Posts by Lars

Future airliners will run on hydrogen, vows Airbus as it teases world-plus-dog with concept designs

Re: Looks good to me

@ el_oscuro

You have a good point there considering how many films and programs there are about the Titanic.

Re: Looks good to me

I hope we understand there are more important things to consider than howto die or not to die in an airplane crash.

We're not getting back with Galileo, UK govt tells The Reg, as question marks sprout above its BS*

Re: You are joking?

"UK's wanting only to be in a free trade area, maintaining its political and financial independence.".

Apparently you find it possible to be "in" something, and at the same time be fully independent too, and then you seem to claim there is no politics in trade.

I would claim you are a true believer.

I have a feeling Britain will become not more independent but a lot more dependent on the goodwill of other countries than ever before.

You have to be very on-trend as a cybercrook – hence why coronavirus-themed phishing is this year's must-have look

Stay pessimistic

Stay pessimistic regarding words like, you won, love, congratulations, free, ££££, $$$$, .....

Brit MPs to Apple CEO: Please stop ignoring our questions about repairability and the environment

The easy solution

Don't buy Apple devices.

Microsoft submits Linux kernel patches for a 'complete virtualization stack' with Linux and Hyper-V

Note

Anybody is free to use Linux, also MS, as Linus pointed out more than twenty years ago. They could also fork the kernel but I doubt they will, they could also start to deliver dual boot Windows/Linux to OEMs, there is no law against becoming smart regardless of how long it took.

I can 'proceed without you', judge tells Julian Assange after courtroom outburst

Re: Blackmailed

"being mentally unwell is criminalised".

sed gawk, how wrong you are, there are always the odd exception, take the President for instance.

And damn it or not, I am totally incapable of using the Joke Alert icon here.

Re: The Much Bigger Picture Show ....

"they remember how everyone in NATO sat on their hands ".

And that includes the US too, or have I missed something regarding NATO.

Tech ambitions said to lie at heart of Britain’s bonkers crash-and-burn Brexit plan

Re: The next U-Turn?

"the EU have a legal responsibility to negotiate a trade agreement".

I suppose you are fooling yourself to believe that to happen on British terms too.

Re: “America, which is not big on state aid”?!!!

@Justthefacts

While I agree to some of your rant, please slow down a bit.

Coface like https://www.coface.uk/ operates around the world.

And of course the industry in any country need financing.

Soon you will claim supporting education, the NHS, roads and bridges are all state aid and very illegal and absent only in poor Britain.

Well, perhaps you have a point there regarding the UK after all.

State aid is not illegal.

One gets the impression that there are people who believe that state aid is totally illegal within the EU.

As far as I know the British governments have used less state aid than many other EU states and I think the Tory has been rather reluctant to provide any.

Quoting the Wikipedia on State aid (European Union).

"Under European Union competition law the term has a legal meaning, being any measure that demonstrates any of the characteristics in Article 107 of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in that if it distorts competition or the free market, it is classed by the European Union as being illegal state aid.[1] Measures which fall within the definition of state aid are considered unlawful unless provided under an exemption or notified by the European Commission.".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_aid_(European_Union)

What the EU is demanding from Britain to have a favourable access to the single market is to provide clear information on how Britain will behave regarding state aid.

On WTO we find this.

"...

However, due to the lack of specifications, definitions and in some cases clarifications, the WTO case is highly controversial and more of an exception than a rule. A solution to this would be a more thorough regime somewhat in line with that of the European Union. In that case, the prohibition of state subsidies would occur if the subsidies were anti-competitive and affected international trade.".

The reason so many big companies are found in the USA and China is their huge home markets and, of course, one of the main goals with the single market is the same.

And of course China will eventually be able to compete with Boeing and Airbus because they have a huge home market to build for first.

Still Apple, Microsoft, Google or Amazon and similar did not start due to any state aid, but it starts to become rather corny when a company like Amazon on a profit of 11 billion pays no state tax at all.

On the whole I think this article was rather unnecessary and of no value like perhaps my comment too.

China launches and lands its first re-usable spacecraft

"....the US is in a cold war with because - science and space."

Perhaps more because of money and influence in the world, not that the orange bastard understands much anything about that.

It would not surprise me if the Chinese shuttle was more like the Russian Buran shuttle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwLx4L5NRU0

Did The Soviets Build A Better Space Shuttle? The Buran Story

Brexit border-line issues: Would you want to still be 'testing' software designed to stop Kent becoming a massive lorry park come 31 December?

Re: If

@Dave 15

You write a lot of rubbish for a guy who apparently could use the internet to get informed.

For the UK exports and imports are more or less like this.

