* Posts by a_yank_lurker

4139 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Nov 2013

Sysadmins: Why not simply verify there's no backdoor in every program you install, and thus avoid any cyber-drama?

a_yank_lurker

Re: Trusting the builders who trust their suppliers

A general purpose package available on the web does have its advantages but home grown packages have theirs also. The general purpose package has 2 major advantages; it's already coded and it's ready to use and the develop cost to use it is very low. But it's disadvantage is you lose control of that bit of code. Updates could break your code is major problem. Home grown packages have the major advantage the organization has complete control of the package and can update as their needs change. It's primary disadvantages are cost and time to develop the code.

When should one use 'off the shelf' code vs home grown code is not always obvious. There is a grey area in the middle were careful analysis of business needs and capabilities must be done, Often this analysis is not done particularly if there is a rush to ship code. Another issue is when 'off the shelf' code should be replaced by home grown code. Complicating the issue are the zealots on both sides who fail to see the problems with their preferred solution.

I doubt anyone is going to write something like Word or Excel for general office use. They would use some readily available package whether it's Orifice, LibreOffice, or something else. But the inventory and billing system may need to be a custom package to meet their needs.

On this most auspicious of days, we ask: How many sysadmins does it take to change a lightbulb?

a_yank_lurker

Song

Three Dead Trolls in a Baggee did a song about system administrators.

I'm feeling lucky: Google, Facebook say workers must be vaccinated before they return to offices

a_yank_lurker

Justifying The Rent?

The only reason to demand many to return to the office is to justify the rent/mortgage. Empty cubes look bad and cost money. So I wonder if the 'return to office' is generated by a CFO's desire to justify the line item along with inept manglement.

D'oh! Misplaced chair shuts down nuclear plant in Taiwan

a_yank_lurker

Homer

Homer would be proud.

Windows 11 comes bearing THAAS, Trojan Horse as a service

a_yank_lurker

Re: Forgive me for saying this...

The Rejects of Redmond nearly got broken up because they integrated Imbecile Explorer into Bloatware. If they try the same stupidity with Turds they will likely get nailed again as the basic precedent has been set.

Everyone cites that 'bugs are 100x more expensive to fix in production' research, but the study might not even exist

a_yank_lurker

Re: Fixing things long after they have gone live

The biggest problem with fixing bugs is whether there is anyone around who has the process knowledge and familiarity with the code base; this can be different people. If both are true then many bugs are relatively fast and cheap to fix once the correct people are included in the conversation. If either is lacking then fixing the bug becomes more expensive as whoever is assigned the task has to figure out what is going on and then figure out a reliable fix. What might take a couple of hours with knowledge might take a day or 2 of learning before even doing any coding.

Windows 11 gets chatty as Teams integration turns up

a_yank_lurker

Dear Rejects of Redmond

I have been using personal computers from before MS-DOS (moronically stupid- dumbass operating system). I need the OS to be platform for me to run applications on. Software like Teams, Skype, IE, etc. should be standalone applications that I can add or remove at my discretion. If an application is supplied with the OS it must be readily removed and so I can replace them with something else.

Make-me-admin holes found in Windows, Linux kernel

a_yank_lurker

Re: The fucking registry. Again.

I can modify the config file on Linux for a program. If I am smart and save a copy of the original, working config I can quickly fix any borkage I have done. Bloatware registry is a nasty beast that I am nervous about modifying as I do not know what the side effects are but I know often there are side effects.

a_yank_lurker

Re: The fucking registry. Again.

'having thousands of configuration files' is generally not an issue for most users as long as they are sensible (e.g. text files that with minimal training can be manually edited). Most users are not going to directly edit them anyway and the few times they might it is relatively easy to do. Plus if the the config file for program X is corrupted only that program is affected ever.

Good news: Jeff Bezos went to space. Bad news: He's back

a_yank_lurker

The 'rich idiots' are showing commercial human space travel is likely in the reasonable future. Branson's and Bezos' ventures are private companies not government agencies. It is telling 2 companies were able to successfully complete a suborbital space flight with people on board who were not astronauts. Someone has to be the first to do so. There is a lot of work to do before the masses go on space flights but this is the start.

Also, Branson and Bezos should a great deal of confidence in their company's designs to go up themselves. This point should not be overlooked.

