Posts by Infi 1

Musk wants to ban Apple at his companies for cosying up to OpenAI

I choose not to use Windows. I have also had very few problems running games on Linux. Why would I carry on using an OS that is bloated beyond belief and where the customer is the product when I can quite happily play my AAA games on an OS that respects my privacy, doesn't try to force crapware on me and doesn't constantly have to deal with buggy security updates?

Windows is not always best for gaming either. I have seen plenty of reports of games running better on Linux than they do on Windows with fewer issues (a quick internet search is all you need), and the ones that do have issues tend to be the aforementioned games using things like EAC where the developer has specifically made it difficult (or impossible) to run on anything but Windows.

While there may also be hundreds of Linux distros, giving the user a choice of how they use THEIR computer, I personally tend to stick to major Debian DEs that are very well supported so I don't have any issues at all getting support if the need arises.

As for Planetary Annihilation, I have both the original game and the TITANS standalone expansion and have never seen either crash.

If you want to feed the MS machine then that is your choice but please don't try and tell me how I should use my PC or that gaming on Linux isn't a thing anymore. If you haven't tried it in the last year or two then your opinion is irrelevant.

Replying to myself just to qualify that the deb file only works on Debian distributions obviously. If you're using the others you will need the PPA if Lutris isn't in the repo for your choice of Linux, but as that's only a couple of lines to paste into a terminal it still isn't rocket science :).

Anyway, back on topic, Musk is still a knob. If you don't like Apple devices (I have no interest in them personally) nobody's forcing you to use them and if you're going to ban devices you'll have to ban them all as they are all likely to have some form of AI in them going forward.

Blah blah Musk is a knob blah blah.

"What's left? Linux? Musk would have to jump through all these hoops just to get Diablo IV running."

What hoops? It's no more difficult installing on Linux than it is on Windows. Open Lutris, search for Diablo IV, click install and follow the prompts. Ooh, technical that!

People still seem to think getting games working on Linux is extra hard when the reality is these days that it's about as difficult as installing a game on Windows for the most part. Yes, there are some games that do require extra tinkering and a few that just won't work (mostly games that use EAC with companies that intentionally block them on Linux - Bungie I'm looking at you).

You also don't have to add a PPA for Lutris. There's a .deb installer on GitHub which you double-click to install, just like on Windows funnily enough.

Study finds a quarter of bosses hoped RTO would make employees quit

I guess my (now ex) company won then as I tendered my resignation when they tried to force us back into the office 60% off the week. Sadly for them they've also just lost their entire payroll team (including the manager) and half of the HR team, who have also either gone already or been offered other jobs and are just waiting for their new contracts before tendering their resignations.

And all because senior management don't like that they don't see us in the office every day looking busy (though they wouldn't admit that was the reason). No, we were at home actually BEING busy getting the job done!

Speaking to the payroll manager just before he got his job offer the company are apparently also struggling to find replacements for the staff they've lost. Oh well ...

Meta faces multiple complaints in Europe over plans to train AI on user data

Here's what I got when I clicked the 'right to object' link:

Hi,

Thank you for contacting us.

For individuals who use their Meta account to access Meta Platforms Technologies Products (MPT Products: https://store.facebook.com/legal/quest/meta-platforms-technologies-products/), the Meta Privacy Policy and Supplemental Meta Platforms Technologies Privacy Policy apply to how we collect, use and share your information. Learn more about our legal bases and how they relate to the ways in which we process personal data here: (https://www.meta.com/ie/legal/quest/legal-bases/)

Please note that the form you submitted is to make an objection request relating to your personal data under the relevant data protection laws.

In order for us to review your report, we need to know:

- What data processing you are opposing

- How this processing affects you

- Why you believe there was a violation of the relevant data protection laws, if applicable

In addition, to learn more about downloading your information or permanently deleting your account, please visit the Meta Quest Privacy Centre: https://secure.oculus.com/my/privacy

If you have another question or concern, please visit the Meta Quest Privacy FAQ (https://www.meta.com/help/quest/articles/accounts/privacy-information-and-settings/) or our Support Centre (https://support.oculus.com/) for additional information. If you have more questions about the Meta Privacy Policy (https://www.facebook.com/policy.php), or the Supplemental Meta Platforms Technologies Privacy Policy (https://www.meta.com/legal/quest/privacy-policy), please reply to this email.

Thanks,

Privacy Operations

Apple's return-to-office plan savaged by staff

No real surprise

The problem is, and always has been, trust.

Management have an inherent distrust of non management staff. "If you're not sat there right in front of me, I don't trust that you'll do your work." It's pitiful really. Staff have been doing their jobs perfectly well from home for the last two years, but management just don't like it and hate the fact they can't micro manage their staff.