"Exports - partners:

US 13.2%, Germany 10.5%, France 7.4%, Netherlands 6.2%, Ireland 5.6%, China 4.8%, Switzerland 4.5% (2017)

Imports - partners:

Germany 13.7%, US 9.5%, China 9.3%, Netherlands 8%, France 5.4%, Belgium 5% (2017)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html

EU trade agreements you find here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_free_trade_agreements

https://fullfact.org/europe/how-many-free-trade-deals-has-eu-done/

The world consists of mainly small countries with a few exceptions and that goes for the EU too, or as the saying goes - with a few who tend to forget it at times.

Re: Not a problem at all ...

"but surely there's some COTS packages out there already..".

Yes sure but do you expect the government to look for any such help and besides the problem is about the time running out for having it up and running properly.

Brave takes brave stand against Google's plan to turn websites into ad-blocker-thwarting Web Bundles

Re: To Sum up...

I think Facebook is a lot worse.

Where you see pandemic, IBM sees opportunity... as long as UK.gov keeps propping up the economy with taxpayers' cash

taxpayers' cash

Not my money then as I have never payed tax in cash, incidentally what is that other kind of cash or money called these days in a less colonial time.

Relying on plain-text email is a 'barrier to entry' for kernel development, says Linux Foundation board member

Hmm

"we need to manage it to the standards that enterprises are used to".

Uncle Sam to blow millions on getting fusion power finally working – with the help of AI

Fusion power

Some fairly recent stuff on this topic on YouTube about ITER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCpWPJrH7TA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAw-rdl9YZg

And lets not forget we learned to fly because we never stopped trying.

About Tokomak:

"A tokamak (Russian: Токамáк) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine a hot plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being developed to produce controlled thermonuclear fusion power. As of 2016, it is the leading candidate for a practical fusion reactor.[1]

Tokamaks were initially conceptualized in the 1950s by Soviet physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov, inspired by a letter by Oleg Lavrentiev. Meanwhile, the first working tokamak was attributed to the work of Natan Yavlinsky on the T-1".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak

Chinese State media uses new release of local Linux to troll Trump

Re: The OS also supports x86 CPUs flowing from the AMD’s joint venture in China ...

Reading the Wikipedia on Xenix is like seeing history flying by.

A few things from it.

"In 1987, SCO ported XENIX to the 386 processor, a 32-bit chip, after securing knowledge from Microsoft insiders that Microsoft was no longer developing XENIX".

.....

"Microsoft, which expected that UNIX would be its operating system of the future when personal computers became powerful enough,[4] purchased a license for Version 7 UNIX from AT&T in 1978,".

....

"Microsoft hopes that XENIX will become the preferred choice for software production and exchange", the company stated in 1981.[8] Microsoft referred to its own MS-DOS as its "single-user, single-tasking operating system",[33] and advised customers that wanted multiuser or multitasking support to buy XENIX.

Sadly Gates got greedy and created the first and largest IT catastrophe in history so far - Windows.

Re: It's not really Linux

"More or less like UK gave Stalin the jet engines".

That is indeed a more or less simplified view of facts as they were sold to the Russians.

We copy and learn and eventually it's always open. As the Germans invented the internal combustion engine one could of course claim they gave it for free to the British enabling them to build the Merlin engine, that is, if one was very silly.

The British gave the Whittle engine to the Americans however.

This is a nice and old video of that occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y76qd68M1-M&t=19s

However the Whittle engine was not axial flow like the Junkers Jumo 004 the first successful axial compressor turbojet engine, the mother of the modern jet engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhf8eQn97qE&t=40s

Some more about the MiG 15:

"The Germans had been unable to develop turbojets with thrust over 1,130 kilograms-force (11,100 N; 2,500 lbf) running at the time of the surrender in May 1945, which limited the performance of immediate Soviet postwar jet aircraft designs. They did inherit the technology of the advanced axial-compressor Junkers 012 and BMW 018 engines, in the class of the later Rolls-Royce Avon, that were some years ahead of the then currently available British Rolls-Royce Nene engine. The Soviet aviation minister Mikhail Khrunichev and aircraft designer A. S. Yakovlev suggested to Premier Joseph Stalin that the USSR buy the conservative but fully developed Nene engines from Rolls-Royce...."

------

"At the end of World War II, the Soviets seized many of the assets of Germany's aircraft industry. The MiG team studied these plans, prototypes and documents, particularly swept-wing research and designs, even going so far as to produce a flying testbed in 1945 to investigate swept-wing design concepts as the piston-engined "pusher"-layout, MiG-8 Utka (Russian for "duck", from its tail-first canard design). The swept wing later proved to have a decisive performance advantage over straight-winged jet fighters when it was introduced into combat over Korea.

