* Posts by AMBxx

2794 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Jan 2014

Microsoft quietly erases Windows 11 TPM 2.0 bypass workaround from help page

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: As long as they don't remove the workaround

Does Rufus still work?

Why users still couldn't care less about Windows 11

AMBxx Silver badge
Holmes

All that matters to MS now is Office 365 subscriptions and Azure. The rest is just historical baggage.

Amazon's Kuiper secures license to take on Starlink in the UK

AMBxx Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Pathetically slow and overpriced

On the other hand, they charge 3x what my ISP charges for 5x the bandwidth. Looking pretty good to me.

Perhaps you're not part of the target market?

AMBxx Silver badge

Rural is what it's aimed at.

I get 20Mb broadband and very sketchy 4G. All our mobile calls have to go over WiFi.

5 years ago, 20Mb was great. Now, more and more websites are assuming you have more and are becoming slow. I also struggle with the dreadful 1Mb upload speed.

Broadband contract is up in 11 months. I'm seriously considering switching to a satelite service.

Robots in schools, care homes next? This UK biz hopes to make that happen

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Elderly care facilities are actually understaffed

There's some interesting work being done with Alexa-like devices. Monitoring temperature and movement etc, useful for emergency alerts. Some even do chat stuff to give the illusion of not being alone. That's all great when it's done in addition to having a human carer. Never instead of.

The thing that concerns me is when this is done to replace human care rather than to augment. Bit like a personal visit to your elderly parents being replaced by a weekly phone call, then a weekly email/facebook post.

FWIW, I do a lot of work in analytics with home care providers. Not much with care homes, so different environment.

Brit competition watchdog takes aim at Google, Apple's mobile ecosystems

AMBxx Silver badge

How Open Source is Open Source?

Most apps need 'Google Services'. That bit's not open which limits the options for other vendors.

Look at the mess of the app store on Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Asda tech divorce from Walmart delays cut-over for 55 stores

AMBxx Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Without the necessary insider knowledge

They're going bust. Might as well just shut the lot down and save a load of work.

BT unplugs plans to turn old cabinets into EV chargepoints

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Location

our local cabinet is half a mile from the nearest house. Plus on the junction of an A road.

Anyone got a worse location?

Even modest makeup can thwart facial recognition

AMBxx Silver badge

Have you tried adding a fake beard?

Dude, you got a Dell, period! RIP XPS, Inspiron, Latitude, Precision

AMBxx Silver badge

Give it 2 years. Marketing can't help themselves.

HMD Fusion: A budget repairable smartphone with modular flair

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: nanny-ing software

I have a Nokia (by HMD) in a drawer somewhere. Nice phone unless you want to use if for WiFi calling. Calls dropped after a random period of between 20 seconds and 20 minutes. As we have very poor mobile signal, this is a killer.

The N21 tablet on the other hand is a nice piece of kit. However, I don't use any messaging apps, so unaffected. We're only playing music from a Moto Defy (actually Bullitt) and Samsung so no problems there.

When old Microsoft codenames crop up in curious places

AMBxx Silver badge

That makes much more sense. Thanks.

The earlier Puma in a Defender was a 2.4. Used in anything else?

AMBxx Silver badge

Surely not the same 'Puma' engine that's in a Defender (not current model). It was a modified Ford Transit engine.

AMBxx Silver badge
Facepalm

Company I worked for used philosophers' names. Turned out, so did a few porn stars. Last time I search for photos of philosophers in work time.

The sweet Raspberry taste of success masks a missed opportunity

AMBxx Silver badge
Windows

Everything has become so complicated

I started with a ZX Spectrum. There was a very steep initial learning curve but you very quickly became proficient in standard tasks.

That was a start for writing your own programs no matter how poor.

Then move to a Beeb an took to 6502 assembler. It's beauty was the simplicity of the code.

Then DOS and QBasic.

Windows 3, then 95 with VB 4, 5, 6. I learnt VB from the videos that came in the box.

Compare that to now. Windows 11 or latest favourite variant of Linux. Throw some general purpose programming language on top (C#, VB.Net, Java etc). All of a sudden you have this massive amount of knowledge needed just to get started - OO dev FFS. Then you have to work out how to make the Linux firewall open ports.

I'm glad I'm at this end of my career. It's been a fairly steady increase in knowledge over the years.

Apple reportedly building AI server processor with help from Broadcom

AMBxx Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Makes perfect sense that ...

Sadly, nobody remembers Apricots.

Raspberry Pi 500 and monitor arrive in time for Christmas

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Keyboard layout

Try using a French keyboard with AZERTY layout.

