Posts by Roland6

Take Windows 11... please. Leaks confirm low numbers for Microsoft's latest OS

Re: There's nothing particularly wrong with it except for its hardware requirements.

>installing Linux these days is nothing special. Try going back and installing Gentoo circa 2001-2002...

I'm glad installing an OS these days isn't anything like installing Unix on a new system back in the 1980's.

It really is quite pleasant being able to install a batch of systems with just a few mouse clicks.

The Linux install had to become like Windows, likewise the UI/UX; if it hadn't it would have an even smaller marketshare and almost certainly be restricted to servers.

Re: There's nothing particularly wrong with it except for its hardware requirements.

Also for minimal install don't forget the "English (World)" setting. See https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-clean-install-windows-11/

Re: Re centred taskbar icons - it's a yes from me.

It would be more useful if they fixed the Windows button in the centre of the taskbar, so it doesn't move when you open more applications; better still allow it to be placed vertically down one side of a wide screen. But I suppose they are now expecting users to use the Windows button and cursor keys to navigate the toolbar rather than mouse etc.

Re: "no clear advantages over W10"

>Revealing that a standard boot to idle uses 1GB less RAM is useful info though. Clearly a lot less cruft being loaded by default at boot time.

Not necessarily, it may simply not be pre-allocating so much RAM in anticipation of usage.

Re: Maybe it's the installer

>it worked before, why change it?

Because the muppets at Microsoft clearly don't recognise the word shapes "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste" to mean what they say, but can recognise some random ideograms as meaning "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste".

Fundamentally, the change is all about self-centred attention seeking, to justify the ever increasing subscription Microsoft feels it is entitled to charge its customers.

CIA exposed to potential intelligence interception due to X's URL bug

Re: Ridiculous!

Double whammy ?

The question would be how long before and whether the CIA cyber experts would recognise the difference between the two X profiles, until they tried to login to view the account...

What the fake X profile did was to prove that X does very little real checking of details and thus saw the two Telegram handles as being different even though they were in reality the same.

Paying for WinRAR in all the wrong ways - Russia and China hitting ancient app

Venerable utilities...

IBM/Lenovo used 7-Zip as an integral part of their ThinkVantage suite, so knowing a system was a Thinkxyz odds were that C:\Program Files\ThinkVantage\SMA\7z\Formats\7z.dll existed.

This wasn't a problem until 7-Zip got used as part of an attack vector. As whilst you may have updated the install at C:\Program Files\7-Zip you were probably totally unaware of this hidden in plain sight installation...

Hence I would not be surprised if the RAR.exe exploit is similar style of attack ie. it exploits these legitimate but hidden in plain sight installations.

The crux of the problem is that highly useful venerable standalone utilities such as PuTTY, cURL, 7-Zip and RAR, but not forgetting the NirSoft utiliies, don't auto update and hence represent potential doors into an otherwise secure system.

Now we can blame spacecraft for polluting the atmosphere

Looks like these boffins are going to see their research funding boosted

Good piece of research, leaving the door wide open for further research, if only to build a larger dataset of readings and find out where these particulates disperse to. [Aside: In some respects NASA probably did us a favour in collecting the Ozone data and not analysing it for several decades as the larger dataset presents a more compelling picture than the individual snapshots. ]

Boris Johnson's mad hydrogen for homes bubble bursts

Re: Capacity

>The linked paper:

“ Ground source heat pumps are more suitable than air source heat pumps due to maintaining a higher coefficient of performance during cold periods.”

Nice to a see a report support the blindingly obvious. It’s one of the reasons when the Conservatives came up with their air source heat pump imitative, I laughed derisively at it. Not saying air source heat pumps don’t work, but given people want the heating on when it is sub 12C outside and definitely when it is sub 6C, air sourced heat pumps were always going to struggle; just like (air sourced) heat pump tumble driers (located in the largely unseated utility room) are totally incapable of actually drying washing.

I was countering the assertion: “ we could get away with a continuous running heat pump of about 5kW.”.

Also, whilst most of the time we can “get away” with low spec kit, you will really notice it when things go more extreme - what will be the output of at 5kW heat pump when ambient air temperature is lower than -10C and you really need the heating to keep the house near to 16C.

Agree, most of the time this is what I am able to do, but then for some reason (children, dogs, weather etc.) it can get a lot colder than intended…

Damp is interesting, had to deal with mildew etc. in my daughter’s student house - they learnt the lesson of using central heating to keep the building warm as opposed to rapid heating when they were in, resulted in both a more comfortable house and lower energy bills. To help with the mould problem, I put a room stat where the mould was, so they could monitor that thet part of the room actually got to 16C for an appreciable length of time.