The design that emerged had a mid-mounted 35-degree swept wing with a slight anhedral and a tailplane mounted up on the swept tail. Western analysts noted that it strongly resembled Kurt Tank's Focke-Wulf Ta 183, a later design than the Me 262 that never progressed beyond the design stage [2]. While the majority of Focke-Wulf engineers (in particular, Hans Multhopp, who led the Ta 183 development team) were captured by Western armies, the Soviets did capture plans and wind-tunnel models for the Ta 183.[5][better source needed] The MiG-15 bore a much stronger likeness[according to whom?] to the Ta 183 than the American F-86 Sabre, which also incorporated German research."-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15

The Chinese gave us powder and I doubt they could have prevented it from becoming free and open.

We invent and copy and learn and improve stuff.

The city of Munich used Linux for many years but it become very political from the very start. Ballmer met with Munich several times trying to stop them, but failed. Then the boss at Munich was replaced with a pro Windows guy and things changed. I don'i know about the situation today.

I claimed the person at China Daily is "new" to Linux because if you know Linux you know all top500 supercomputers run Linux and you would mention users like Alibaba, Google, Facebook, Twitter and the rest. Linux is put on a hell of a lot of devices in China from toys to robots and what not. And I doubt their new fighter jets are using Windows. The processor they develop was from the beginning developed using Linux.

More than 20 years ago IBM sold mainframes running Linux for their postal services.

In short China is a Linux super user more than perhaps any other country, and why not if not on the desktop perhaps.

MS Windows was never good for both the embedded space and supercomputers and anything in between.

OS has not led the world.

I wouldn't say that about Unix or Linux today and it's fairly obvious this China Daily person is very new to Linux and probably writing it on Windows.

Facebook to take board seat at Linux Foundation after signing as Platinum member

I must admit I agree with this video and I am happy I decided not to join many years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjRbni-oLbs

Simply too much power in a company that takes no responsibility whatsoever.

This of course doesn't make Kathy Kam a bad person.

NHS tests COVID-19 contact-tracing app that may actually work properly – EU neighbors lent a helping hand

Re: How will they know it's a false alarm?

"they're notified, self isolate and don't get it".

Certainly you want to have a test quickly first.

When it comes to hacking societies, Russia remains the master at sowing discord and disinformation online

Re: We are not us

"The Western World",

You are talking only about the English speaking world.

Education for profit and for the few and fraud like the late Trump "University".

Aviation regulator outlines fixes that will get the 737 MAX flying again

Re: $19bn

There are a lot of poor people in the USA too, would they be payed less than other Americans.

Re: Pilot training

"due to the aerofoil effects of the bigger engine"

The engines had to be moved forward to leave some ground clearance or they would have had to redesign landing gears and such in a very old design, anyway the thrust was moved forward adding to the nose up force especially during take off.

Bigger engines means fatter engines here.

Such a sorry saga.

First rule of Ransomware Club is do not pay the ransom, but it looks like Carlson Wagonlit Travel didn't get the memo

Stop using Windows could help a lot too.

Voyager 1 cracks yet another barrier: Now 150 Astronomical Units from Sol

Re: Light years

Sorry it's hours of course.

Fun in away that we who are 45 or older have travelled (around the sun) just sitting on this planet 42,297,801,621 km or almost twice the 22,439,680,605 km Voyager 1 has travelled in the same 45 years.

No tiger in that tank, or am I mixing up something again.

Light years

It's a reminder of the fact that the nearest solar systems are light years away and we have managed 20 minutes in 45 years.

At historic Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google CEOs hearing, congressmen ramble, congresswomen home in on tech market abuse

Worth it

I found the 5h was worth it and this article is much to the point.

UK govt finds £200,000 under sofa to kick off research into improving mobile connectivity on nation's crap railways

Re: They manage it in South Korea

"Seoul to Busan and back again - at up to 300Km/h.".

See, it's easier with a high speed connection.

Only EU can help us, pleads Slack as it slings competition complaint against Microsoft Teams

What we need is a good open source and free version for anybody to use.

SpaceX to return NASA 'nauts to Earth with a splash

Slowest start I have ever seen, almost one and a half minute.

Cambridge student rebuilds Polish Enigma-code-breaking box that paved the way for Turing ... and Victory!

Re: Well done

YES, let's create an all English alternative reality for selected members.

Re: Well done

"However very little attention has been focused on the activities of the" ..rest of the world

Like in this article "the bombe grew into the digital computers on which you are reading this story."

Why the English have felt themselves so alone in the world that everything that exists has to have been invented in England (or Scotland) is a bit beyond me.

"Konrad Zuse (German: [ˈkɔnʁat ˈtsuːzə]; 22 June 1910 – 18 December 1995) was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; the functional program-controlled Turing-complete Z3 became operational in May 1941. Thanks to this machine and its predecessors, Zuse has often been regarded as the inventor of the modern computer.

...........

Due to World War II, Zuse's work went largely unnoticed in the United Kingdom and the United States. Possibly his first documented influence on a US company was IBM's option on his patents in 1946.".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse

Four years after swallowing Arm Holdings, SoftBank said to be mulling Brit chip biz sale

Re: Only one possible buyer............

