* Posts by a_yank_lurker

4139 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Nov 2013

Oracle confesses to quietly axing its UK software support centre

a_yank_lurker

Re: Is there any legitimate reason to choose Oracle?

The only real reason to use Oracle is the staff knows it very well. Otherwise it is just another relational database and there are plenty of good ones available.

North Korea is capable of pwning Sony. Whether it did is another matter

a_yank_lurker

Learning Hacking

The post did not touch on the amount of information available about hacking that anyone can access ranging from websites to texts.

Ex-IT staff claim Disney fired them then gave their jobs H-1B peeps

a_yank_lurker

H-1B nonsense

The program is abused by many companies. One overlooked point is an H-1B visa holder can only work for the sponsoring company. Unlike citizens and permanent residents who can leave when they find another job at any time. So there are two reasons some sleazy operations like H-1B visas - lower pay and benefits coupled with legalized slavery. If the H-1B visa holder is let go they can not get another job in the US.

WordPress.com ditches PHP for Calypso's JavaScript admin UI

a_yank_lurker

Re: PHP to Javascript

From one turd to another. Both are badly designed languages at best.

Dum dum dum - another cloud bites the dust (Adobe's photo cloud)

a_yank_lurker

another bites the dust

This is makes the one want to buy a very large hard drive and keep backups local.

Windows 10 pilot rollouts will surge in early 2016, says Gartner

a_yank_lurker

Re: Win 10 and Microsoft attitude to users?

@oldman42 - Slurp is trying to hip with a very boring product line. OSes, office suites, programming tools, and databases are not sexy, must have products to cool and hip. They primarily products to get some work done. Slurp has forgotten, as many have before, the key to organizational integrity is not being hip or cool but being true to core products and customers. Many oldtimers, I remember punch cards with FORTRAN IV, have learned there are good reasons for WIMP interface on a computer and human anatomy has not changed since then.

Slurp also fails to understand the hipsters and cool cats are extremely fickle. Something may be hot right now but for now discernible reason passe in 6 months. Being somewhat boring and predictable can be huge advantage, consumers know what you are about. It's called branding, something Slurp fails to understand.

a_yank_lurker

My Prediction

With only my navel to guide me, I predict an upsurge in W10 adoption starting mid to late 2016. This will be due people replacing old kit. This uptick will likely drop back done to more leisurely rate by early 2017. Enterprise users will hold off for at least 2 years and may start rolling out W10 in 2018. The primary reasons for this are software and hardware compatibility issues coupled with concerns about data integrity. In 2020 my guess is the total install base for W10 will be 700 million installs of all types.

a_yank_lurker

Re: "slurp"?

Would not believe it if Gartner said Linux was going to boom and I use Linux.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Don't trust Gartner, but it is pretty inevitable

HIPAA is one of many and Slurp's stand on my data is theirs will likely get them embroiled in a vicious lawsuit.

Google takedown requests mushroom as copyright holders play whack-a-mole

a_yank_lurker

Re: requests mushroom

In the dark? Where they are being in the dark would be an improvement of the lighting. Mass entertainment is rapidly changing literally before our eyes. We are transitioning from radio/record/concert model to something else which includes streaming media. Plus demographics are probably working against them, a little more slowly, as the populations of most develop countries age.

Windows 8.1 exams kept alive six more months, Win 7 tests immortal

a_yank_lurker

Real Reason

The possible real reason is enterprise customers are nervous about the Slurp's spying and are staying with versions that do not include built in malware.

Rdio's collapse another nail in the coffin of the 'digital economy'

a_yank_lurker

@AC - You hit a subtle nail on the head for all content creators - only a fraction of the people really care about <whatever art/medium>. The rest will buy, view, listen <whatever> on a somewhat erratic, irregular basis for something to do. Also, as there is more competition for consumers' attention (Internet, games) there is less time available for one to do <whatever>. These two factors are probably driving the entertainment industry batty. If one is not doing <whatever> as much then one is less likely to spend money on it.

