Posts by el_oscuro

Meta retreats from metaverse after virtual reality check

Here is a nice summary of the Metaverse from across the pond. I'm pretty sure the author also reads El-Reg.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-meta-horizon-worlds.html

Re: Bollocks. Utter bollocks

You can't "Google it" any more either. Because Google now provides a neat authoritative sounding AI answer just like Chatgpt. Instead you have to noai.duckduckgo it.

Just because Linus Torvalds vibe codes doesn't mean it's a good idea

Tried vibe coding exactly twice

The first time was with copilot. I asked it to generate a PHP web query, hoping to get some good SQLi code out of it. Unfortunately it failed to generate any code, SQLi or not. All it generated was a few comments saying "write your query here". Basically, RTFM. I could have gotten that from any PHP forum.

The other time, was a bit more serious. I wanted to an example to set up production PHP error logging. There are a million different forums about this, but rather than wading through them, I asked CHATGPT for an example and it gave pretty detailed instructions on how to set up the error handler and such. I followed those instructions and the results were - satisfactory. Good error handling is a critical component of anything I develop, and chatgpt gave me a usable "hello world" implementation.

The most durable tech is boring, old, and everywhere

25 years ago, our group was trying to set up a web portal for a large database using (then new) web application middleware. I had already had some bad experience with middleware in the late 90's and the middleware for this project didn't disappoint. Shit never worked right from the start and a month before we were supposed to go live, the server was core dumping all of the time, plus too many other bugs to count. It was obviously unfit for purpose and we had no confidence it would ever be.

With that knowledge, I proposed to the client that we simply do it ourselves using database stored procedures and a bog standard Apache HTTPD server. All of our developers knew database code and would be able to re-implement the already developed apps pretty easily. Still it was a big ask as that would involve redoing almost a years worth of development. I got approval an and managed to create a login page with authentication, plus exactly one web report. I used the html generated from the middeware as a template so at least it was good for something. And we went live on time with that one report.

Without all of the middleware crap, it was fast and reliable and our development group quickly developed the other reports.

For the last 20 years, they have been trying to replace that "legacy" website with something more modern. But 6 billion searches later, we are still using that same technology.

BOFH: If another meeting is scheduled, someone is going to have a scheduled accident

Re: Talk about flash·backs…

Way back in ancient times, I was part of the crew that had to set up equipment for the G5 summit in London. But since we were from across the pond, all of our equipment ran on 120V and we also had to set up transformers to step down the UK 240V to 120V. We had to test every piece of equipment, both individually and completely set up. So I plugged a laptop into the transformer and booted it up without any issues. But then I realized I had forgotten to test the surge protector as well. So I plugged it into the transformer.

And it exploded. Rather spectacularly. After the fire subsided, we checked the output of the transformer. Instead of the expected 120V, it was putting out over 400. Apparently the laptop had an international power supply which could handle whatever random voltage you threw at it.

Re: Talk about flash·backs…

Back in the day, when we moved our racks to new data center, they gave us a tour and touted their power redundancy. They proudly showed us 2 room sized Caterpillar diesel generators, plus a battery room that looked like it belonged on a sub.

They were pretty upset when we installed all of our racks with separate battery backups. We were all belts and suspenders sorts, and we wanted our own redundancy redundancy.

A few years later, the data center lost utility power, and the backup generators failed to start, probably due to a lack of cycling. This instantly transferred the entire load to the battery room which overloaded and caught fire. It was not a good day for them. Fortunately, I wasn't there at the time, so it was Somebody Else's Problem.

After all of this, a lot of the servers and equipment was damaged. Except our servers on our racks with the redundant redundant power.

Seven years later, Airbus is still trying to kick its Microsoft habit

Re: 20 million cells?!

5 years and £100m is about what it would take to to set up Oracle Financials, or at least pay the lawyer fees for the licensing.

Oracle goes all-in on AI, customers still figuring out how they'll use it

To get it working, you will need to hire a dozen senior DBAs and system admins, open about a dozen SRs with Oracle support, install 27 java patches (each also requiring it's own SR). And then you will finally be able to print out "hello world".

