Posts by Sorry, you cannot reuse an old handle.

If you really can't let go of Windows 7, Microsoft will keep things secure for another three years

Re: Win 7

Remember Win 7. The last best OS for the office before M$ forced Windows 10 down everyone's throat.

Linux (with Ubuntu, Mint, Elementary, Deepin) can easily become the favourite OS for the home and when browsing those silly websites that won't work for an online payment (usually the more British-oriented ones), feel free to quickly grab a (Windows-free) tablet and it does the job without blinking.

2020 may not be the Linux year, but is definetely not the Microsoft one either anymore...

https://www.nicealias.com/articles/operating-system-share.eng

Re: Given the cost of a Windows 10 Pro license...

If the previous Windows XP "experiment in prolongation" is anything to go by, the price will double at each of the following two years...

'Bulls%^t! Complete bull$h*t!' Reset the clock on the last time woke Linus Torvalds exploded at a Linux kernel dev

Re: cutting edge caching schemes

Not entirely correct: write-caching was enabled by default on all USB devices in Windows 2000 and on USB storage hubs (like card readers) in Windows XP and following. I didn't go as far back as checking Windows 3.1, NT or even DOS but I'm sure someone will :-)

Re: cutting edge caching schemes

That's why it took Microsoft 30 years to finally change Windows' default policy for USB connected drives from "Best performance" (ie write-caching) to "Quick removal" (ie not-write-caching), after zillions of users lost their data because of their inability to understand a simple instruction to "click on icon to disconnect device before pulling the plug"...

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4495263/windows-10-1809-change-in-default-removal-policy-for-external-media

Microsoft menaced with GDPR mega-fines in Europe for 'large scale and covert' gathering of people's info via Office

Re: What is wrong with America?

American corporations are in cahoot with politicians like nowhere else in the world. They benefit from an immense unfair advantage through corruption (that you insist on calling lobbying) which provides them with very tiny taxes on huge profits and therefore allowing them to grow more easily and protectionist laws (pushed internationally using political/military pressure) making it more difficult for smaller entities to enter the sector/industry, when the latter are not flat removed from competing by simply acquiring them, or other measures "in the interest of national security" to block or stifle competition. Not to mention the added benefit of shares buyback which again increases their market value and allows for even more fictional money to be used to acquire the competition. And not to mention the unfair practices like the one in this article which obviously grants them inside knowledge on competitors or on the market in general and can then be used to win international contracts or blackmail the competition in other ways.

Softbank's 'Pepper' robot is a security joke

Yes, but nowhere is explained how to "physically" connect to the device... do one need to be on the same wi-fi network to start with or what? That would imply a basic security barrier...

Downloaded CCleaner lately? Oo, awks... it was stuffed with malware

Re: Meanwhile ...

CCleaner also runs on Android. Does anyone know if that platform is also affected? (not sure about macOS or iOS...)

Ubuntu sends trash to its desktop's desktop

Re: 2017 is the year of the Linux desktop

I know that you are a semi-troller but although it might not (yet) be the year of Linux on the Desktop, it positively is the year of Linux in the Pocket since the number of mobile/tablet devices sporting Android have in fact surpassed Windows overall and Android is for the most built on top of Linux.

WannaCrypt: Roots, reasons and why scramble patching won't save you now

Worth your health in cash.

The day that corporations will start making money from the death of their employees will mark a great loss for civil rights and privacy. Oh wait, haven't they got a policy for life insurance covering the entire workforce and of which they're part beneficiaries?

'First ever' SHA-1 hash collision calculated. All it took were five clever brains... and 6,610 years of processor time

double check?

has anyone tried to MD5 the two documents and see whether those checksums are the same?

I understand the significance of the feat and the rush to use more and more (computational) secure hashing algorithms but wouldn't be just easier to calculate both MD5 and SHA-1 on any document and see if BOTH are the same of if one of the two differs - then it's not the same document...

[don't underestimate the power of combining two "stupid" systems to make a "smart" one]

This is how the EU's supreme court is stripping EU citizens of copyright protections

Re: How about the rot-13 of a hyperlink?

A translation (ie different encoding) of a copyrighted book is still covered by the original copyright...

Re: I love it when the comments are at loggerheads with the sensationalist title

I also don't get why someone might be infringing by simpy putting some text or some files on a website. Do libraries infringe copyright? Some text or file in on display on a website, so what? I can take a peek the same way that I do in a library and if you even consider that you can borrow books from a library...

Why can't I read that copyrighted text on a webpage? (files might be a different story since you have to "download" / copy them on your computer in order to actually open them - but what about online PDF readers?)

At what point is the website actively distributing the content? Is a library actively putting the books for everyone to read? Where's the difference?

The closest analogy that fits this picture is that of receiving an email with an attachment while at the office. Do you double-check that the sender is the author or that otherwise he had permission to distribute that document? Do you ask each time for permission to redistribute that document in case of reply or forward or even when printing or saving that document to "your" computer or to a network share?

Re: I don't fully understand...

There's nothing telling me that the content of page X on website Y is actually been put there illegally or that its distribution by entity Z would be illegal so while in the case of murdering it is a clear cut case, when talking about IP it is not...