Another factor is most of the sports, games, movies, shows, and music targets a specific age demographic. As societies age (less babies) there naturally will be fewer people in this demographic thus fewer customers. Either other demographics are targeted or their income will decrease. Hissy fits will not change this basic fact.

a_yank_lurker

Re: @Mr Anonymous

It appears the era when musicians could make a lot of money from recordings and air play is winding down. Too much competition for time and money. However, it may lead to revival of concert going and those who can adjust may do quite well.

Also, being a financial successful artist, musician, or writer has always been hit or miss. Many who have the talent never catch on with the public to have long careers.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Being a bunch of experts in this matter...

Also, retail is generally a high volume, relatively low margin operation.

EU's Paris terror response includes 'virtual currencies' crimp

a_yank_lurker

Re: Virtual currency? How about "follow the money" instead?

Any large organization requires some form financial assets with illegal and terrorist groups needing fronts to launder the money. They are always vulnerable to either being traced by the financial records (Mafia, terrorist groups) or shutdown (online pharmacies) because of their dependency on being able to move money around.

Many UK ecommerce sites allow ‘password’ for logins – report

a_yank_lurker

Re: "some consumer-focused sites do get it right on password security"

My guess is the database field has a maximum of 15 characters for a password.

a_yank_lurker

@Old Handle - While some sites have very limited personal information others do have financial details. Shopping sites should insist on strong passwords to protect their customers from themselves.

Cat discovers GNOME desktop bug

a_yank_lurker

Re: That's nothing

Monkeys would do better job than the trash out of Slurp.

Network problems? It's not just you. Level3 outages reported in the US

a_yank_lurker

OOPS

I wonder if these idiots ever considered the possibility of a natural gas line or buried electricity. This happens all to often and I sometimes wonder if anyone bothers to map the lines or even read the map.

Hillary Clinton: Stop helping terrorists, Silicon Valley – weaken your encryption

a_yank_lurker

@herman - I read report the police raid in Paris was jump started by a cellphone and tracing the texts and calls - aka traffic analysis. Traffic analysis does require decryption only the knowledge that all organizations have a structure and internal reporting patterns.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Pity the Americans...

Hildabeast is most likely the Democratic nominee and she is the best of that sorry lot. The Republican front runner is current Trump who is sucking the air out of the other campaigns. Hildabeast with Rapist in Chief in tow versus Donald, I think I need be a on drunk for next administration.

a_yank_lurker

Re: "News"

Hildabeast fails to grasp one important aspect of grand strategy; a passive defense is ultimately no defense. By conceding the initiative to ISIS et. al. they will find the defense's weaknesses and exploit them. Ask the French about the Maginot Line or Hitler about the Atlantic Wall. Both were defensive failures because they were passive defenses.

Uncle Sam's IT bods find 2,000 data centers they FORGOT about

a_yank_lurker

@kain preacher - You do not live here to see the outrageous incompetency at the federal level compounded by state and local idiots. Others wonder way many American think the feral government is a bunch of thieving criminals with something the Mafia never had - legal protection. 2,000 is probably an order of magnitude low.

Why Microsoft's .NET Core is the future of its development platform

a_yank_lurker

A Little Late to the Party

.Net Core seems to be a little late by about 10 years. My navel, not always accurate, leans towards writing code that with minimal effort is inherently cross platform. Slurp is about making everyone do it the Winblows way not necessarily the most competent or standards compliant way.

a_yank_lurker

Re: .NET .. the lame clone of Java

But they still screwed it up.

Who's running dozens of top-secret unpatched databases? The Dept of Homeland Security

a_yank_lurker

Surprised? Nah

This is the US government where competency and professionalism is in short supply from top to bottom. Remember, the Federal bureaucracy incompetently implements idiotic laws passed by Congress whose members have been accused being less intelligent than a flea by Mark Twain.

The Register reveals SAP’s very own version of Black Friday

a_yank_lurker

What is their standard margin

If SAP can discount as much as reported, what are the nominal margins at full price. They must be huge.

FTC zaps more scammer loopholes with ban on wire transfers, cash cards

a_yank_lurker

Payments

"Legitimate businesses will not be impacted, the FTC argues, as reputable businesses have no need for the prohibited transaction methods and, by and large, already use the traceable payment systems to collect from customers." The key is the FTC has basically noted that very rarely does a reputable business need to use these means of payment. In fact, the the most common online payment methods are credit cards and PayPal. This is partly to enhance penalties but also to help to raise awareness (hopefully) of users what the legitimate payment methods are.