Space Shuttle war of words takes off as senator blasts 'woke Smithsonian'

Re: Absolutely Correct, Senator Cornyn

Here on the other side of the pond, I remember the Shuttle retirement clearly. They flew the shuttles atop the carrier aircraft and did tours around the cities. Discovery did several laps around the DC area before eventually landing in Dulles. Seeing it from my office was awesome.

And these Senators are full of shit. Houston had a chance to bid for a shuttle back then, but didn't put a serious bid in. That is why they didn't get one - because they never tried.

Microsoft lets bosses spot teams that are dodging Copilot

Or the Beer Borg. If you have ever played Jets and Guns, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Energy drink company punished ERP graybeard for going too fast

Re: Oh really ?

That is pretty much what manglement thinks of us.

Microsoft declares bring your Copilot to work day, usurping IT authority

Well I have two completely separate corporate accounts. And about a week ago, MSFT changed the office home page on both so ChatCPT Copilot is right in your face, with the chatbot having cursor focus. Anything you type or paste after accessing office.com goes straight to the mothership, no matter how sensitive. And of course sliced and diced, sold to anyone with a checkbook, etc.

Both of these corporate accounts are controlled by restrictive group policies, but I guess MSFT ignores those.

Matrix.org homeserver grinds to a halt after RAID meltdown

Re: SW or HW raid?

^^^ 100% ^^^. With a 35 year career as a DBA, my take is if you haven't practiced a restore recently, you don't have backups. I have seen every type of "redundant" RAID system fail, and like to keep multiple copies of critical files on different types of hardware, In one example, a SAN started failing and silently corrupting redo logs. Corruption written to backup tapes too, all without any visible errors, rendering those backups completely useless.

Fortunately when I set up that database, I multiplexed the redo logs on 2 different RAID devices on the SAN, plus a separate copy on the local hard disk. The local hard disk copy was what saved our asses.

Texas man accidentally shoots cable, brings internet down

Boeing ships 737 fuselages by train from Wichita, Kansas to their final assembly in Seattle. And one of the QA checks they are actually serious about is finding and repairing bullet holes that the fuselages get in transit. Nothing says "Murica" more than that.

Microsoft moves to the uncanny valley with creepy Copilot avatars that stare at you and say your name

Re: Share and Enjoy…

Office 365 keeps pestering me to talk to it when all I want to do is read my email. I wonder If I can have Marvin as the avatar, along with his personality?

Make Windows 11 more useful and less annoying with these 11 Registry hacks

Re: Finally a use for "AI"

I usually put those reg add commands in a .bat file so I can quickly duplicate my settings on a new machine or reset them after a Windows patch overwrites them.

After deleting a web server, I started checking what I typed before hitting 'Enter'

Re: Never delete the old web site, only rename it

That is my server! Who gave you the password?

Nano11 cuts Windows 11 down to size, grabbing just 2.8 GB of disk space

Re: I always thought .....

Windows 2000 fit on a single CDROM and had the same functionality as Windows 11 - at least the functionality the user wants

Microsoft open-sources the 6502 BASIC coded by Bill Gates himself

Re: Well now.

I recently got an unsolicited job offer, WFH and six figures - for mainframe skills I haven't used in over 30 years. Turns out all of those ancient skills are still in demand.

Re: Well now.

Funny you should mention that. Because I wrote a 6502 assembler in Commodore BASIC. Back then, I was a broke teenager and couldn't afford the $35 for the macro assembler so I did the next thing and wrote it myself. The C-64 didn't have any kind of text editor so I wrote a simple EDLIN style one, also in BASIC.

The whole setup worked pretty well. Best $35 I didn't spend.

Tested: Microsoft Recall can still capture credit cards and passwords, a treasure trove for crooks

Re: GPO

In Windows 10 professional, MSFT happily overrides GPEDIT settings all of the time.

Re: Trust is gone!

My trust was completely gone by Windows 7, when I caught them them spying on me. I was pentesting a corporate application on workstation with the recommended Microsoft defaults, when my intercepting proxy caught an out of band request to urs.microsoft.com. This request had an XML payload with my entire request (including a login credential and other sensitive info). The implications of this are clear. This is a straight up MiTM attack, enabled by default on Windows 7.

Firefox is fine. The people running it are not

Re: Firefox has become a misery to use, yet what else is there?