Teen turned away from roller rink after AI wrongly identifies her as banned troublemaker

a_yank_lurker

Not Ready For Prime Time

FRS systems have notorious problems with dark skinned people. This has been widely reported. Part of the issue is the quality of the photos and the skill (or more accurately lack) of the 'photographer'. High quality portrait images require quality gear, good lighting, and a competent person behind the camera. Even if the first 2 conditions were met, I doubt the rink has a competent photographer on staff. I have my doubts about the gear and the lighting. Plus I have my doubts about the images used to 'train' the system, particularly those of dark skinned people.

I have cats who have solid, dark brown fur. If the lighting is not good, the cat's facial details are sometimes hard to discern in a photo. I suspect a FRS system would struggle with an accurate identification. I have good gear and pretty good idea of what I am doing but I do not always have the best lighting.

While I dislike suing someone just because, this case seems to beg for a suit because the rink's methodology and (mis)use of the technology shows a complete lack of understanding of its limits. More accurately complete stupidity. So the girl resembles someone else, whatever happened to asking for her name?

This page has been deliberately left blank

a_yank_lurker

Re: Britney Spears is a good local girl

I have wondered about the Spears clan (I live a couple of states due east) for quite some time. It appears they are trying to make sure they get their 'fair share' of Britney's money because they are a relative. A situation that is more common in the entertainment industry were the family wants to leach off their more successful relative.

Microsoft solicits Clippy comeback – later reveals it had already decided to bring back the peppy paperclip

a_yank_lurker

Re: Noooooooooooooooo!

I am on the other side of the Pond and do not want the Rejects of Redmond to screw up my documents. I assume they would use UK spellings, etc. for me because they are morons.

a_yank_lurker

What?

Bringing Clippy back is an insult to users who just want their damn Bloatware as a Disservice/Disgrace and Orifice to work. I would rather the Rejects of Redmond fixed their crap than bring back an evil insult.

Regulating facial recognition technology? It's the 'Wild West out there,' says US law boffin

a_yank_lurker

FRT - never ready for prime time

The problem with FRT is its reliance on the quality of the image and thus the lens and camera. Poor quality images will cause problems with accurate identification. Anyone who has done photography and videography knows there are numerous issues, such as lighting conditions or distance, that will affect the quality of the facial image and thus any identification based on that image. These are real world problems that often are not easy to replicate in the lab. Also, the quality of the equipment is another entire issue, both for the original images and for the FRT attempt. Quality varies rather wildly with some cheap cameras and lens being virtually useless for any FRT system.

Report: 83% of UK software engineers suffer burnout, COVID-19 made it worse

a_yank_lurker

Agile as a Concept

The real idea behind 'Agile' was not a formalism but a philosophy of frequent collaboration between the various groups involved as a project evolved. It was not about the frequency of releases or any other formalism. It was about making sure the specs were understood correctly and were correct with conversations between the programmers and other parties taking place as needed with all the required parties being involved. If there some areas that were vague they would hammered out as the project evolved. Agile, correctly understood, is about breaking down internal silos within an organization.

Agile really means as a programmer I can directly talk to the submitter of the specs as needed. We may have formal meetings, it may be relatively informal. We may have others join the meeting as needed from other groups. We can hammer out the issues, update the specs.

A common failure is in most Agile formalism is the failure to understand someone has to write an initial spec describing what is needed from the programming team. This can be done with assistance from the programmers but the business has to describe what they want. The business side needs to know what they want done not develop it 'on the fly'.

Linux Mint 20.2 is a bit more insistent about updating but not as annoying as Windows or Mac, team promises

a_yank_lurker

Notifications

I have no issue with being notified of an important update such as 20.2. I like that LM allows me to update when it is more convenient for me rather how the Rejects of Redmond try to ram major downgrades to BaaD (Bloatware as a Disservcie/Disgrace) down users throats.

Age discrimination case against IBM leaks emails, docs via bad redaction

a_yank_lurker

Re: The old tricks

Some companies value experience both learned outside the organization and within. They do not mind a few grey hairs, bald spots, wrinkles, etc. They will hire someone who 50+. The problem is most older workers have family and other social responsibilities and cannot work 12+ hrs/7 days a week for months on end which Silly Valley thinks is wise. In fact, I wonder how much crappy code gets out the door because the staff is exhausted and cannot think straight. Code that rested staff would spot as problematic and fix or never write in the first place because they are thinking straight.