My next home project is to not use the central heating circuit for the hot water - the hot water has to be heated to 65C to avoid Legionella. However, the central heating only really needs the water heating to 45C, at which the boiler can operate at a much higher level of energy efficiency.

Much depends on the heat loss rate and the thermal mass of your property, plus the speed at which the house can be brought up to a comfortable temperature.

Based on the heat loss maths my house needs 8~10kW to maintain an average temperature of 18C when it is -1C outside. However, additional heat will be required to raise the temperature from say 8C to 18C, with even more being required if the structure has become cold and damp. My gas boiler has an output rating of 15kW and being 82% efficient an input rating of 18kW, currently, the house only starts to feel cold when the outside temperature goes lower than circa -10C.

So basically, a 5kW heat pump would be wholly inadequate, unless I massively improved both the thermal insulation (reduce rate of heat loss) and the thermal mass (building retains more heat so can give it out to,smooth fluctuations caused by say a door being opened.

US prosecutors slam Autonomy tycoon's attempt to get charges tossed

Re: Lest anyone forgets who the real criminals are ...

It’s the US, we can expect the facts, as given to another Court, will be deemed inadmissible and probably deemed to have been given under duress…

British boffins say aircraft could fly on trash, cutting pollution debt by 80%

Re: High Speed rail

But that would require a high speed rail network that actually went to places people fly from and to like Scotland, Ireland…

Re: more BS university studies

>”the UK would need to devote half of its existing farmland to SAF production".

Sorry you can’t build houses on that land, it’s needed for the planes, so that we can holiday in Florida etc.

Thousands of Teslas recalled over brake fluid bug

Re: We really do need a new name

Failure to implement required functionality.

What is clear Tesla set the wrong value in their controller software for some thing as well known and understood as a brake fluid sensor. Which raises questions about their attention to other important operational variables such as their much hyped driver assist features …

Raspberry Pi 5: Hot takes and cooler mistakes

Re: Thermodynamics

Surely, just swap that plastic case for a case iron or aluminium one.

Perhaps a good cabinet design for the home datacentre cabinet is something along the lines of this: https://www.stovesareus.co.uk/esse-ironheart-eco-multifuel-wood-burning-range-cooker.html

Excel Hell II: If the sickness can't be fixed, it must be contained

Re: Application abuse

Not sure that Remedy is any better than Excel…

Re: You should be ashamed of this article

They did have systems, I suggest you read the full report, one of my comments on the relevant ElReg article links to it. Then you will understand the problem wasn’t Excel per sa.

Name any spreadsheet that doesn’t feel things up?

The complaints against Excel (in the hands of a typical Office users) are equally applicable to any of the available spreadsheet products: open or proprietary.

Re: Improv

Excel 365/2021 3D spreadsheeting capabilities are still rudimentary; as are OpenCalc, LibreOffice Calc, Calligra Sheets…

Gas supplier blames 'rogue' code for Channel Island outage

Re: Days or even weeks to turn it back on?

Useful reference: ” Gas supply emergencies - consumer self isolation and restoration (SI&R) of gas supply”:

” The gas network cannot simply be switched back on since the order in which premises are restored must be coordinated to ensure that pressure in the network is maintained.”

It would seem as the Jersey network will have been off for more than 24 hours and impacts circa 4,000 customers, safety concerns dictate a controlled restoration of supply.

At the domestic level, if people haven’t isolated their home pipes from the mains, so they retain pressure, there is an increased risk of there being a combustible gas-air mix in the pipes, when mains supply is restored. So yes, turning gas back on does have an increased risk of explosion. When my local gas main was repaired recently, all houses on that segment had a first engineer visit to turn off their gas supply, and when the supply had been restored, a second engineer visited to check pressure and that all appliances (boiler, cooker, fire) were operational. Naturally the windows were left wide open for a few hours to permit vented gas to escape…

Aside: This sort of answer is going to challenge AI, as it requires a deductive leap to link your query to the relevant HSE document.

Re: Days or even weeks to turn it back on?

>” It takes a long time to repressurize all the tubes.

It's not a big truck.”

That is the approach however, when dealing with water mains, as the big trucks/tankers permit the network to be filled from multiple high points, before the pumps are turned on to pressurise it.

This approach also helps to minimise the residual trapped air.

Re: still wondering

From what I can gather we are effectively rebuilding them but out of battery packs to support the electricity grid which will rely more on fluctuating generators.

Re: "because of the code"

> It's still not the code that is at fault.

I would agree, as it seems the failed over system also did a fail safe shutdown: “ the plant turned itself off to protect the network,”

If the code was “rogue” I would not expect both systems to fail safe.