I spent a week on remote access to French server which wouldn't correctly map my QWERTY to AZERTY. I managed most of it but never could find the M key. Resorted to an on-screen keyboard for that.

Broadcom makes U-turn on plan to serve top 2,000 VMware customers itself

AMBxx Silver badge

Why choose them?

If you were a greenfield site, you wouldn't choose VMWare. That means shrinking sales and market share.

Microsoft reboots Windows Recall, but users wish they could forget

AMBxx Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Like the ad

Adverts? What are they?

Asda security chief replaced, retailer sheds jobs during Walmart tech divorce

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Talk about micromanaging

Oddly, good news for the contractors' IR35 defence as they're certainly not being treated like employees.

QNX 8 goes freeware – for non-commercial use

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Blackberry Playbook

I liked the heft of it. It had a smaller screen than the iPad of the time, so had to be thicker to fit all the bits inside. We did have BBs at the time, so worked well enough. Screen quality was great too.

AMBxx Silver badge

Blackberry Playbook

No mention of the Blackberry Playbook? Nice little device. Very well built. Let down by using a very easily breakable micro-usb charge socket and the odd choice of use flash for the UI.

I had 3. Well, actually 1 with 2 warranty replacements as the charger kept breaking!

No pilot? No problem! EHang's autonomous air taxis take off in Thailand

AMBxx Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Re: Not quite the range...

Out here in the countryside, you can land on any open piece of land provided you have permission. While our neighbour's house was being renovated, they used their garden as a helipad quite frequently. Major limitation is that the helicopter can only be there 30 days per year. That includes any days when it's just parked.

On the plus side of the helicopter racket, it was the one from one of the Bond films. This led to a rumour that Daniel Craig was moving in next door. Cue brainless BBC interviewing the local shopkeeper (lots of no comments!).

Microsoft 'resolves' and 'mitigates' Windows Server 2025 update whoopsie

AMBxx Silver badge

Any reg readers affected?

How widely is this a problem? I saw the update appear on one of my servers but just ignored it. Seemed odd but it didn't auto install, so not affected.

Granted, I'm not using a 3rd party update service, so I'm not one of those who would expect to be affected.

Anybody on here?

WinAmp's woes will pass, but its wonders will be here forever

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Oddly perhaps ...

Another ex-WinAmp user here.

Went for Windows Media Player for a bit. Now a big fan of Media Monkey. Worth paying for gold to get all the YouTube music integration (no sub, no ads).

Just wish the mobile version was as good.

UK electronics firms want government to stop taxing trash and let them fix it instead

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: VAT was removed from eBooks

It's totally impractical. How does the govt differentiate between spare parts for a 2nd hand device and components of a new device? My PC is homebrew but all the parts are new. How could they tell what I was buying the parts for?

'Newport would look like Dubai' if guy could dumpster dive for lost Bitcoin drive

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: How about a compromise...

He could probably crowdsource the funding. No shortage of idiots.

UK ponders USB-C as common charging standard

AMBxx Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: What next?

Yes, but we didn't need the government to mandate a standard charger. The market did that. Just as well or we'd all be charging laptops using micro-usb.

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: What next?

The pro tools use a different battery, there's a 3rd type for the garden pro tools!

Smart homes may be a bright idea, just not for the dim bulbs who live in 'em

AMBxx Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: "Ask me how I know."

I used to have a dumb timed light switch to turn the lights on and off when away on holiday. It stopped working. No problem, I thought.

Turns out they're not made any more. Everyone's gone 'smart' involving downloading dodgy apps to control a light switch. Then, to use a timer, I'd have to buy an expensive hub.

Solution was to use a dumb socket timer.

Get more licenses for less with SAP price tiering, advise experts

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Really?!

SAP's reseller pricing used to work like that for the BI products. You could buy concurrent licences in blocks of 5,10,25 (from memory, may have been more). If you wanted 15 licences, the difference of buying 25 made it worth just buying 25 rather than 5+10.

AMBxx Silver badge

Hmm

'You could save money on this new licensing scheme'

Then again, in a year or two, we'll 'simplify'...

Valve powers up Arch Linux – because who needs Windows when you have a Steam Deck?

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Woa - desktops = production??

Unlucky. Mine was locked down too (medical company) but I needed admin rights to install software. That meant I could just use P2V.

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Woa - desktops = production??

Last time that happened to me, I just virtualised the laptop.

SAP offers different way to move SQL Server-based software to the cloud

AMBxx Silver badge
WTF?

What am I missing?

You have on-prem software that's coming to the end of support.

You move all the software into SAP's cloud.

Still run the same software and database.

Somehow, this can be supported?