IT management biz Kaseya's VSA abused to infect businesses with ransomware

a_yank_lurker

Ghost Guns

While it is possible for a competent machine shop who has the right tools to make a relaiable gun I have my doubts about a 3D printer making a reliable gun. My understanding of gun manufacturing is there are very specific alloys and heat treatment used on critical parts. If the wrong alloys or heat treatment is done the gun can literally explode in the firer's face. For the 3D printer gun makers this is closer to a nomination for the Darwin Award than anything I particularly fear.

IBM President and former Red Hat boss Jim Whitehurst quits

a_yank_lurker

Other Than...

Other than Red Hat I cannot think of an Itsy Bitsy Moron product I would even consider. This is a problem for them as they end up being somewhere well down the list.

Go to L: A man of the cloth faces keyboard conundrum

a_yank_lurker

When did Father Learn to type

Since this was the 80's it quite likely Father learned to type on a typewriter in the 70's or earlier (not clear how old he was). Many did not have 1 or 0 on the keyboard among other 'missing' characters we find on a computer keyboard. It's not an old habit but more of not knowing what a computer expected in the field.

In a typed document, often there is no ambiguity when using l or O for 1 or 0 as the context will tell the reader how to interpret the characters. But a computer is rather stupid and cannot properly interpret when l or O are being used in lieu of 1 or 0.

IBM email fiasco complicates sales deals, is worse than biz is letting on – sources

a_yank_lurker

Manglement Strikes

This fiasco is what happens when you have manglement not management. Many have migrated emails from one system to another without any issues on numerous occasions. Often this is done when there is a merger or purchase. But with the generally ineptitude at Itsy Bitsy Morons I am not really surprised at something like this.

The PrintNightmare continues: Microsoft confirms presence of vulnerable code in all versions of Windows

a_yank_lurker

Could Be A Disaster

While I rarely print anything personally or professionally, there are some people who need to print documents with a great deal of regularity. Telling them to stop printing because the Rejects of Redmond haven't fixed a bug (I doubt they would have arsed themselves to fix it if wasn't for the 'accidental' release) is beyond idiotic.

John McAfee dead: Antivirus tycoon killed himself in prison after court OK'd extradition, says lawyer

a_yank_lurker

RIP

RIP to a real character.

How hot is it right now? 'Water park catching fire and burning down' hot

a_yank_lurker

Re: Follow up?

At least is not the Cayuhoga River as it meandered through The Mistake on the Lake (Cleveland, OH), which did catch fire on several occasions.

Amazon notices Apple, Google cutting app store commission rates, follows suit

a_yank_lurker

Credit Cards vs Apps

While the app store commissions probably are be excessive, the comparison to credit cards is not exactly 'apples to apples'. Credit cards potentially generate 2 revenue streams: fees to the vendor and interest charges to the card holders. Depending on one's credit worthiness the interest rates can be in the same range as the app store commissions. App stores only have 1 revenue stream, a commission on each sale through the store. I have not looked at what the realistic costs are of running an app store is but it does cost someone money to run. Thus the commission is not pure profit only mostly profit.

New York congressman puts forward federal right-to-repair bill

a_yank_lurker

Common Sense Repairs

Most people have a strong sense of their limits to repair something. There are many devices if something fails it's time to take it to the shop. However, as a consumer I should be able to pick the shop who does the repairs.

By making devices repairable, things like replacing batteries and opening cases without funky screw drivers will be easier.

a_yank_lurker

Re: It'll die on Party lines.

I don't think so as this is pain point with many groups some who are staunchly elephants and not donkeys.

A hotline to His Billness? Or a guard having a bit of a giggle?

a_yank_lurker

Opposite Situation

I once worked for a German company with English Managing Director at the time in Feraldom. I was the last person in the office late on day and got a phone call asking to speak to the MD who was in the Fatherland. I tried explaining to the idiot that the MD was not available and I did not have his personal US number (which did not exist). The idiot called back several times always getting me. The idiot was trying to sell some useless software and got our information because the MD had used the US office for his contact information on some software he had bought while visiting us.

Three million job cuts coming at Indian services giants by next year, says Bank of America

a_yank_lurker

Re: Who cares ?

