Posts by cjcox

Microsoft doc formats are the bane of office suites on Linux, SoftMaker's Office 2021 beta may have a solution

Summary: Bridge players have a document that is formatted like how your grandmother does formatting, without thought or structure. And, it only displays correctly using the software it was created on (please don't touch it though), Microsoft Office. Conclusion: Anything that is not Microsoft Office is crap.

Apple drops a bomb on long-life HTTPS certificates: Safari to snub new security certs valid for more than 13 months

And if you run your own CA? Tough rocks I suppose. Apple === clueless about computing.

Linux in 2020: 27.8 million lines of code in the kernel, 1.3 million in systemd

I remember...

When systemd was being discussed, the idea was to not force carry a large FOSS shell (emphasis on FOSS btw) for handling "init". The mantra was that we needed something simpler.

1.3 million lines of code in systemd.

365 thousand lines of code in bash.

Just something to thing about.

Dell slathers on factor XPS 13 to reveal new shiny with... ooh... a 0.1 inch bigger screen

Read other "real" overviews...

Was going to detail all that is "wrong" on Reg's "slather" article.... just read about the new XPS from other sources. Nuff said.

Crossing the platforms: The Register checks in with Canonical's WSL alternative – Multipass

WSL, Multipass, pretty different things

WSL is a Windows specific way to run Linux under Windows.

Multipass works across operating systems allowing different operating systems, using different native hypervisors to run Ubuntu easily.

How bad is Catalina? It's almost Apple Maps bad: MacOS 10.15 pushes Cupertino's low bar for code quality lower still

The "elements" of the dumpster fire

So... really, there are some things in Catalina to be aware of.

1. No more 32bit support. If you're holding on to old software, like a bought copy of Office 2011, you will be frustrated. Also, even venerable apps like Creative Cloud have had some problems with add-ons that are still 32bit. So, IMHO, this is probably the biggest thing to be aware of as "important" stuff might not work for you on Catalina. Is there a list of software somewhere? Not sure. There might be some kind of "checker" program out there.

2. Apple's version of UAC. More things are going to ask your permission. Interesting that during the MS Vista days, Apple ran ads mocking the UAC feature of Windows and now, they sort of have the same thing. Hopefully this is just more of a nuisance.

3. Protected OS area. With Catalina you can lock down the OS areas from external modification. This might cause problems for some software, but usually not.

(there are other "big things"...)

Anyway, like most Apple shops, we have been kicking the tires so to speak, and at least for our users, we don't view much of Catalina to be a big problem, sure... we have some rough things relating to TCC (#2) that we still need to work through, but in general, we're ok. Has Apple been making some fairly radical changes in Mojave and Catalina... definitely. And some of these changes can frustrate an Apple shop where processes and procedures for "imaging" or "network install" were used. Probably nothing big for the user community. With that said, not sure there's anything terribly great or awesome forcing you to upgrade. You might just wait until you need a new device (talking home users) and accept whatever OS version it comes with.

We asked for your Fitbit horror stories and, oh wow, did you deliver: Readers sync their teeth into 'junk' gizmos

Ditto, never again.

Not me, but the rest of my family went all fitbit... had them break, get more expensive (top of the line) fitbits and have them break. They're done with fitbit.

Breaking, literally: Microsoft's fix for CPU-hogging Windows bug wrecks desktop search

They did respond!

Microsoft has been trying to respond, but the latest update has prevented them from doing so. Please be patient.

For real this time, get your butt off Python 2: No updates, no nothing after 1 January 2020

How very PHP of them.

Anyway, same old problems when people "in the name of good", create a lot of pain. Well done. Well done.

You like magic tricks? See this claim that IBM bungled an Obamacare IT project? Whoosh, now it's a $15m check

We had nothing to do with it!

I'm thinking IBM would have taken full credit for a successful rollout of a insurance exchange. What do you think?

IBM is trying to throttle my age-discrimination lawsuit – axed ace cloud salesman

IBM doesn't do "win - win" and they never lose

That subject line is very true of IBM. They know every trick in the book and "paper wise" they own you, you just don't know it yet. Taking on IBM and winning... would love to see it. IMHO, if you think you have a shot, I'd buy some kevlar.