However, I wonder whether the first system in turning the plant off also turned off the power supply to the failover/DR system…

Re: Well that was like reading an error report from a user

> “it's because the same software failing in exactly the same way on the exactly same input.”

Agree, it is usual for DR to be between systems from different suppliers, even in fail safe environments. On British Railways, for example, it was only considered for Solid State Interlocking.

It is this, same and immediate failure which lends weight to the “rogue” software being part of the original build and not third-party stealth ware.

TaxWatch finds astute scheme minimizes Big Tech's UK tax bill by over $2B

Re: Amazon “indirect taxes”

>” I look at the supposed profit and split it amongst the guys based on the hours they put in as a bonus check.”

Suspect this equitable but not not equal bonus award means it gets taxed…

Re: 19% Corporate tax

The 19% represents the effective tax rate a typical UK HQ’d company would pay on its gross profits before adjustment for UK tax. To use the actual tax rate would give a misleadingly higher tax take figure that didn’t take into account legal adjustments that reduce taxable profits.

Excel recruitment time bomb makes top trainee doctors 'unappointable'

Re: Pencil and paper...

There seems to be a number of reports/statements

Announcement: https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/news/nhs-england-anaesthetics-ct1-recruitment-review-report

Summary Report: https://anro.wm.hee.nhs.uk/Portals/3/Anaesthetics%20CT1%20recruitment%20review%20report-FINAL.pdf

A full report released under FOI: https://anro.wm.hee.nhs.uk/Portals/3/Anaesthetics%20Recruitment%20-%20Significant%20Incident%20Report%20-%20Dec%2021.pdf?ver=hqDrm_-syzeLmBcfbigWJA%3D%3D

It would seem the underlying issue was lack of integration between Oriel and the Qpercom scoring system, requiring staff to manipulate data to transfer it between systems. Which in turn points to a lapse in management in allowing such ad-hoc methods becoming the normal procedure.

The communication issue was later identified as a fault in Oriel, that the developer then fixed.

Skimming the report, it does seem ANRO’s whole business approach and ethos to the HR process and its people leaves much to be desired.

The process here was for appointment to a role of suitably qualified applicants, not the results of clinical assessment.

Whilst the Royal Colleges are some of the “worst” unions (even Thatcher shied away from taking them on) they do protect their members and have maintained clinical standards ie. Qualifications, and so will only allow those with both knowledge and reputation (colleges and senior colleges in that specific college who will support their application and vouch for the quality of their work and ability to work at the next level) to sit relevant exams and if successful progress.

Re: This is not an IT failing

> Management at a higher level

What?

Management would have set out the requirement, it was the people who enacted the requirement who failed firstly to demand data in a standard format (ie. Send out a template spreadsheet to all), then secondly failed rectify the mistake when they received data back in multiple formats.

Locking down Excel would not prevent the mistake as then the data would most probably have been communicated in loosely structured text emails, giving even more room for transcription errors.

Depends on what point in their career. I know several senior registrars who scrapped through their medical degrees, but once qualified moved into specialisations where they excelled…

For example, one had no bedside manner and would tell people straight out their life expectancy from some condition, they however, excelled at pathology and did significant research into cot deaths.

Can open source be saved from the EU's Cyber Resilience Act?

But to level…

Some aspects of the CRA seem to have been influenced by the SAP approach, so yes you can use my software but I only certified it for use on a system that uses the same hardware and software build as the system I tested it on.

Re: Seems like a simple fix

>” Put the onus on the seller of the IoT devices this law is clearly targeting.”

Doing some skim reading and dipping in, a question arises over AI and self-driving cars. In the case of self-driving cars it is possible the CRA puts the legal liability for accidents on the vehicle manufacturer…

“… that program you wrote in 2019”

“ you find an EU notification in your email box from some agency you've never heard of informing you that you must comply or pay a penalty of €10,000 for that program you wrote in 2019”

Not come across any authoritative source for what software actually qualifies ie. Falls under the CRA. So is that software from 2019 something actively being sold today or something sold in 2019 and no longer advertised.

As there should be some clarity on what software is included, a quick Google shows the source code to AT&T Unix v6 (1975) is still available for download. Also what does this mean for BSD licensed code? Ie. Does this mean source is as is, but a compiled distribution must comply with CRA?

As for that email notification, I expect we will see many scammers trying to exploit this opportunity.

Brit watchdog slams Microsoft as it clears $69B Activision Blizzard buy

Like this quote in the FTC piece.

$69B for this:

“ with a likely addition of Activision Blizzard games in the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, thereby changing the gaming subscription landscape considerably.”

Expect they won’t allow other platforms to offer a similar bundling.

“ The tone from Microsoft now could not be more different.”

