring and renewing old Amigas. If you still got the kit it might well be savable

Re: 40 years. Sheesh.

My parents possibly bought my Amiga from you too

Glory days

I had a 500 which was a dream machine for me after seeing my cousin's machine.

Some of my happiest gaming time ever. Speedball 2 as someone else brought up, Alien Breed, Stuntcar racer, Starglider 2 (came with a book), It came from the Desert.

I had the Batman pack.

Sorry to admit but most of my games were cracks and copies but I did have a fair few legit ones.

The White House could end UK's decade-long fight to bust encryption

Magical thinking as usual

Who would have thought we'd be thanking POTUS for protecting British citizens data however incidentally it has come about.

UK push to change encryption so that it only opens for the pure-of-heart despite all leaders in the field saying no, despite all academics saying no, despite the maths saying no, is the usual magical thinking by politicians who believe that if they say it outloud then it can be done. I'm also sure there is a queue of snake oil sellers at the door suggeseting that if only they get a grant/fund/contract they can make it happen.

As ransomware gangs threaten physical harm, 'I am afraid of what's next,' ex-negotiator says

Not really a surprise it is theft after all. Once upon a time they would have taken the bank manager's family hostage to ensure he opened the safe when requested.

It's just a remote version of that old scam. Maybe does show a bit of desperation on the part of the attackers.

Moving into threats of physical violence puts them in territory where plod will actually put down the coffee mug and get involved. When it's just money and data they can shrug their shoulders and use 'limited resources' as an excuse to do nothing.

Banning VPNs to protect kids? Good luck with that

Re: "A clear play to capitalize on parents' newfound obsession with online safety"

Plenty of ISPs already offer this as an option. Again it won't stop the more competent teenage boys from finding work arounds but it does make them work for it.

Australia bans kids from signing up for YouTube accounts, angering Google

Re: YouTube Kids that attempt to guarantee a child-safe experience

It's always been bad, there is a lot of stuff which is disturbing and still available to kids because it doesn't meet some algorithmic trigger point.

AI don't know: Enterprises slow to pick up on Copilot+ PCs

Re: Snapdragon

And MS has form for changing its mind costing you thousands or millions even..

Zune, WinPho, Surface RT, Cortana, Silverlight, Hololens etc

Windows 11 is a minefield of micro-aggressions in the shipping lane of progress

Re: Sure, Linux could make a truly usable desktop system....

I think maybe because Linux is chasing the users it doesn't have rather than making the system suit the users it does have.

Hence a focus on design and shiny over pure functionality.

Re: Sure, Linux could make a truly usable desktop system....

W2k was peak functional windows for me. It just got on with the job.

The UI was familiar from 98 but the stability was NT4.

XP was good to use, Win7 was too but nothing since then.

WinPho 8 I consider to be the best mobile OS I have ever used.

W11 was the final straw for me, the idea that I should throw away a decent rig just to buy a half finished OS which acts more like a piece of spyware whilst failing to carry out basic functions (i.e. I could not get W11 to format a USB stick).

I've switched that machine to Mint (Via Pop_OS). I do like it and it does everything I need but the idea that Linux is super easy to install is only true when it works. If you have any problems installing hardware or software on Linux it is a complete ballache. PoP despite being advertised as the most steam compatible OS with built in NVidia support would not use the NVidia card and managed to corrupt user profiles every time the drivers were forced in. Mint was more fluid but still suffers from the occational blank stare when things are opened (especialty the software centre), at the moment it won't pair with a bluetooth XBox controller and the solution is tied up somewhere in GitHub in a way that Mint doesn't seem to understand. nor do I for now.

However I like the OS, it's still an improvement on Linux of old it's nice to feel back in control to some extent anyway and my old hardware continues to provide value.

I've got my son a Macbook for college now that his W10 machine is also seen as unclean by MS. He's just not up to learning Linux and I don't have time to support him, he just needs something that works and that means Apple. I use an iPhone not because I'm an Apple fanboi but because it works, and everything works with it. Apple is easy mode.

I had a droid phone once but got sick of incompatabilities and unreliability with pairing to devices especially cars.

My Mrs has used Macs for years and that is her default.

So right now in my house it's anyone but MS.

Open, free, and completely ignored: The strange afterlife of Symbian

Re: Planet Computers, startup funding, and ISAs

Well that same government has kicked investors in the head by reducing the tax free allowance on dividends from your investment.

Investing in individual startups is a very high risk activity and really not ethical to encourage those with only a small amount of savings anyway to take huge risks with it.

Maybe there needs to be another way to encourage investment. A low vlaue startup ISA that isn't included in any other allowance, maybe a salary sacrifice option. Plenty of people would take a punt on putting in a small amount, maybe only £10-500. It might be high risk but it's better odds than the lottery and a million people putting in £100 is a lot of money.

I always found the little psions very impressive. I still don't think anyone has matched the usability of those little keyboards since

Nearly 3 out of 4 Oracle Java users say they've been audited in the past 3 years

About £500,000?

Post Office and Fujitsu execs 'should have known' Horizon IT system was flawed

Re: Just started reading 1st Report

I think it even says it in this article that 'blame' is to be apportioned in the second report.

But the police are already investigating. As a rare organisation with independent powers of prosecution their abuse of those powers should result in them facing far stricter judgement than Joe Bloggs in the street. We can only hope that the CPS isn't pressured to use the public interest as a way to let the buggers off with it. Hopefully their friends in parliament have moved on/retired and the current lot are less chummy with the accused.

Re: British Justice is the best in the world

Until you've experienced justice in action, even only as juror (as I have), I don't think most people realise what a knife edge you walk on in a courtroom.

Bad luck with your jurors and you could be screwed.