Microsoft, you shouldn't have: Festive Windows 10 Insiders build about as exciting as new socks

They are working on a major new feature

The next insider build will include something new for Windows 10, called "testing".

"We believe that 'testing' will be received as the most well received update to Windows 10 releases over the past year."

It's the wobbly Microsoft service sweepstake! If you have 'Teams', you've won a lifetime Slack sub

Of course, given recent statements from the rumor mill...

Recently the rumors are that Microsoft may be ditching Edge for a new browser based on Chromium (or maybe just WebKit?). Microsoft deploys a Linux enivronment, tries to support Powershell (by the way, poorly) on real Linux, attempts to move away from Wrm to ssh, yes you're Windows has an ssh daemon now.... etc...

Maybe Microsoft should just buy Slack and go with that...

You think you're hot bit: Seagate tests 16TB HAMR disk drive

Amazing advances

Used to be, I just lost 1TB. Now we'll be able to say, I just lost 16TB.

We (may) now know the real reason for that IBM takeover. A distraction for Red Hat to axe KDE

Broken by design

Gnome is broken by design. Why have a background if you can't use it? It's just weird.

With that said, RHEL's KDE implementation was also pretty broken. Maybe Red Hat's goal is to make every DE non-functional? They've done a pretty good job.

If you want a good KDE experience there's always SUSE. IBM's crush of Red Hat could mean opportunity for SUSE. Maybe they can hire back some of their talent?

Official: IBM to gobble Red Hat for $34bn – yes, the enterprise Linux biz

IBM is to FOSS as oil is to water

IBM is possibly the most anti-FOSS company in the world today. Their absolute hatred of the GPL, everything. IBM is completely patent centric. They are preparing for the next true global war which they believe will be fought on top of proprietary closed technology and the winner will be the company with the most patents. There were days that I actually admired the folks at Red Hat, they have now revealed their true nature.

Groupon to pay IBM $57m after getting money off e-commerce patent settlement

IBM has patented things like breathing and movement, etc.

IBM owns patents for everything. The sooner that company dies, the better.

Microsoft commits: We're buying GitHub for $7.5 beeeeeeellion

GitHub 365

GitHub 365. It's GitHub with Azure cloud reliability.

IBM's Watson Health wing left looking poorly after 'massive' layoffs

In jeopardy

Answer: 50-70% layoffs this week.

Watson: What is IBM?

VMware to finally deliver full-function HTML5 vSphere client

Re: Steve - *applause*

That's just wrong. Cloud is expensive. It's point it to eliminate IT staffing (the savings). Generally speaking you will do better cost wise with a 5 year life cycle on your own stack... but, that assumes you're not firing your IT staff.

Hypervisors should be in one's arsenal just as much as "the cloud".

Finally!

When pressed, they said, "It's true. We've ditched Flash and built a custom Cold Fusion app. You're welcome!"

You love Systemd – you just don't know it yet, wink Red Hat bods

He's a pain

Early on I warned that he was trying to solve a very large problem space. He insisted he could do it with his 10 or so "correct" ways of doing things, which quickly became 20, then 30, then 50, then 90, etc.. etc. I asked for some of the features we had in init, he said "no valid use case". Then, much later (years?), he implements it (no use case provided btw).

Interesting fellow. Very bitter. And not a good listener. But you don't need to listen when you're always right.

Press F to pay respects to the Windows 10 April Update casualties

Help the hate

1. Create a stupid feature.

2. Get 1000 people out of millions to use it.

3. Remove the feature.

4. +1000 Microsoft haters added.

5. Repeat.

IBMers in TSS: How WILL we support customers after these latest job cuts?

All fixable

I used to work for IBM and I can assure you this can all be fixed with a new slogan and tons of posters.

Oracle open-sources DTrace under the GPL

The Sun has set already

Just remember, if ZFS and Dtrace were just so totally awesome and amazing, Sun Microsystems and/or an Oracle run Sun set of stuff would dominate today. It's nice and all, but maybe not as nice as some want us to believe.

