* Posts by Lars

4256 publicly visible posts • joined 21 May 2007

Democratic congresswomen 'less feminine in appearance' than Republicans

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Re: Oh dear.

What about the color of eyes, weight and length. Education, perhaps too difficult to measure.

Salt marshes will suck CO2 from air faster and faster as seas rise

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Happy

Folks!!

Why are you picking on Lewis all the time?. He is clearly an optimist and wants to show us "the sunny side".

Perhaps I am sarcastic, but we all know that the end is shitty anyway. We all know we do not know enough and some of us believe we can learn more about how this planet reacts. Any new ideas, data is interesting, I think.

Portugal’s prosecutor punts P2P case

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Joke

Well it's like if I rent a film then I can invite friends to look at it, only I do it curtains down these days.

Microsoft's Bing bods exploit fanbois' Apple maps misery

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Bing maps by Nokia

As a text on the aerial maps where I live.

Japanese boffins unfurl banner above newly-discovered Element 113

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Joke

Reliable sources

Reliable sources whisper that Apple has been granted a patent for producing a phone using some "new" material.

So you got the picture now. Best of all, they whisper, is that the phone will magically transform into a Samsung unworkable phone filled with Apple patents.

Of course you newer know with reliable sources

Motorola's Razr design daddy legs it, gets inside Intel

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You first

"Start with dreaming up a phone that you would love to have two years down the line", not wanting to be awful but it is like telling you to "first make a billion, and then...". It's the hard part every maker of any "device" is dreaming about.

Apple scrambled to hire iOS 6 maps engineers DAYS before launch

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Happy

Nothing new really

Apple wanted to get rid of Google fast as possible so the bosses asked other bosses if they could produce a superb system bye them selves fast as hell. They all said "Yes" as that is the only answer allowed. Then they asked the programmers and others if they can do it, and again the answer was "Yes" as that is the only answer programmers are allowed to use. I should know, I said "Yes" for 35 years. It is indeed very common, and probably one of the reasons why many good programmers do open source rather than work for companies run by idiots and so damned dependent on what ever Christmas or similar event is approaching. The rest is history.

Makes me happy, in fact.

As somebody pointed out without up to date maps you have absolutely nothing and I wont believe TomTom is the reason here as their navigators work fine. A map is not a map but a hell of a lot of code you have to make into a map.

If you do not know how to work with that data you produce rubbish.

He he.

China plots 2017 mission to plan MOON COLONY

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Re: I don't care who sets up the first base

Sorry, I read that as Moonbase Apple and was going to down vote you. But I can accept the Alpha processor.

Fans rap Apple's 'crap' Map app

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WTF?

Re: It's my understanding

Any proof for that Tomtom stuff. I am a bit curious because I used Tomtom years ago without any such problems.

Not to say that I have had even one navigator one could consider absolutely fool proof.

Perhaps even Apple can fail.

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Re: Also,

Sounds very logical to me, who the heck gave a farm such a silly name.

Google's Android celebrates fourth birthday

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Linux

Re: Got to feel sorry for Openmoko

Funny how (at least I) think there is always something to the name. What would you choose "Openmoko" or "Android". Most of the open source naming is rather "funny", Linux as an exception like Apache, for instance.

Still if you want to check all the cell phones based on Linux, just have a look at www.linuxfordevices.com

,it goes a long way back.

Incidentally, I still don't know if one should write Linux or linux.

Report: Microsoft to cop it from Brussels in Browser Choice affair

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Re: Fine

If you want to know something about it just look for Case COMP/C-3/37.792 Microsoft and read it.

American companies turned to the EU for help as the US did nothing. The browser is just on of the matters involved, perhaps the least significant.

This "Case" is from 2004, it really takes time and I am quite sure the money EU had to pay for running this case might have been more than the rather modest amount of money Microsoft has payed (or have they) compared to what they could have been demanded to pay.

And for a short answer about who took the money, think lawyers.

Juries: The only reason ANYONE understands patent law AT ALL

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The Jury

Help me out, but I wonder how many countries have this "jury" system. Is it an Anglo-American system only.