I don't have any issues synchronizing Firefox across devices. I set up an account with them and that sync works just fine.

Former and current Microsofties react to the latest round of layoffs

Re: Reluctance of customers to adopt?

Micros~1 just laid off 9,000 employees of their Xbox gaming studios, the people responsible for Starfield, Indiana Jones, and Doom. It is as if they are trying to destroy their gaming division.

PC gaming is the one area that they are still strong in for home users. Now through Steam Proton, all of those gaming rigs can run Linux with no issues. And other than gaming rigs, who buys a home PC with Windows anymore? Those that still use laptops are probably running Macbooks, if for no other reason than they are easy to use and sync nicely with their phone.

Signal shuts the blinds on Microsoft Recall with the power of DRM

Re: Tommy Flannagan of OSes

Our anything coming out of the of the Trump regime and his Confederate party.

Re: Block it all

You could set your pi-hole to block *.microsoft.com, *.microsoft, *.office.com, *.outlook.com and probably a few others. But they might work around that with other janky domain names or using hard coded IP addresses.

Re: Queue MS Update

I'm sure ICE, the Abortion Police, and Trump's praetorian guard will be very interested in all of that sweet data, and will pay Micros~1 well for it.

Re: Nanny security

If I was working for Signal, I would update the app so the API provided the O/S of the client it is running on. And flag Windows 11 clients as potentially insecure due to Total Recall. So if you are in a group chat discussing highly sensitive info such as women's health care, you can disable people running on Windows.

AI can't replace devs until it understands office politics

Re: It's going to happen

How is AI supposed to replace BOFH's and PFY's? You still need people to open the windows. For now.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/09/bofh_2025_episode_9/

Re: This is what I keep saying

The first time for me was FOCUS (for online computer users). Followed by

1. Case tools

2. Entity-relationship designers

3. GUI interfaces to various admin tools

4. Oracle appliances (The sales droid said: "Just fill in the host and database names and your cluster is completely set up"). We happened to have one of those appliances in our computer room that had been unpacked. I regret that I didn't ask him on the spot: "We got one of those, lets set up right now, its that easy correct?"

5. More recently: Devops, CI/CD, WS/XML, Microservices, and too many others to remember.

All of these just made more work for me.

LastOS slaps neon paint on Linux Mint and dares you to run Photoshop

Re: Bloatware Linux

Your post makes no sense because:

1. Flatpak is an installer format, similar to Microsoft's MSI, and is widely used when running Windows programs on Linux

2. Chrome is the browser most Windows users actually use, so including it here makes sense. In contrast Microsoft installs Edge and opens links in it - even if you have explicitly set Chrome as your browser in Group Policy.

3. Wine - it is what actually runs Windows programs on Linux so it is also needed here.

4. Image viewers and media players - every O/S comes with these.

Which just leaves BitTorrent and the CD burner tools. I wouldn't call these "bloatware", but they aren't really needed by most Windows users.

The nice thing about Linux is you can just uninstall things you don't need and they are actually gone. Another nice thing about Linux is if you don't like the tools supplied with a distro, just use a different one that doesn't have those tools.

US Copyright Office found AI companies sometimes breach copyright. Next day its boss was fired

Re: Confused

https://theonion.com/trump-administration-offers-free-at-home-loyalty-tests/

Linux in Excel? Sure, why not ruin both

Re: VBA

By a strange coincidence, 808 is about the same number of lines of C-64 basic I used to write a 6502 assembler. I also had to write a simple EDLIN style text editor as the C-64 didn't have any capability to edit plain text files. I did all of this because as a broke teenager, I couldn't afford the $35 macro assembler cartridge.

Windows isn't an OS, it's a bad habit that wants to become an addiction

Re: I'e already said this

I have installed on my System 76: Starfield, Indiana Jones, Planet Coaster, XCOM2, Control, The Expanse, Subnatica, and a lot of others. Some I haven't played much. Others I have over 1,000 hours on. All on Linux. Without any issues at all.

America's cyber defenses are being dismantled from the inside

Re: Centralized government

Inefficient? I wouldn't trust these idiots to secure a slide rule, much less anything involving cybersecurity.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/10/missouri-gov-calls-journalist-who-found-security-flaw-a-hacker-threatens-to-sue/

Windows 2000 Server named peak Microsoft. Readers say it's all been downhill since Clippy

Re: Ah, ya know what?