I remember working for a company with a very mature software product (existed years before Linux), but its performance on Solaris sucked vs. Linux. So Sun sent their best expert to our site for month armed with the mighty Dtrace to find out where "our" flaw was. Needless to say, after a month he left with head down sobbing.

It was fun and sad to watch.

Still, interesting to see Oracle GPL something... but usually means they're abandoning ship... I know Larry isn't a nice guy and maybe he isn't in full control, but still....

OnePlus Android mobes' clipboard app caught phoning home to China

And Huawei rants?

And Huawei wonders why there's no carrier love for their "safe" phones in the USA? I wonder just how much "ownage" there is in the world because of Chinese goods? I don't think we'll ever know.

Bigger problem is knowing what was an accident and what was really intentional. China doesn't have a very good reputation for playing nice or fair.

Why are we disappointed with the best streaming media box on the market?

The new Roku "direction"

Of course Roku raised a ton of money in an IPO (going public means you set a strategy, and have other people control it besides the ones that actually have knowledge).

Their new "direction" is all about "ads", how to get money through ads.

While they are experimenting with being a 3rd party enabled set top, that is, being the supplier of 3rd party TV possibly OTA and streaming (the latter being like the Roku TV experience).

But nothing "ideal" or revolutionary. Reminds me of how Honda dropped their Civic Hybrid so they could focus on gasoline based cars. Really? That's a strategy for the future?

I like Roku. But wonder Mr. Wood is looking to cash out and start his next big thing elsewhere. This wouldn't be the first time.

Microsoft Edge shock: Browser opts for Apple WebKit, Google Blink

There are broken browsers on IOS

There are some terribly broken browsers you can get on IOS, but any normal player MUST use Apple's broken Webkit implementation. This is why even with Chrome and Firefox, there are features that just don't work on IOS, it's all the same limited engine.

Patch alert! Easy-to-exploit flaw in Linux kernel rated 'high risk'

Easy solution

I run MSDOS, there hasn't been any major (or minor) security patches released for years!

Oh my Word... Microsoft Office 365 unlatched after morning lockout

Five 9's

There nothing "enterprise" about choosing Microsoft. Still holds true. Five 9's, when dealing with Microsoft means price.

The Linux cloud swap that spells trouble for Microsoft and VMware

While containers are useful

While containers are useful, the article is mired by a whole lot of "crap" statements that just really are not true. Virtualization through hypervisors have their purposes and if done well are lightning fast to start up (putting to rest one of "crap" comments), and containers have their purposes.

Oh.. and by the way, lest we forget, physical servers are always there and are necessary beyond just being the plumbing.

My point is all of these are useful tools. The author comes off sounding like an idiot.

Oracle asks for more time to finish Java 9

Re: progress in programming language design

echo "Hello, World"

In a surprise move

In a surprise move, it has been decided to drop the platform altogether. Java 6 will stick around since there are so many things dependent upon it. But only for an extra year. Everything else has 6 mos. to convert to something better, more portable, more secure and more maintainable.

..... hey... I guy can dream....

Well this is awkward. As Microsoft was bragging about Office at Build, Office 365 went down

Why Office 365 isn't down much.

Office 365 is a top priority at Microsoft. I'm mean if it goes down for more than 24 hours they have to rebrand it as Office 364. And that would be expensive.

Who do you want to be Who? VOTE for the BBC's next Time Lord

My recommendation

I recommended to the BBC a "fun" but risky suggestion. Risky in that he's probably not interested.

I suggested American actor/model Shemar Moore.

A "buff" Doctor could be a lot of fun. Could bring some lost viewship back as well.

Sony takes $1bn writedown: Streaming has killed the DVD star

Don't listen to Sony, they are liars

The only reason is because Sony purchased the right for Blu-ray to "win" and then they made sure it was completely unusable. Has nothing to do with DVD sales which are being "forced" out. Blu-ray is what is unusable by design. Sony screwed up with BetaMax, they are doing the same with Blu-ray. This is ALL on them and them alone. They forced their way into winning the HD war and they force killed it all at the same time. Sony has nobody to blame but themselves. Btw, the fix could be somewhat easy, but Sony is bound and determined to commit suicide... so be it.

