Posts by nijam

Sony wins case over pre-installed Windows software

Re: Suppressed by a supplier though ...

Your second option is incomplete. It should read:

Press B to permanently remove pre-installed software and obtain a full refund for its retail price. (You will need an alternative operating system.)

Top cop: Strap Wi-Fi jammers to teen web crims as punishment

... and then they can be arrested every day, since the use of WiFi jammers is largely illegal.

Google nukes ad-blocker AdNauseam, sweeps remains out of Chrome Web Store

Re: No free ride

> I have not understood why Google is sometimes excused behaviour that many commentards would think was unacceptable if carried out by Sony, Microsoft, Apple etc.

Because, notwithstanding the general tenor of the commentard rants here, Google are largely quite upfront about what they do. That is definitely not the case with Microsoft (and many others) who have been found to be deliberately lying about it. Apple's a special case, they deny everything and it's quite difficult to find out what they actually do.

Those online ads driving you bonkers are virtually 'worthless for brands'

Re: Puzzled

> ... the major brand is motivated to help you get it repaired so their reputation doesn't suffer ...

A-ha! I spy an optimist.

Twas the week before Xmas ... not a creature was stirring – except Microsoft admitting its Windows 10 upgrade pop-up went 'too far'

Re: Microsoft has been getting it wrong with user interfaces

> You turn it on, then you turn it off.

And you leave it turned off, if you have any sense.

Re: It's called OS X

> where it falls down is with backwards compatibility

So, just like like MSWindows, then.

How Google.org stole the Christmas Spirit

> didn't want to play nice with the MS network infrastructure

Ha! Does anything? That fault is with MS's proprietary lock-in technology, not elsewhere.

Strong non-backdoored encryption is vital – but the Feds should totally be able to crack it, say House committees

We want to have *your* cake and stuff our faces with it.

FTFY

TalkTalk hacker gets iPhone taken away by Norwich Youth Court

Re: Ridiculous

> somebody kicks it and nicks my stuff, it is the burglar who is responsible

To extend your analogy, all he did was publish the fact that an idiot had a cardboard door.

Re: Who caused it?

> ... a good legal eagle could make a case for aiding and abetting

Irrelevant. A good legal eagle (for some definition of "good", obviously) could make a case for anything.

Governments 'one step behind' tech firms in tracking tax – Meg Hillier

Re: Shouldn't this be the poster child ...

> We know that ...

... except we don't *actually* know it, do we? Not that it matters, we can still blame them.

Axel Springer boss defends Facebook in fake news controversy

> It compared Google to a protection racket

What an irony - Springer is one of the publishers that many academics want Universities to stop dealing with, precisely because the academic journals they publish practice exactly the same kind of "blackmail".

Debian putting everything on the /usr

Re: I don't like change

> Today, separate volume for /home, and perhaps /var in servers, is warranted, but not so much /usr, and it can harmlessly be folded back into /.

Yes, in fact it's been done the wrong way round; /usr should have been scrapped and everything put back under / where it belonged originally.

Reg man 0: Japanese electronic toilet 1

> As if anyone would steal it.

No, it's so you could return it to them afterwards.

Mac book, whoa! Apple unveils $300 design tome

I think the reference should have been Shylock, not Sherlock.

Russia shoves antitrust probe into Microsoft after Kaspersky gripes about Windows 10

Re: Defender

> Defender is there ONLY to defend MS from piracy.

MS is there only to defend users from privacy.

Rolling out flash in the enterprise? It's a matter of application

> Instead of reading and writing specific bytes of data, flash SSD storage is structured into cells

And disk drives are usually used for single-byte I/O? I rather think not.

Mac administrators brace for big changes to Apple-powered fleets

Re: cue...

> "so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should"

Possibly even more applicable to Apple's actions than to SysAdmins'.

Silicon Valley's oligarchs got a punch in the head – and that's actually good thing

Re: Confused Brit

> Clinton lost basically because she's a horrible, corrupt, venal, and thoroughly unlikeable fake

And the Donald is more horrible, more venal, more corrupt, and more thoroughly unlikable. So it isn't clear what your point is.

> ...over 80% of those voting for Trump said it was a vote for "change"

They will get change. And then they will be worse off.

I wouldn't mind that, but unfortunately the rest of us will be worse off too, which I do mind.

Microsoft releases open source bug-bomb in the rambling house of C

Re: C is an applications programming language

> The whole of C/UNIX started from a requirement for a typesetting system

That's a complete misinterpretation of history, I'm afraid.

McDonald's sues Italian city for $20m after being burger-blocked

Re: The real reason

> ...were it available...

I think the point of celebrating cultural differences is that you might try something else, once in a while. Which you won't if you prejudge local produce as failing to live up to what you choose "back home".

Re: The real reason

"Barff National Park", surely?