I did like the "Twelve brave men" film, (where were the women) very much and I know at least every second film ever made in dear USA is about a jury. But the end, as mostly, in the USA, is a happy end. The innocent are always cleared and there are happy faces and a lot of nice, heart stopping tears, running down both old and yuong cheeks. I cannot remember one single film where the jury was wrong. (perhaps my memory is bad).

I also find it very revealing that the innocent are apart from happy also very surprised.

Just bury the jury even when dealing with people, especially when dealing with well known sportsmen.

Anyway, how the hell could we expect anything more than a 50/50 chance of justice dealing with patent questions bye any jury. And I think the answer to this is that a fifty fifty chance to win is exactly why cases are brought before a jury in the USA. Just look a SCO, the jury was their only chance to survive. (many thanks to the jury in this case, and many more to Groklaw).

Still the real rascal is the office granting all there patents accepting absolutely anything without doing anything to check prior art and demanding absolutely nothing like a working example. All that is needed i a text and perhaps some sketch.

If you add together all the software patents granted to big companies each year I think 99% is absolute rubbish.

The only software I remember since 1968 worth a patent was VisiCalc, and there was "some" prior art even to that, still. In those days VisiCalc was not considered patentable. Patent lawyers have since then seen the light , unfortunately.

What about relying a bit more on all this "forensic" stuff we are given to day, choked with, hats and coats.

Google defends drowning Acer's newborn Alibaba Linux mobe

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Re: "what appears, at a glance, to be clear abuse of market power."

"Imagine if MS told HTC that they couldn't produce phones for Android, if they still wanted to produce phones for Windows?"

I sometimes have a feeling that that is what MS did with NOKIA.

Memo to openSUSE 12.2: More polish, less angst

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Linux

YaST

Used it very many years ago for a while but if I switch away from Mandriva I think I will miss the Mandriva Control Center very soon.

New monkey species with massive blue arse found in Africa

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Re: Poor quality pics

Perhaps I am colour blind too.

The iPHONE 5 UNDERMINES western DEMOCRACY: 5 reasons why

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Re: Jai, I agree but with this qualification......

I have replaced several batteries too, but I think it is possible to do it on the iphone too only you will pay for it at an apple shop. When sailing I have an extra battery and also an extra (old) phone and no apples.

Everything Everywhere's 4G: Why I'm sitting this one out

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Re: it's snowing in hell...

I do agree with Orlowski too, but still somebody has to be first, and even if that was not true, somebody tend to be first. Also is this 4g all about cell phones or could it be something good for a laptop with a dongle. Not living in the UK, so just asking.

What happened to the "Contact us"

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Re: What happened to the "Contact us"

I would like to add that theinquirer works, well, as before and the problem with the Reg is the addition of this black cookie story. Having been a web programmer too, I know It cannot be a big deal to correct it if you know there is a problem. Or am I the only person using a Nokia for this.

Forward again, please.

Lars Silver badge
WTF?

What happened to the "Contact us"

Is this the only way or perhaps the wrong way too.

What annoys me is that you have fucked up El Reg on my Nokia cellphone. I used to read the Reg frequently on a Nokia N92 but now I am stuck with your black cookie story and I cannot get any further from that.

Regards Lars

Online bank punters tricked into approving theft of their OWN CASH

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Happy

Re: Malware attack against the chipTAN

Sad to say it, but it's hardly Linux. You do find Linux on POS systems like Wincor Nixdorf. Or are you perhaps sarcastic Ken. Nixdorf used to deliver banking terminals but that was a long time ago.

Perhaps somebody has more up to date information.

No Apple TV this year: Media moguls still won't cough up content

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Happy

I suppose

Jobs asked for a lot of money from the Media because he was kind and willing to help them distribute their content.

Apple Java update fails to address mega-flaw – researcher

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Joke

Re: I think we are all agreed

Sadly some sites I use, use Java, and will not work properly without it. The suggestion to use an other browser for those few sites was a good one. As such I have nothing against Java and as a programmer I have not really ever used it. The slowness, bye Oracle, to respond seems to be the problem, otherwise we would have ceased to use computers, He he.