Don't forget

Don't ever forget either that the money these poor people tried to pay back to cover the ficticious losses went into post office coffers and directly contributed to income and therefore any bonuses of those in charge.

On top of everything else the accusers stole from the falsely accused and their families.

Britain's 5G experience 'among the worst in Europe' says MedUX

LOL 'only' getting 20-30Mb on 5G. If I pick up 5G it usually seems more like 56Kb.

Switching to 4G usually increases performance considerably.

I note I'm starting to see invites for 6G webinars. I'll look forward to higher still theoretical speeds that deliver the same as a 300 baud modem in RL.

UK police dangle £75 million to digitize its VHS tape archives

There is a bloke

I often see a laminated sign at traffic lights with some bloke called Dave offering to "convert VHS to DVD". They should give him a call

British IT worker sentenced to seven months after trashing company network

Re: What about a new job?

"What kind of idiot would you have to be to destroy your career forever?"

There is your first mistake. You are using rational ideas against someone who is very likely irrational.

They aren't thinking like you, they may well completely believe they WILL get away with it or that they are saving the company or just completely in the right to do what they are doing.

It not quite delusional but nearly.

Think man-logic taken to 11. You can justify that new car/computer/thing you probably know you are fooling yourself but you let it slide. Irrational people think the same way with their actions but the idea that they are fooling themselves never occurs to them.

These are the people who are an utter nightmare to manage. For fun research look up "high conflict personalities". It's related to narcissism as well. As soon as you read a little on that you'll start to recognise them everywhere.

There's no international protocol on what to do if an asteroid strikes Earth

Varying degrees of ded

Hmm if you are rich you die slowly in a bunker, if you are poor you die quickly on the surface.

If you're a tech bro you spend all your time trying to monitise the data and sell post apalypse apps for non-working devices.

Either way all ded.

Microsoft dangles extended Windows 10 support in exchange for Reward Points

Re: Desperation?

Not desperate, just business as usual

BT won't budge over pay hike for manager grade employees

Well it's a clear argument at least.

The business has said, "FU we're cutting your pay in real terms and we don't care if you're unhappy, WTF are you going to do about it?"

I await the workers response. They can quit or strike and BT hopes you quit anyway.

‘AI is not doing its job and should leave us alone’ says Gartner’s top analyst

Re: The org now uses AI to automate all steps in parallel...

Apparently you can't claim for time wasted. So it seems "Time is Money" is less applicable in the eyes of the law. Strange considering the way legal fees are caculated.

Re: The org now uses AI to automate all steps in parallel...

I aws going to suggest their complaints proceedure then the energy regulator. Both processes have some weight under statute and cost the business just to have you raise an issue.

Putting a DSAR (Data Subject Access Request) and then your right to rectification is also an expensive process for them at the end of which you can leverage the ICO should they not play ball.

I have always wondered if any had raised small claims court actions on the basis of these minor niggles, I must waste days every year chasing down corporate cockups. One assumes that if time is money you have a legal right to recover damages for this wasted time if it's down to corporate negligence. I wonder if everyone raised a £50 action every time they got their time wasted it might change things

Logitech's latest keyboard and mouse combo is wired, quiet, and suspiciously sensible

Re: I don't understand wireless keyboards for desktop PCs

you may wish to investigate teh delights of the Mouse Bungee.

Fantastic little devices that stop the mouse cable catching if you don't want wireless. About £10 from Ikea or any other mass tat slinger

Firefox is dead to me – and I'm not the only one who is fed up

Re: I'll quit firefox

And that is largely why I've used it for the last 20yr or so. I suspect losing ad blockers will mean I laregly stop using the internet. You forget what a useless mess it is without blockers, a window with fly posters 60 layers deep.

LibreOffice adds voice to 'ditch Windows for Linux' campaign

Re: No real reach

Sad but true.

UK students flock to AI to help them cheat

No dyspraxia here and I can remember the same pain during 3hr Biochem exams. I could hardly write at all by the end as well. God knows how anyone read it..which is maybe why I didn't do so well

Of course they are using it, they are being told to use it by the press, by the vendors even the feckin politicians are telling them that they MUST be proficient in the use of AI tech for the future and no-one is saying anything about it being bad in any way.

This golden calf is going to shit all over eveyone if we allow it to be an excuse for everything to be dumbed down to nothing, "You don't need to study or know the subject just be good at prompt engineering" seems to be the message of teh future from many.

A return to written exams is no bad thing but then kids are not used to writing much so don't have the stamina to write in a 3hr exam. Course work can just be copied from an AI output into handwritten text so as other have mentioned educators need to be better at setting questions that will highligh AI cheating.

It's probably already too late, the teachers will be using AI to write the questions with the kids using AI to write the answers.

'Major compromise' at NHS temping arm exposed gaping security holes

We've said it here dozens maybe hundreds of times over the last 20yr; until information security is considered as important as health and safety with similar sanctions applicable to the board nothing will get done.

Information might not have physical weight but the impact of its loss or disclosure casues real harms up to and including threats to life.

Can you imagine a CEO doing a press conference after a set of scaffolding clearly made from cheap cardbord tubes collapsed seriously injuring dozens and then saying the usual, "Employee safety is our top priority" and "all injuries were due to a complex set of environmental conditions"? And then the H&S regulator issuing nothing more than a stern letter in response.

User demanded a 'wireless' computer and was outraged when its battery died

Re: No need for the nuclear option

No they'd just take the heavy nuke battery out then phone up and complain it wasn't turning on

Many many times I had to explain that Wifi/wireless didn't mean that they would get internet everywhere.

The idea of it requiring an access point within range was lost on many at least in the earlier days of wifi.

I had lots of stupid conversation with supposedly intelligent people, for whom the computer was a magical box that defied normal conventions.