Celeb-backed music TV phallus Electric Jukebox finally ready for launch

> I choose Radio Six

Unfortunately, every time I tune in to Radio Six ("Six Music" as they call it), there is not much music, but (usually) two people yakking to one another in the BBC's beloved "regional accents". Admittedly they may be yakking about music, I don't stay to find out.

Fleeing Aussie burglar shot in arse with bow and arrow

Re: Bloke was lucky

> ... did nothing about it for 8 months ...

Aiding and abetting, surely?

We're going to have to start making changes or the adults will do it for us

> Because in a Word document ... you should never, never use "tabs".

Because in a document, you should never, never use Word.

Living with the Pixel XL – Google's attempt at a high-end phone

> design-wise it's not very inspiring

It's a phone, what were you expecting? Personally, I think styling gimmicks count against a design.

> ... Google wants to charge $769 for a telephone?

At last, something they really did copy from Apple.

Google makes it to third base with Home digital assistant

Re: I am joined to both ecosystems

Just the post title will get you plenty of downvotes (from ecosystem-exiters, one assumes)

Re: Kitchen interface for Spotify

> ...a place to keep your pots of jam

What kind of dreadful person has more than one pot of jam?

We're great, you don't understand competition law, Google tells Europe

"FairSearch represents vertical search rivals shafted by Google"

I really, really don't believe that.

And while we're on the subject, vertical search - AKA comparison sites - are best avoided because they are often owned or largely funded by one or other of the big players in the relevant market, but keep that fact very well hidden. Secret usually, in fact.

What should the Red Arrows' new aircraft be?

"we will start to think about that in the next year or two"

Because it would be just plain silly to start thinking about it now.

Broadcom snaps up Brocade for $5.9bn

Broadcom must be really hopeful that the rumoured incipient demise of FC is *only* a rumour.

Dark matter? More like diet matter: Super-light axions may solve universe's mass riddle

Re: Intresting

> ... science which states it must be particle based ...

The whole point about quantum theory is that it really doesn't say anything is a particle or a wave, only that it may have those aspects when observed in a particular way. In this case, axions are particles for the purposes of writing an article like this one - but that's because it's convenient notation, not because axions are purely particles and have no wavelike aspect at all.

If any idiot can do it, we're heading in the right direction

"discreet SANs" are the best kind, although if they're too discreet, your data may as well not exist at all.

Arch Linux: In a world of polish, DIY never felt so good

Re: How odd

Yes, knowing what you're doing should always be described as "elitist nonsense". Especially in our field of endeavour.

HPE: Wanna revive that support deal for your software? Ha ha ha, har

"Dear Valued Customer" means "Dear Valuable source of cash flow". Just business jargon, pay no heed.

Self-driving cars doomed to be bullied by pedestrians

Re: Non-issue.

> Everyone in the UK has a bmw?

Way too many, but not everyone.

Re: meek cars and commuting

> You throw in the towel

It would even stop for that, I expect.

Re: Hoodies playing chicken...?

> Bringing car to a halt or crawl unlocks the door

No it doesn't.

Re: Wait a minute...

> Please, please save me from this stultifying future.

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

ARM: Hold my beer, we'll install patches for your crappy IoT gear for you

Re: Hey, really neat!

> ...thousands of patches later, it hasn't happened

I'm sure I've read about cases where Windows Update was tricked into installing third-party malware. And that's even without the obligatory joke about most Microsoft patches being malware in the first place.

It's nearly 2017 and JPEGs, PDFs, font files can hijack your Apple Mac, iPhone, iPad

Re: @a_yank_lurker Cupertino is ...

> ... after installation the root account password is the same as the first/main user account password...

I've tested several different linux distributions over the last couple of years and not one of them has done that.

Rogue sysadmins the target of Microsoft's new 'Shielded VM' security

Re: Errr, no

The main thing VMs are missing is something like the false sense of security provided by Intel's trusted platform module.

Openreach split could damage broadband investment, says BT's chief exec

Re: Pensions ...

> ... You have claims both for investing in infrastructure and payments to the pension fund...

Invest in the infrastructure, then make the payment to the pension fund in newly-issued shares backed by the value of that new infrastructure. Given that pension funds invest in shares anyway, seems like a good way of resolving the specific question you pose.

AI software should be able to register its own patents, law prof argues

... when really we should just be abolishing software patents.

BT will HATE us for this one weird 5G trick

Re: Empty pavements and buses

Remember that public transport is a symptom, not a solution.

Re: Well come to Norwich then...

Milton Keynes (yes, stop laughing at the back) has excellent cycle lanes (through the new sections at least), *completely separate* from the roads. Only problem is that too many cyclists see it as their right and duty to obstruct other road users, and so decline to use the cycle lanes.

Securing Office 365? There's always more you can do

> ...if there were any serious concerns there wouldn't be so many people using it...

Haha... hahahaha, hahahahahahahaha.

Social media flame wars to be illegal, says top Crown prosecutor

Re: El Reg

No, I believe El Reg is antisocial media.