Android spat loser Oracle ordered to toss Google some change

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Good news

Sometimes.

Asus CEO sounds netbook death knell

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The keyboard

Have some, but the keyboard does not last. That I think is Asus failure with the hardware.

'FIRST ever' Linux, Mac OS X-only password sniffing Trojan spotted

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Linux

Funny

I wonder why those stupid virus writers are so unaware of the fact that Linux is number one among the supercomputers, the stock exchange, the internet infrastructure, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and so forth.

Better this way of course. Or could it just be that it is harder.

Going viral 9,500 years ago: 'English descended from ancient Turkey'

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Re: Dubiety...

For all you feeling so bad about being accused of having a turkey in the family three remember we are all African from the beginning. So just call your self African and get over it. The important thing to remember is that you are not American as the possibility for the Americans to reach the islands in those days is so remote.

Sony Mobile moves out of Swedish lovenest after break-up

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Re: Lund

Having spent time in two companies in Lund (a lovely place) I am not that surprised. People don't work more than three days a week, Friday is for lottery and chatting, monday for dropping in late. There seems to be one secretary for every three persons and at least two cellphones for anybody higher up. Then there is the kitchen, chauffeurs and what not. The number of bosses outnumbers anything else in the company. Programming tasks are given to the youngest girls as programming is below anything decent well paid people do. So if the company is an IT company I would estimate that out of the 650 persons some 25 actually produce something. And most of them do it at home rather than at work. Still the interesting thing is that a company like that can do very well provided they have at least a couple of persons who provide.

Microsoft, Adobe throw fire blanket over blaze of security flaws

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Linux

Linux

I think Microsoft should build their Window on top of Linux like Linus suggested years ago.

Everybody would gain and Microsoft would be able to charge what ever they like for their Windows version.

Apple, Microsoft reveal their Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

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@kyza

I think you are looking for "business as usual" and not referring to your post I think the pact stuff was quite good.

Now lets see who is the first to break that pact. Now then wait, what did Apple promise.

Microsoft tightens grip on OEM Windows 8 licensing

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Happy

Re: End of the world.

"I'm willing to bet there's more illegal copies of windows globally than legal".

I would not bet on that as most PC machines come with Windows preloaded and it has been like that for a long time, then of course some of them have probably been upgraded illegally if possible, but as we know there is a limit to that.

Lars Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: It will be deliberately easy to circumvent anyway!

Perhaps that was sarcasm or something it`s not called BIOS anymore and it can be changed like any program.

Microsoft has tried to bond Windows with programs and hardware almost from the beginning and they will contine to do it.

Years ago Gates predicted that harware would become very cheap while the price of software would increase.

So when the bond between hardware and Windows is strong enough then Microsoft will be able to increase the price of Windows anyway they like.

I hope they fail.

How one bad algorithm cost traders $440m

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Happy

Re: Hang on...

Hang on Sill Water, if you believe that testing will always reveal every error then you just have no experience.

I remember a program I wrote long ago, it worked for about three months but then started to tilt every now and then. In the beginning the users, four ladies, just booted the machine, and started again. Eventually it did it more and more often and I had to look into it.

The error was easy to find and easy to mend and the reason was that one of the girls developed an incredible speed with her five finger numeric input.

I could never have found that error, nor anybody working in our company by testing it.

(A faster processor would not have revealed that error ever.)

I have corrected programs that worked OK for many years until then suddenly there was a problem.

The testing surrounding is never exactly the same as real life and the input, no matter how hard you try, is never as complete as in real life.

Still I think there should have been some means to prevent it from going on like it did.

Also I am sure any additional programming and testing that perhaps the programing department might have asked for, might have been rejected by those who decide, because of costs and time tables.

Much bigger losses of money have occurred because of programing errors. And they will always remain no matter what we do.

Facebook: 83 million IMPOSTERS stalk our network

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Re: Cats have accounts

Nothing against your post, but those it really matter how many cats, dogs and parrots have accounts and how many are false, duplicate and so on. who cares how many similar "persons" have an hotmail or gmail account.