Elementary, my dear IBM: When will Watson make money?

Saw this on TV

One word answers for $1000...

Trebek: Never

When will Waton make money.

Trebek: Correct, Watson, make another choice.

Not OK Google: Tree-loving family turns down Page and pals' $7m

Condemn?

Usually if a property owner of idle land won't accept the outrageous offer, condemnation begins so that they can take the land away. Be warned.

Climate change bust up: We'll launch our own damn satellites if Trump pulls plug – Gov Brown

Idea

Perhaps we should wait and see or at least understand any potential action before jumping to conclusions? AFAIK, Trump hasn't done anything yet... after all, he's not the President yet.

NEC mentions it has a high-end dedupe disk backup box, stretches, yawns for 40 seconds

EMC AX series

When EMC needed something to fill the mid-tier high density end of things they OEM'd NEC units. However, they stripped all the advanced features out of them so that it would look more EMC-like.

Former FBI spy hunter: Don’t trust China on ‘no hack’ pact

Just in

FBI attests to Chinese backdoor they used to get into San Bernadino iPhone

The FBI knowing that China would never honor a "won't hack pact", use that fact to exploit China's backdoor into the iPhone. However, the FBI would still prefer a hack into the phone that Apple knows about. When asked what difference does it make, the FBI responded, "Don't you see, Apple is a fruit, and China isn't."

IBM slices heavy axe through staff in the US

IBM is just being IBM, no surprise

IBM is *not* the company most people think it is. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite of their propaganda. Very sad.

With that said, they patent everything (including junk). They are well armed for a patent Wold War... and the patents give them the ability to acquire pretty much anyone they want for whatever price they want. And while there have been glimmers of hope with many junk patents getting thrown out as they are used by smaller companies, one has to wonder if big blue's pockets are deep enough to silence the parties that would dare take a close look at their patents even if under dispute.

Anyone I know that was "good" has long left IBM and I can honestly say, IBM doesn't care at all.

So.. in a way I guess I'm saying "Who cares?" Let IBM continue to be IBM... seems to be working really well for them. :)

... building a smarter planet through attrition...

You gotta be in it to win it: The Register presents its official Programming Competition

No scruples

This contest is NO contest. Has nothing to do with programming, skills, etc...

This is simply IBM marketing and propaganda around their (less than successful) cloud offerings.

Anybody want to take and make this into a *real* contest without the IBMisms?

I don't think there's a scruple left inside of IBM.

Why blades need enterprise management software: Learn from Trev's hardcore lab tests

Tcp offloading

If you are using hypverisors, make sure you are not double dipping on tcp offloading. So check your gso and tso values (ethtool -k <if>) and turn those off inside of the VMs. I think then you might be happier with your network performance. It's just a guess, but it's often missed and will cause huge problems with 10gE.

Not so ESXi? Open sourcery could help VMware win... virtually

You'll see Windows, Office and Oracle (all of them)... open source before ESXi. Just saying.

VMware provides an "ok" free version of ESXi that will suit many...

The future however does not belong to VMware. They will start to wane as KVM/Openstack takes its place (but that could be a few years off).

If you want something VMware like today... there's always Xen/Cloudstack.... and the free (open) version of Xen doesn't have restrictions like free ESXi.

I QUIT: Mozilla's anti-gay-marriage Brendan Eich leaps out of door

Whew! Glad we got rid of him. Now if we can just get rid of everyone else who disagrees with our position!! Goosesteppers unite!! Of course, we should have set him on fire... maybe next time...

Boycott Firefox, gay devs urge as Mozilla appoints JavaScript daddy as CEO

Gay rage, because of what somebody believes?

I don't support gay marriage. Why? Because the Bible calls homosexuality a sin (and btw, so is divorce, adultery, etc.. and I don't support those either). So... what I understand now to be true *here* is that if I stand on God's Word, I am supposed to be crucified for what God says. Correct?