"before any more secrets are lost".

I wonder what kind of secrets you are talking about, ARM is open enough for several companies to build the actual silicon.

Trump reveals US cyber-attack on Russian election-misdirection troll farms

Re: Detracts from journo standards

@Joe Harrison

There is no way to hide incompetence, dishonesty and sheer idiocy in the long run.

In the USA it's about Republicans and Democrats too, but in the big world it's only about a repulsive character who should not be in power in a great country like the USA.

When the head is rotten the body will suffer as they say.

Rip and replace is such a long Huawei to go, UK telcos plead, citing 'blackouts' and 'billion pound' costs: Are Vodafone and BT playing 'Project Fear'?

Re: Trumpery

I have not totally lost my faith in the American people, the idiot will be escorted out by either men in white or in uniforms. What will be so funny is to see him introduce the WH to Biden.

MariaDB inhales $25m. 'People tried to get away with simpler' but now there's a 'relational renaissance,' says open-source biz chief

Re: Best wishes

@werdsmith

Of course Axmark is worth mentioning and so is Larsson regarding MySQL.

Quoting the Wiki:

"After dropping out of Helsinki University of Technology, Widenius started working for Tapio Laakso Oy in 1981. In 1985 he founded TCX DataKonsult AB (a Swedish data warehousing company) with Allan Larsson.[1] In 1995 he began writing the first version of the MySQL database with David Axmark, released in 1996. He is the co-author of the MySQL Reference Manual, published by O'Reilly in June 2002; and in 2003 he was awarded the Finnish Software Entrepreneur of the Year prize"

When referring to peoples education it's quite normal to mention the University, if there was one.

One could also add that InnoDB started in Finland.

Best wishes

Best wishes Monty and Maria.

MySQL started as small as Linux and if I remember it right from the same university too.

If the Solar System's 'Planet Nine' is actually a small black hole, here's how we could detect it... wait, what?

Re: Great just what I need in 2020

Calm down, the worst is yet to come, China just reported about a new even worse virus found in Kazakhstan.

Never mind rail and ports, let's help DPD... and, er, Amazon: UK gov and ESA call for ways to slap logistics with 5G stick

One has to add that it's only the masts that creates the virus, the satellites are simply too far away to be dangerous.

Trump's bright idea of kicking out foreign students unless unis resume in-person classes stuns tech, science world

Re: No.

"As long as everyone praises him, he's happy. The minute they question, he'll scream, through a tantrum, and bad mouth them."

He is mentally a baby, the Brits got it right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlNU10Hkiu8

Trump Baby Balloon

What is there not to like (for some)

The more brain dead the US becomes the more followers Trump will have.

Dr. Michio Kaku knows what he is speaking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM

Microsoft? AWS? Nein und nein. Deutsche Bank signs up with Google Cloud for its latest crack at digital transformation

Perhaps

It's a good idea to point out that Deutsche Bank is not the Bank of England of Germany as that idea seems to pop up every now and then. I suppose a name like Bank of America could lead to similar miss understandings too.

The bank is known for money laundering and apparently popular with the Russian oligarchy and quoting the Wikipedia we find this:

"Deutsche Bank is widely recognized as being the largest creditor to real-estate-mogul-turned-politician Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, holding more than US$360 million in outstanding loans to the candidate in the months prior to his 2016 election. As of December 2017 Deutsche Bank's role in, and possible relevance to, Trump and Russian parties cooperating to elect him was reportedly under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.[115] As of March 2019, Deutsche Bank's relationship with Trump was reportedly also under investigation by two U.S. congressional committees and by the New York attorney general".

Among notable employees we find Sajid Javid, (2007–2009).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank

Remember that black hole just 1,000 light years from Earth? Scientists queue up to say it may not exist after all

Nice

Nice that scientists are wiling to warn us like this.

Linux Mint 20 isn't exactly bursting with freshness but, hey, there's kernel 5.4 and it's a long-term support release

Re: Linux flavours

@nematoad

A fair question but I don't think there is any metrics, and so what.

What if say VW Polo was the worlds most sold car is it then also the most popular or just more affordable or something.

I have settled for one distro years ago, it works well and that's it. At times I download some other on some other laptop, more or less for fun.

If I was a new user I would try several to my hearts content as then long ago and compare.

As an European I support a European, as an American I would support an American distro.

Choose one that pleases your eyes and you get to grips with, they are, after all, all Linux.

For real numbers I suppose Google could tell us a lot, if they wanted to.

Germany is helping the UK develop its COVID-19 contact-tracing app, says ambassador

These days it's more like "Britain uber alles" while in the rest of Europe it's more like "Europe uber alles". Times change, idiocy doesn't.