The problem seems to be that Facebook for such a long time tried to speak about how many persons used Facebook. I have a feeling that sooner or later intelligent people give up, I never started, Does not prove me intelligent, however.

Big biz 'struggling' to dump Windows XP

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Go

Good luck Browsium

If I was a great lier I would say I am surprised Microsoft does not provide those programs for free in order to save the cost of rewriting good programs for their customers because their IE platform got rotten.

But I am not, so good luck Browsium.

There was a time when Unix customers wanted to switch to the, then new, NT, and many did. The most important tools to make that possible where made bye some university in Utah. Unix scripts for Windows, the most important where those dealing with character substitutions.

Gabe Newell: Windows 8 is a 'catastrophe' for PC biz

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Linux

Re: Touch...

There is perhaps something to like about touch, but I think it's a bit wrong to compare it to a mouse and or a keyboard.

The thing that so easily is forgotten, is for instance, that with a mouse your hand rests, the movement your hand has to do is small and apart from that you have easy input from a least four fingers, and your hand does not hide your screen.

Touch is rather heavy work and very restricted, really, compared to a mouse, and the bigger the screen the longer your hand movement will become.

Touch is very old, (too) used, for instance, on monitors for those dealing with air control.

Right now I can understand touch only on very small handheld devices like cell phones or "industrial" screens used only now and then to define stuff, but not as a constant input.

Now, I did forget to mention the mouse less laptop I use right now, of course, and also Microsoft.

Then about Valve Software, why would they not be interested in a growing market like linux.

China reveals new strategy of stockpiling rare earths

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Re: If

They call it business, it was invented a very long time ago.

Judge: Patent litigants behave like animals

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Re: Can I be the first to congratulate him?

I would add the patent office to the list.

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Wisconsin analysed

I suppose his mental state would be Wisconsin then.

Numbers don't lie: Apple's ascent eviscerates Microsoft

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Horace H. Dediu?

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

How did you make him Finnish. Having worked for Nokia helps, of course, but is not quite the same, not that it matters at all.

Google makes Opera bloggers an offer they can't refuse: Use Chrome

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WTF?

Learning from Microsoft

Was it DDos or something. Funny they are concerned with such a small (and good) player as Opera.

Bill Gates: iPad is OK, but what Apple really needs is a SURFACE

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Sorry Bill

but, well sorry again.

HTC bags UK win in patent war with Apple

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Re: The Big Lie 2.0

We all learn all the time, and Apple has learned a lot from Microsoft.

CERN catches a glimpse of Higgs-like boson

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Re: They found the Higgs Boson?

I wonder who lost it, and why.

Microsoft takes a $6.2bn bath with aQuantive web ads write-down

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Re: Big bets huh?

I suppose when you buy a company it's because you need the experts and perhaps the customers of that company. But I think some big companies, like Microsoft, very soon, let those "experts" understand they are now lucky to be among the expert experts and it's high time to learn how to think and behave.

Microsoft loses appeal against EU antitrust smackdown

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Boffin

Case COMP/C-3/37.792

For those of you who are interested in the whole long story search for Case COMP/C-3/37.792 and read the pdf. That is where the EU came in and the text is very good and history to day.

Finnish PM rules out Nokia rescue package

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Re: Flops mission is complete.

For a while I also had this bad feeling about Elop having a Microsoft mission for Nokia.

To day I simply think the guy is totally worthless to run any company at all.

Too bad, but one has to remember that Nokia fell a sleep long before Elop pulled the helm out of the ship.

Assange: Australian neglect made me flee to Ecuador embassy

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Re: The man is grinding my gears now

I am sad to say I agree, then again it would not surprise me if he is, or feels he is, very very alone with hes ego.

Linus Torvalds drops F-bomb on NVIDIA

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Linux

Re: nVidia has more important things to do

I suppose you know very well it will run Linux.

Facebook CTO jumps ship for new horizons

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You can always hope

You can always hope that Zuckerberg does the same thing soon.