Merely referring to a document that you're not the author of is NOT infringment, otherwise every office workplace would be a nightmare, with people having to double-check whether each document they send around or even mention to someone on the phone has actually been obtained legally or not...

Re: I don't fully understand...

Spotlight on macOS and its equivalent on Windows do index all my documents (including those that I've written myself). Is the search result listing an infringement given that they are copyrighted by me and I haven't given specific permission to index them??

Why does an Android keyboard need to see your camera and log files – and why does it phone home to China?

Why is calling China dodgy

The developer is based in Hong Kong (see website) so I'd say that it's not to far a stretch to "call" China for some server-based analytics.

What I would actually find strange is for such an app to "call" the USA or the Netherlands instead!

IBM invents printer that checks for copyrights

This patent might describe a so-called method (and not simply an idea, which is not patentable) but I'm still amazed at how people come-up with these "methods" that someone from middle school could have thought of for a pet project and yet have no working prototype to at least validate the basic claims.

Heck, I could "invent" a method for hitting the nails with the side of the hammer because that way there is more surface area and you are less likely to miss... is that patentable??

And in addition to that, why are corporations always trying to "avoid" courts by implementing their own legal systems (see Youtube policies or other DMCA examples defaulting to "guilty until proven innocent" instead of getting a fair trial).

What's more interesting in either case is that lawyers are stretching the semantics of the laws and judges/jury find it more difficult to apply common sense and instead have to fight against many technicalities, not to mention disproportionate examples like mall cops shooting someone in the leg for not paying a $1 energy bar.

China's new rules may break the internet warns US government

How is this any different from what other countries are doing with their own registrars?

I have a dozen .com and get pestered on a monthly basis in order to update my whois information, which contains name and address so I'm pretty sure that they can identify me quite easily...

Microsoft phone support contractors told to hang up after 15 minutes

rubbish

to balance those 15 minute calls when the average call duration is of 1.5 minute there must have been a bunch lasting negative 13 minutes...

jokes aside and having worked in tech support for a over a decade I don't believe one minute that they were usually solving calls in less than two minutes...

IE and Graphics head Microsoft's Patch Tuesday critical list

Re: W10 virus

from the KB page:

This update will be offered only if KB2977759, KB2952664, or KB2976978 is installed

Chrome edges out IE for desktop browser crown

Re: Pretty much

Exactly! I don't understand why many sites keep desktop and mobile stats separate when there is always a user behind a machine (and in this case why is laptop considered a desktop and not a mobile device?!)

As others have said looking at places other than Net Applications and combining with mobile stats, Chrome is a distant first and Safari a cool second...

Linux command line mistake 'nukes web boss'S biz'

I wasn't sure whether to ask my apples or my pears but you possibly meant DEITY, not DIETY...

Linux fans may be in for disappointment with SQL Server 2016 port

Re: Perfectly understandable (not)

I wonder how other DB systems like DB/2, Oracle and MySQL have done it so far on Linux without it... maybe shitty SQL Server is so inter-linked to the underlying OS that it actually needs that feature to work properly?

Photographer hassled by Port of Tyne for filming a sign on a wall

This is pure and simple paranoia

The whole government's approach to privacy and security is paranoid to say the least...

At Microsoft 'unlimited cloud storage' really means one terabyte

Re: too unlimited?

or just 3000 blu-rays which is about 8 years watching one every night...

Safe Harbour ruled INVALID: Facebook 'n' pals' data slurp at risk

personal data should be just that: personal. how good would be to get a specific request from each party processing these data BEFORE they actually see the data itself and be able to decide as needed ? (think of it as app permissions on your iPhone - and now on Marshmallow too...)

gov.uk DNS roots there so USofA might claim jurisdiction

The French want to BAN .doc and .xls files from Le Gouvernement

There are different open standards to use in UK government depending if it's for viewing or for editing documents. For the former both HTML or PDF/A ("opened" in 2005 and 2011) are good, for the latter ODF is good.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-for-government/viewing-government-documents

Hackers port iPhone 4S' Siri to rival devices

[title not needed]

tip tap on the phone?!

Space station resupply 'nauts avoid fiery death

[title no longer required]

is that a new "climbing stage" vehicle, where once the main tractor is at higher altitude, it can actually lift a second cargo by virtue of reduced drag...?

that's what I call a "real" space elevator :-)

Now Russians can't even contact their busted Mars probe

RDP

can't they ask someone out there to return it?

or simply fill one of those "defective" forms and ask for a refund instead...

Mm, Silverlight, what's that smell? Yes, it's death

digital, right?

as long as they keep a backup copy somewhere, it shouldn't be a problem to obtain an exact digital duplicate later, unlike organic life which is truly unique (in a sense)...

US.gov: We aren't hiding any space aliens

In reply to "Anonymous Coward", Posted Monday 7th November 2011 18:58 GMT

and with all the spatial/temporal evidence that there is, where the heck is the ack?

I guess the only time they'll admit that an alien body touched Earth would be when an asteroid next hits it :-)

It's not the size of your pipe, it's the way you use it

fisrt post?

let's say you are at a meeting and none of the participants speak a common language... who holds a relevant position in the midst of it all?