Speaking in Tech: Anonymous’s ‘total war’ on ISIS – how effective can it be?

a_yank_lurker

Any Disruption

Any disruption of ISIS' online activities will be of some benefit. Only if Anonymous causes ISIS to spend more resources on protecting cyber assets is a useful diversion of resources. The resources are not being used as planned or desired.

Microsoft working hard to unify its code base, all the way down to the IoT

a_yank_lurker

Re: I have written a telemetry application

There is no perfect data transfer format that works for all situations. Different devices are very different in their required interface and complexity. It sounds as if MS thinks everything should run Winblows when in many cases something much simpler and lighter is the correct solution.

Microsoft chief Satya drops an S bomb in Windows 10, cloud talk

a_yank_lurker

Re: "why not try for devotion?"

How about understand the real market. Enterprise and governments will spend money often like a drunken sailor and can actually have internal staff to run IT.

SMBs generally have to operate IT on much less resources with some staff doing multiple roles with some outside help. However in many areas they are under the same legal regimes with regard to security and customer/client privacy. Consumers should be concerned about privacy and security but many rely on an informal network of friends and family for IT support. SMBs and users are generally more cost conscious and more apt to keep working kit up. Both groups have money to spend but have to wooed to spend it.

a_yank_lurker

Obscure?

Not that is an understatement. More like non-existent.

Rap for wrap chaps in crap email trap: Chipotle HR used domain it had no control over

a_yank_lurker

PHB hiring the 16 year old nephew/niece

Is the result of the PHB hiring their 16 year old nephew/niece who can turn on computer but not much else?

FTC fells four tech-support operations in scammer crackdown

a_yank_lurker

The FTC action should allow the credit card processors to crack down on these "companies". It is almost certain that these "services" are paid via credit card. These scams are actually vulnerable to the credit card processing being suspended. Brian Krebs wrote about the shady online pharmacies and what that did them was credit card processors refusing to accept any charges.

Aircraft laser strikes hit new record with 20 incidents in one night

a_yank_lurker

Re: I have red, green and violet (sold as blue) laser pointers.

The glow in the dark is either phosphorescence or fluorescence. Both require the illumination of a suitable material with light of the correct frequency to occur. For many common materials this is in violet region.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Meh

The problem is the zoning laws allowing residential zones near airports not industrial zones. Also, how many of the complainers are the poor but upper middle class/rich who chose to live by the airport.

Most developers have never seen a successful project

a_yank_lurker

Buzzword Bingo

Failure of software projects is very rarely due to the code wranglers being incompetent. The incompetence is much further up the food chain with very stupid PHB decisions compounded by horrible specs that are impossible to decipher being the primary culprits. There is no good methodology that stops stupid.

I know of a current project where a PHB decided to use a completely proprietary language. My comment was that was disaster waiting to happen because there will be virtually no developers who know the language on the street.

Microsoft rolls out first 'major update' to Windows 10

a_yank_lurker

Re: Why is an OS update changing my applications?!

More likely the PHBs running Slurp do not care what those in the trenches are saying.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Here for the MS hate..

@Telwaz,

Some of the harshest criticism is from those who value privacy and a minimal amount of corporate ethics. The concern is genuine and based the Slurp's behavior with W10 and before. Many have been burned by Slurp numerous times before (do not ask my opinion the Slurp's user help - not fit the public) and are fed up with being burned again. My Windows boxes will not be updated to W10 but will remain with their current versions. Because of Slurp's antics they will be permanently banned from the Internet and they will never again phone home. They are currently dual boot with Linux Mint which is the primary OS on them.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Work In Process

Actually Fedora and Red Hat are separate projects/products. While Red Hat does push the envelope more with Fedora it is a not the beta version of RHEL in the manner the W10 Home/Pro are real beta versions for enterprise. Fedora is intended to a more advanced but stable distro with newer features than the much more conservative RHEL. Also, there are several distros which are basically rebranded RHEL such as Centos

a_yank_lurker

Re: Work In Process

Windows 10 was hyped as being the last Windows release. This implies that Slurp is using a rolling release model rather a scheduled release model. The best rolling release Linux distros are not considered stable enough for regular Linux users. Assuming the Linux experience is valid, rolling release distros are trickier to keep running than scheduled release distros then W10 stability will be somewhat erratic compared to previous Windows versions. Thus W10 will act more consistently like a very late beta/release candidate over time; which is the nature of rolling release Linux distros.