MongoDB rebuts claims it's not ready for business critical workloads

AMBxx Silver badge
Boffin

Just a humble BI developer

I don't work with MongoDB but can someone confirm my understanding. If I have it right, MongoDB performs best when it has a proper schema confugured just like a relational database?

Think I'll stick with Postgres and MS SQL.

AT&T claims VMware by Broadcom offered it a 1,050 percent price rise

AMBxx Silver badge
Joke

Re: No sympathy

Yebbut, he did it on his home PC so it can't be that hard!!!

Watch your mirrors: Tesla Cybertrucks have 'Full' 'Self Driving' now

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Clearly not ready for unattended driving

Not even close to legal! Bonnets need to be soft to let pedestrians bounce off. Not much better for the occupants as everything too rigid.

Disney kicks Slack to the curb, looks to Microsoft Teams for a happily ever after

AMBxx Silver badge
WTF?

That archive file!

1.1TB of Slack data? Sounds like an awful lot of cat videos rather than work related chit-chat.

ERP modernization? Admins have heard of it

AMBxx Silver badge
WTF?

Can I be first

Can I be first to cry 'bullsh!t'.

ERP is ignored because it's too important for a business to muck about with. Just look at all the problems with the current crop of Oracle and SAP upgrades. It's supposed to be boring and stable, not subject to the latest UI designer's whim.

Desktop hypervisors are like buses: None for ages, then four at once

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Hyper-V Type1

I have XP running on mine! I'm sure Windows 95 would work but not tested.

AMBxx Silver badge

Re: Hyper-V Type1

Yes, that's what I was doing 20 years ago. With the advent of HyperV, there's no reason (at least on Windows) to have desktop VM.

AMBxx Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: Hyper-V Type1

I'd be interested to know why someone downvoted you. I've not used a Type 2 Hypervisor for over 15 years. Certainly, in the Windows world there's no need for these type 2 things with all the extra overhead and weird networking.

AMBxx Silver badge
Stop

It's Oracle - probably something hidden in the licence conditions.

RISE with SAP sinking year on year

AMBxx Silver badge
Facepalm

You sure?

>> business transformation that SAP maintains will be necessary to remain competitive

I think they mean that SAP need their customers to upgrade for SAP to remain competitive!

About that Windows Installer 'make me admin' security hole. Here's how it's exploited

AMBxx Silver badge
Boffin

Re: Launching programs with elevated privileges after installation

No, you're typing in the wrong place.

It's File | Open

Then, in the address bar (not the file name box) type cmd.exe (not ./cmd.exe).

CMD opens.

Microsoft partners beware: Action Pack to be retired in 2025

AMBxx Silver badge

That was my initial reaction but I've gone through the list again. It's not all that bad.

It's just me, so just need a bunch of dev stuff. Looking at the 'Launch':

The good:

Still get VS Professional subscription (though drops from 3 to 1). That comes with Windows licences (server and client) for test/dev. I've no need for a full server licence. PCs mostly come with Windows licences/

PowerBI Premium - 4 users. Good news for me as I'm a BI developer and want to do more PowerBI. Odd that you only get 4 licences when it's mostly 5 for other stuff.

The bad:

Azure credits cut to $700 per year but they're 'bulk' so I assume I can pay up front for the production server I use for a web server and get the discount.

Office licences via 365 Business Premium - means a cut in storage from 5TB to 1TB per account. Pain as I've uploaded a load of ripped DVDs that now need a new home.

More effing change - this stuff makes work for very little benefit. Wish they'd just leave alone.

AMBxx Silver badge

Hmm

the basic 'Launch benefits' has no Windows licences - odd decision. Big leap in price to Core. Nice to have PowerBI Premium though. Guess I'll start doing more with Linux server or just have not quite licenced Windows servers for dev.

My renewal is end of September, so good timing. With a MS doing this and a Labour government about to increase taxes, could be a good excuse to retire.

AMD reverses course: Ryzen 3000 CPUs will get SinkClose patch after all

AMBxx Silver badge
Thumb Up

Thanks for the memory. Who needs to heat their home when they're running an old AMD?

Microsoft Bing Copilot accuses reporter of crimes he covered

AMBxx Silver badge

Title is too long

I share a name with:

A bankrupt from Watford (nearly cost me a mortgage in the 90s)

A shoplifter from Bolton (worryingly, I was born in Bolton, so easy to confuse)

Bloke who runs a naval museum

An Australian artist

A wedding photographer

Some bloke a friend of my old boss went to school with

On the plus side, with the exception of the last one, I am the most obscure of them all. More worryingly, what happens when hapless HR decide to use CoPilot to decide who to interview.