What do you expect, they got exactly what they wanted and know there is little the UK regulator can do now to impede whatever they have actually planned for Activision Blizzard.

Canon claims its nanoimprint litho machines capable of 5nm chip production

“ a mask imprinted with a circuit design”

Be interested in more details about how Canon creates the mask.

One you pay a lot of money for and the other is free.

curl vulnerabilities ironed out with patches after week-long tease

Re: Why the constant free ads for TwitteX?

Someone at “X” was exceedingly smart or Musk just got lucky. I note instead of saying “Twitter” the BBC et al now say “ X, formerly known as Twitter,” and thus helping Musk in his rebrand. Personally, I would just continue to refer to it as “the social media widely known as Twitter” and if deemed necessary footnote the new name.

Workload written by student made millions, ran on unsupported hardware, with zero maintenance

Re: The staying power of powerpoint

First hand experience of why the plans for all the services under our roads shall be labelled “for guidance only”.

The wry laugh I’ve had is that whilst my house is as per the plan and located at its correct real world geolocation (comfirmed by OS surveyors), the road isn’t (think 12 feet), resulting in several boundary disputes between neighbours of the houses between mine and the road, as the builders simply juggled things (eg. detached houses are now semi detached) so the right number of houses were built, but no one updated the plans which went to the Land Registry. Personally, I had little time for my neighbours, as if they had looked at the boundary plan included in their legal purchase agreement and compared it to the real world, the differences were obvious…

Re: A quick question

I suspect the authors of the software still in use by GE Canada can trump everyone here: ” Nuke plants to rely on PDP-11 code UNTIL 2050!”

Re: Cheap

Re low code (and no code)

“ Low-code or no-code are methods of designing and developing apps using intuitive drag and drop tools that reduce or eliminate the need for traditional developers who write code.”

[ https://www.sap.com/uk/products/technology-platform/low-code/what-is-low-code-no-code.html - source chosen because of the various comments made about ERP systems and SAP specifically. ]

Wasn’t part of the sales pitch for VisiCalc, 1-2-3, Multiplan etc and more recently Access, Excel, Word macros/VBA etc. their no-code and/or low-code abilities…

Additionally, you say the entire home computer and IBM PC market was based on little or engagement with traditional IT, hence even tools like Turbo Pascal fall into the low-code category…

Whenever I’ve encountered low-code/no-code as part of an IT project, it’s quite common in workflow systems and Business-rule driven applications in general, I have tended to functionally box it and insist the relevant business team/department assign the role of business rule maintainer (whatever title you wish to give it) to member(s) of their team. So for example IT becomes responsible for platform software, user department for their processes etc.

Re: As a student?

> “It was supposed to be one of those "Just get us through the demo, dammit!" hacks.”

This specifically and the comments on this article amuse me, having just read the comments about Excel on the article https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/12/excel_anesthetist_recruitment_blunder/

Agree a receipt printer is probably the best solution, can be run off batteries and being small don’t take up much desktop/wall space and whilst they can have multiple uses are unlikely to be used for other purposes, so fire list gets queue blocked because that rarely used printer in reception is currently printing someone’s Magnus opus report.

Three dozen plaintiffs join Apple AirTag tracking lawsuit in amended complaint

And for iOS users

Apple support article: “ What to do if you get an alert that an AirTag, Find My network accessory or set of AirPods is with you ”. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT212227

Process not as simple as for Android and from what I can determine from looking at my iPad (iOS 16.7.1) the alert isn’t enabled by default, unlike Android (I checked and it’s enabled on all my family’s Huawei’s).

Apple FindMy Network

“ and use Bluetooth broadcasting technology to connect to nearby Apple devices in order to register their location on Apple's FindMy network”

So the FindMe network is another vendor proprietary stealth network that leeches bandwidth off customers devices. I expect other than to disable mobile data, there is no way for an iPhone/iPad user to prevent this from happening, although I expect buried in the user agreement Apple will have covered themselves.

Reminds me of Amazon’s Sidewalk mesh networking ( https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/28/amazon_sidewalk_mesh_network/ )

Brit competition regulator will make or break Vodafone and Three union

Re: 100% No

There was an ElReg article recently on Vodafone with market analysts rating Vodafone stock as “stagnant” because it was operating in a regulated and competitive market and so there was not much room to fleece customers and produce the ever increasing profits they say investors are wanting. Another effect of this was to increase the costs of borrowing needed for a rapid rollout of 5G.

It would seem “investors” have forgotten what utility stocks are for; they are dull and don’t give high rates of return but they give a steady income.

My understanding they share mast sites, but independently decide whether to actually deploy cells at any specific site. Although to achieve the national coverage targets I expect the number mast sites that don’t have a full complement of MNO cells to be diminishing.