The emphasis on demographics is based on the low overall Chinese birth rate and rapid aging of their population. At some point there are too many elderly who are retired and not spending much money and not enough workers to pay the necessary taxes to pay for all the government spending. To be fair, China is not the only country with demographic problems.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Who cares ?

Feraldom is at a crossroads were our power will probably diminish not to China to but India. China has serious, largely under reported problems such demographics that indicate China is peaking now and will begin a steady decline roughly paralleling Feraldom. India, while having its problems (all countries do) seems to better poised to become a stable superpower.

Toyota reveals its work on an honest-to-goodness cloak of invisibility

a_yank_lurker

Interesting

Interesting Toyota is doing this for better all around vision not to hide something. I wonder how far along some black cloaking project is?

Mensa data spillage was due to 'unauthorised internal download'

a_yank_lurker

Meaning of "I"

<snark> Does the "I" stand Ignorance, Idiocy, or Incompetence? </snark>

Mark it in your diaries: 14 October 2025 is the end of Windows 10

a_yank_lurker

Re: 2025? That long?

Most consumers never directly paid for Bloatware-as-a-Disservice/Disgrace. It was part of the box they paid for once. The proposed subscription model might cause an exodus. The other events would push some away for BaaD over time, those who are more tech savvy or willing to put up with a Fruity solution.

Amazon exec's husband jailed for two years for insider trading. Yes, with Amazon stock

a_yank_lurker

Rock Level Stupidity

I just did my annual insider trading course at work. One point they mentioned is having family members act on your behalf is considered insider trading by you. Also, the information has to available to public for a day before an insider can trade on it. Sounds like a good way to have a very lengthy vacation at Club Fed; all expense paid.

Would-be AWS bomber pleads guilty, faces 5 to 20 years behind bars for plot to take out government servers

a_yank_lurker

Which is smarter?

This guy sounds like he would have trouble carrying on a conversation with the vast intellect of your average rock. Buying explosives is not the easiest thing to do as governments are understandably nervous about idiots with things that go boom. Also, making explosives often requires buying regulated chemicals or industrial scale chemicals. Plus, large cloud providers have many, many data centers so taking out 1 or 2 would be more of an aggravation assuming he could close enough to real damage.

Photographer seeks $12m in copyright damages over claims Capcom ripped off her snaps in Resident Evil 4 art

a_yank_lurker

Re: Right:

The photograph itself is covered by copyright. The underlying object(s) do not need to be copyrightable themselves. Otherwise a still life or other images could never be copyrighted. So her images are covered by copyright even if they are images of objects that are rather mundane like a brick wall.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Uncertain

Leonard French posted a commentary about the lawsuit. It does appear there is solid case to get to discovery at a minimum. However, he points out a subtle difference in copyright law about photographs. The photographer owns the copyright to the actual photograph but usually does not own any copyright to object(s) in the photographs. So if another source was used of very similar images (better have some very serious paperwork) to hers there is no claim. So the underlying question is not infringement yet but the source of the images.

Also, French noted that in the lawsuit itself, the CD provided were low resolution images. High resolution images are available for her after signing an appropriate contract, as noted in the lawsuit. If these are high resolution images, this implies intermediary misrepresented their ownership or rights to images. I have not seen were anyone has verified the resolution of the images themselves.

a_yank_lurker

Uncertain

While sympathetic to my fellow photographer, I am uncertain how many of the images were purloined; note I have not seen any of the images. My experience is many images take by different photographers often strongly resemble each other. Depending on how each is cropped and processed it is possible to confuse them. The number claimed is suspicious and points to the possibility of infringement. However, we do not know the source used and some stock photo houses are not the most ethical operations.

I can see infringement actually occurring but the real culprit being a third party that illegally licensed them to the developers. Alternately, I can see the developers not paying attention to the fact ALL photographs are copyrighted like any other work and infringing carelessly. A common misunderstanding is how copyright law treats photographs as many assume they are not copyrighted when in fact they are.

Google ad biz shenanigans smacked down by French competition regulators

a_yank_lurker

Death by a Thousand Nibbles?

Now if others would hit Chocolate Factory and the other Silly Valley scum with repeated bites they might reform once the total starts having a material impact on their profits; Wall Street will be outraged if they lose money.