Don't get me wrong, some staff need micro management because they are genuinely lazy/useless, but the bulk of the workforce know what their job is and can do it quite well whether they're at home or not.

Lost Ark: A pulpy Korean MMO-lite for idle hands

No Linux Proton Support

I would play Lost Ark, but the developers (or Amazon) have specifically excluded Linux users at this point in time even though it's 'apparently' as simple as flipping a couple of switches for EAC support and dropping a single file into the distribution.

There are varying arguments of whether it is actually that simple, and there are two different versions of EAC, both of which 'should' enable Lost Ark to work on Proton.

If they ever bother to implement these, seemingly simple, changes I'll give it a bash; else life goes on. I'm certainly never installing Windows again just for a game.

UK health secretary confirms end for NHS Digital, architect of the GP data grab debacle

NHS Digital:

'Let's hire more managers that know fsuk all about IT and let them make decisions on the infrastructure. Ooh, shiny!'

Amazon tells folks it will stop accepting UK Visa credit cards via weird empty email

Re: Amazon accepts Amex with its reassuringly expensive merchant fees and rejects Visa

Not that I entirely disagree with the sentiment, but Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon earlier this year though he is still Exec Chairman I believe.

Microsoft does and doesn't require VMs to meet hardware requirements for Windows 11

Windows 10 made me quite happy I'd moved to Linux for my daily driver. Windows 11 sounds like it's continuing the theme, but at least it's shiny!

Linux Mint users in hot water for being slow with security updates, running old versions

Re: An option for automatic updates would be good

Actually, there is an option for automatic updates in Mint already. Just open the Update Manager, click Edit -- Preferences, then Automation.

I usually set this almost straight away after I do an install so updates get installed within 24 hours of the update arriving.

Occasionally I'll manually do the update if I see the notification before Mint does the update, but if I don't notice it, it'll get installed anyway. As mentioned, there's always Timeshift to fall back on if there's a bad update.

Google reCAPTCHA service under the microscope: Questions raised over privacy promises, cookie use

I hate reCaptcha. If a site uses it, there's about an 80% chance I'll see one of its stupid popups and then, depending on how it's set up, I may have to 'solve' 4 or 5 different reCaptcha's before it will let me log in.

Pisses me off. It's not like I'm hiding behind a dodgy VPN. I have a static IP, with reverse DNS that matches the domain I own. I don't do anything particularly dodgy using on my connection, yet Google's rePester constantly targets me.

If I was paranoid, I'd say they had it in for me!!!

Who said that?!??!?!?!

With a million unwanted .uk domains expiring this week, Nominet again sends punters pushy emails to pay up

Received the email,

Read the first line that said .uk.

Deleted the email.

Welcome to life in the Fossa lane: Ubuntu 20.04 let out of cage and Shuttleworth claims Canonical now 'commercially self sustaining'

Re: I still don't see the purpose of WSL

I also upgraded Mum's PC from Windows 10 to Linux Mint a year or two ago, and I haven't heard a single complaint from her since. A far cry from the days when she used Windows and I got regular earache.

EA boots Linux gamers out of multiplayer Battlefield V, Penguinistas respond by demanding crippling boycott

Re: Few things jump out

Why shouldn't they?

I've been using Linux for gaming for the last three years and, apart from being a little more effort to set up (not much), it works perfectly well. As Valve are now actively supporting Linux gaming with Proton, alongside the likes of Lutris & PlayOnLinux, there's less and less reason to stick with Microsoft.

Accenture in doghouse after NHSmail mass outage cuts off 1m+ UK health staff

Damn shame it was at the weekend. I don't work then!

Shit system, though that's not much different to the rest of the IT used where I work ...

NHS IT bod sends test email to 850k users – and then responses are sent 'reply all'

'Short' delay?

"Some users have experienced a short delay in the NHS mail system this morning. Action has been taken to resolve this issue."

By short delay, they mean the entire day that nobody in the office could access their nhs.net emails.

Grr @ stupid admin that test sent to all, and even more grr @ pillocks that think 'reply to all' is a good idea because they're soooo important they feel the rest of the NHS absolutely MUST know how irritated they are at receiving an email that says 'test'.

Microsoft: All RIGHT, you can have your Start button back

Re: Once again...

Agreed. I've been using Windows 8 quite happily since public beta, and I see no need to bring the start button back.

Even my (long retired) parents have managed to get on with it with little to no problem.

Some people unfortunately are just too stuck in their ways

Never mind Azure: They BROKE Twitter!

Our survey says ...

Who gives a fuck?

#getalife