I use a rolling release Linux distro (Antergos, Arch derivative) and can confirm one has to be more alert and willing to fix minor issues than with scheduled release distro like Linux Mint. If this behavior rears its head with W10 there will be more user complaints when less skilled users start using it. Compounding this, is Slurps relative inexperience with a rolling release compared with Arch Linux' 8+ years.

a_yank_lurker

Re: W00t!

off your meds?

NoSQL: Injection vaccination for a new generation

a_yank_lurker

It's not the DB

Good security practices in coding and db administration are well known. The problem is when short cuts are taken usually because of PHB pressure to push something out the door. All systems are vulnerable to the PHBs.

Microsoft creates its own movie moment with fancy privacy manifesto

a_yank_lurker

Huh?

This from the purveyors of the spyware called Windows 10? They must have some real good weed in Washington.

MS Future Decoded conference, or The Empire Strikes Back

a_yank_lurker

Re: Meeting and PR like this...

PHBs manage by buzzwords and PowerPoint. I have heard PowerPoint presentations are best when one is on a remote call-in for the paid hour+ nap for something that can be done in 10 minutes.

a_yank_lurker

Re: Oh dear - two days of Powerpoints

A couple of pints, try a couple of kegs minimum. Sounds like a good time for "Buzzword Bingo" or being "far from sober".

Obama: Let me spam 600,000 of your customers with a TPP sales pitch. eBay: Sure thing, Barry!

a_yank_lurker

Clueless

Markets tend to be regional for many reasons and most smallish businesses do not have the skills to be outside of their markets. I doubt the Clueless Wonder has ever priced international shipping rates, duties, and delivery. One can sell from the US to anywhere in the world, theoretically, but practically it's a bit more problematic for physical goods.

In the US, Amazon does 1 or 2 shipping to me (Atlanta) from Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington is about 6 hours from me by car. So shipping an individual package via USPS, UPS, or FED EX is practical and reasonable to someone in the Atlanta area. It may go by truck (lorry) or by air. Now to ship to Asia one has to factor in either a ~12+ hour flight or being on the water for ~6 weeks. I think anyone in Asia is going to purchase from a local operation just for the convenience of a reasonable delivery.

Shipping rates are based on distance, weight/size, and general aggravation. Distance is obvious, more fuel and time is needed to go a far away place than one near by. Weight/size has to do with the vehicle has a both a maximum volume and weight it can handle before it is full. The general aggravation is individual retail packages require excellent carrier logistics to get to the correct customer and this costs money for the infrastructure to track the packages.

Duties can range from minimal to horrendous depending on the goods and the rate is based on the invoice value of the shipment. But would need to check local laws of every country one is shipping to and applicable trade agreements between the countries involved. If one gets the idea that this can be a nasty thicket, you are correct. I have done imports from Germany to the US and have some idea of the nastiness involved.

The net effect of all these issues is make retail sales very regional and often country specific. Once an importer has the goods in the country at wholesale the retail channels can very efficiently distribute them.

Pause Patch Tuesday downloads, buggy code can kill Outlook

a_yank_lurker

Re: Move fast and break things

One can forgive a small project for having some quality problems, small groups always have problems with adequate testing. But for a major corporation to have the same problems one has to wonder about mis-management's focus because it is obviously not on quality. It less forgivable for a major corporation to screw up this regularly.

a_yank_lurker

Re: And that ain't all

@JustaKOS - There have been several extremely buggy Windows updates recently. It should make one wonder it they have QA department or even bothered to test beyond a perfunctory manner.

Hackathons: Don't try them if you don't like risks

a_yank_lurker

The real problem according to Deming

Deming observed the real problem in most organizations is the (mis)management team. If the organization is truly serious about fostering change the management team has to foster an environment were new ideas are welcomed and genuinely considered.