Oracle hits UK reseller with lawsuit for allegedly reselling grey market Sun hardware

a_yank_lurker

Used Kit

I am not familiar with the kit in question but many have pointed out it is probably used, refurbished kit. As general rule of law in Feraldom, once the ownership has transferred to the customer the customer can resell the kit whenever they want. It does not matter what the kit is. In some industries there are companies that specialize in buy, refurbishing, and reselling used kit. In some industries the new kit retailers and the OEM will sell refurbished kit.

This appears it's Minions being Minions because Leisure Suit Larry wants a new island.

Thanks, boss. The accidental creation of a lights-out data centre – what a fun surprise

a_yank_lurker

From the dark ages

With your best German accent, from the dark ages:

ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!

Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mitten grabben.

Ist easy schnappen der springen werk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.

Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.

Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.

from http://www.astrodigital.org/digital/achtung.html

Android banking malware sharply increased in the first chunk of 2021, reckons ESET

a_yank_lurker

Re: Phone Banking

Even with Bloatware as a Disservice, it is harder to intercept the signal and the device is harder to get access to and or steal. Any wireless signal can be intercepted; it is a radio signal. Depending on the quality or even the presence of encryption, the signal could be read fair easily. All phones are much easier to lose or steal and are more likely used outside the home or office than a desktop.

a_yank_lurker

Phone Banking

Using any phone for banking has always seemed dubious to me. Too many ways things can go sideways were some miscreant can get your financial data. I personally only use a wired connection from a desktop computer to do online financial transactions and banking. Not immune but much harder to get at my information.

Supreme Court narrows Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: Misusing access not quite the same as breaking in

a_yank_lurker

Real Issue

I suspect the CFAA was the broadest law with the harshest sentence the shyster DA could go with. I would be surprised if he could not be nailed on another law with a more lenient sentence. But the CFAA is still an incompetently written law that needs to be scrapped but I doubt 'America's Criminal Class' aka Congress will be arsed to do anything about it.

Wyoming powers ahead with Bill Gates-backed sodium-cooled nuclear generation plant

a_yank_lurker

Na Reactors

Silly Billy should do his research, sodium cooled reactors have been used off and on since the 50s including in submarines (USN definitely, not sure about the USSR). There were technical issues inherent in using sodium that made PWR/BWR reactors more reasonable options. Liquid sodium is not an easy material to work with. Also, as noted above, thorium reactors would be a better technology to commercialize.

Oracle accused of eating software maker's lunch with hostile hiring, trade secret theft

a_yank_lurker

Non Compete Agreements

Depending on the state, a non-compete agreement basically means you cannot take the previous employer's files, documents, etc. with you to a new job. The knowledge in your brain goes. In other states, there may be an enforceable break between jobs if the non-compete applies. Courts have generally, when they have ruled, frowned on the enforceable breaks between jobs but its not universal and sometimes is dependent on the type of position. As far as FL law, I have idea what the details of a what a valid non-compete agreement is.

I suspect the poaching by Oracle is legal even if it might be ethically dubious.

Four women suing Google for pay discrimination just had their lawsuit upgraded to a $600m class action

a_yank_lurker

Re: Silly Valley Ethics and Morals

Having payed attention to how Silly Valley treats employees I am not surprised they end up in employment lawsuits.

a_yank_lurker

Silly Valley Ethics and Morals

As a grey beard, it appears to me the underlying problem is an overall lack of ethics and morals in Silly Valley as many are in court being sued for discrimination, unlawful firing, etc. If you try to treat everyone the same and with dignity and respect many of these suits will disappear, the aggrieved not aggrieved. Often the suits reflect there is pervasive mistreatment of staff by manglement as only a fraction who could will sue. The fact that enough people have a decent enough case to make this far should be a wake up call to manglement. The question is not the existence of a suit but number and scope of the suits. Some suits will be dubious attempts to 'get even' but there will be some that are genuine and point to more pervasive problem. As the number of suits increases the more likely any given suit is legitimate.

TCP alternative QUIC reaches IETF's Standards Track after eight years of evolution

a_yank_lurker

Re: 12 year loop

The tendency of companies not to keep lifers around also compounds this. Often no one knows the full history of something which causes needless 'reinvention' as the current staff tries to figure out way something was done X years ago.