For sure, those who support any sinful lifestyle are welcome and free to boycott whatever, whenever, just like anyone else... but to condemn others for their beliefs? Is this some kind of gay revenge upon a world that has decided to ignore what God says about sin? God can't keep you from sinning. But He did provide a way out. His name is Jesus Christ. He gave His life so we wouldn't have to live under the condemnation of sin anymore. Be that homosexuality, lying, cheating, etc..

If saving folks from that which kills them is *wrong*, I suppose we should crucify Jesus... err... wait a minute.... that didn't work quite as expected the first time out. Jesus lives. So, maybe we should stop hating people that are trying to follow Jesus. Just saying.

Btw, I'm not saying that the Mozilla CEO is following Jesus... I'm just tired of certain people being given superior *rights* because they have a seemingly popular worldly belief and others being put down because they hold a (supposed) minority position. People are the same... debates on what we believe should always be allowed. You want to boycott me (or whatever I do) for what I believe... fine... if you're a homosexual and you are holding a parade of support for homosexuality, I will likely boycott that. Isn't that fair?

Personally, it doesn't matter what I say... it doesn't matter what you say. At the end of the day, it only matters what God says.... but, if you don't believe in God, I suppose nothing matters at all...

Fast SANs seek speedy networks

Other considerations

Speed is a hard thing to grasp. I mean, often times the "filling of a pipe" is done so using aggregate users of the SAN. So... perhaps a better way of looking at things is how many SANs using a singular client, can saturate the line. It should be fairly easy to saturate a line when considering requests over a multitude of clients.

It's possible that a SAN CAN saturate 16Gbit, for example, if using ONE client... but how many drives and what config was able to pull that off? Again, it sort of matters when considering how a particular SAN storage unit scales.

So things to consider:

1. Number of clients

2. Number of pathways

3. Number of drives

4. RAID level

And probably a lot more....

Virtualisation lets the applications roll

Microsoft abitrarily taxes VDI

One potential barrier is the cost of VDI. You see, Microsoft was forced to create an arbitrary tax on VDI through a new annual renewable license called the VDA. For every NON-Microsoft client that is doing remote desktop to a Windows host, you must purchase a VDA. The only way to avoid the tax is to use an all Microsoft approved infrastructure for VDI. I hear that EA users can exchange their unused CALs (which are "one time" fees) for an annual renewable VDA.

Basically what Microsoft has done is greatly raise the TCO of a typical VDI deployment. But of course, Microsoft will gladly "make a deal" with you with regard to the "tax"... so it may only be a tax against SMBs. We'll see.

The VDA is an anti-competitive practice btw. As it coerces companies to choose only Microsoft approved solutions.

Creationists are infiltrating US geology circles

Science anyone?

For, the problem is that science isn't being done. Science is all about experimentation and observation... but now, if somebody has a "title", hypothesis can be promoted to theory and theory can be promoted to fact. Personally, I think it is wise that scientists bring differences to the table... but let's also be willing to do the hard work again... hard... sometimes long and painstaking work... and instead of basing new work on bad "scientific" assumption made by those with "titles", let's at least be willing to call a hypothesis a hypothesis again...

Theories really need to have a lot of repeatable observable data ... and then... we need to remember, it's still only just a theory. When we build large ideological structures (thories and sadly, apparently, facts) on top of a foundation of mostly theory (or worse, hypotheses), then we make almost all observations null and void.

Science anyone?

Theories are NOT popular feelings or generally accepted ideas.... (repeat that 3 times everyone). Creationists are motivated by what they believe God has said. Non-creationists (often) are motivated to disprove God (sad, but very true). And sometimes, that leads to bad reasoning and jumping to conclusions without doing the hard work mentioned earlier.

For those peuedo-scientists that place much of their belief is something they mistakenly refer to as "Darwinism", I dare say (can't prove this) that if Darwin were alive today, he would chunk most if not all of what he wrote.... but in all fairness, most "Darwinists" don't even understand what Darwin wrote to begin with (they're kind of a cult IMHO).