Uh, the Year of The Linux Desktop was about 2009. That is when Android really took off. And by desktop, I mean computers that most people actually use, i.e. their phones. Microsoft lost the desktop war when their MS phone failed.

Today, Windows desktops are mostly used by corporations and PC gamers. And even in PC gaming, Windows is losing share. Steam proton practically runs every game on Linux without issues. A year ago, I needed a new gaming rig and couldn't tolerate the Windows 11 spyware, I so I picked up a sweet System 76 rig. And now I run Indiana Jones and Starfield on Linux without issues.

Re: Microsoft isn't Windows anymore

As an example of this, I conduct all of my MS Teams meetings on a Linux laptop. Actually works better.

Microsoft total recalls Recall totally to Copilot+ PCs

Re: Sensitive information?

Back in the day when we went to the DEFCON hacking conference in Las Vegas, the standard rule was to use a burner phone and laptop. Now we have to do it when traveling anywhere.

Re: Alleged Use Case

True. The US has the Best-est, Biglyest scammers in the entire world.

Re: Awesome!

Just make sure it is running Linux. Because Micros~1 will probably still add the database and tracking, but without the AI search.

Users hated a new app – maybe so much they filed a fake support call

Re: Geography fail

Well I once worked at a job where we had databases globally. And I needed to perform maintenance on a database in Halifax, so I shut it down. When my manager screamed at me for shutting it down while people were still working, I said "they're still working? It's 9PM in Scotland."

While my very first assignment working for Oracle wasn't that bad, it had it's moments. Oracle had hired me and I was waiting on a consulting contract to start. While I was waiting, I hung around the HQ and fiddled with PCs. One day about 15 minutes before Beer O'clock, my manager comes in and says: "We need you onsite in Norfolk tomorrow morning to do an install and migrate a database". Norfolk was of course 250 miles away. First thing I asked was if the client already had the installation CDs. They of course hadn't thought of that, but managed to get me a set before I left. So I set out that evening, somehow managing to find a hotel.

The next morning I arrived at the clients site - to find the server still in boxes. So i twiddled my thumbs all day and played with PCs while they set the server up. Forget the migration, I barely had time to run the installer. I had to be back at HQ the next day. So 500 miles to spend 30 minutes running an installer.

M365 Family users wake up to notice 'Your subscription expired'

Re: The Cloud FTW!!

I use it every day because I have to through my corporate account. And based on that experience, you are not missing anything.

1. Zoom or WebEX both work better than Teams

2. Any email client capable of downloading attachments works better than the "new" outlook

3. LibreOffice works better than the rest of Office 357

No joke: Microsoft foolishly published inaccurate price list on April 1st

Re: Microsoft Morons

Normally, their marketing department would be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. But in this timeline, they would have to wait in a very long line.

Windows intros 365 Link, a black box that does nothing but connect to Microsoft's cloud

Re: high-fidelity Microsoft Teams meetings

Don't get me started about the "New" outlook. The outlook client looks almost like the web based version, but actually has less functionality. Something that is missing is the ability to download attachments to my PC. So I can work with them locally. Like I have been doing for over 30 years.

The thing is, 365 Government is fully supported on my old laptop - running Linux.

To avoid disaster-recovery disasters, learn from Reg readers' experiences

As a DBA, I have had a saying over the last 25 years: "If you haven't practiced your restores recently, you don't have backups". And I have been prove right so many times, I have forgotten.

I make it a point to incorporate restores into routine operations. Need to clone that database? Don't use the VM cloning utilities. Mount your backup media on the new server - and restore it. If you use a split mirror technology like EMC, have your backup script open the mirrored copy read only. Not only do you validate your backups, you can use them as a reporting database. The list goes on and on. Every time you need to make a copy of something, restore it from your backups. You are continuously testing your backups, as well as practicing your own skills.

So when the shit hits the fan and everything breaks, you won't scramble looking for the restore SOP - because you just did one a few days ago.

Feds drop bomb on Multiplan in legal war over healthcare 'price-fixing' algorithms

Re: This one should be interesting

Twice? I wish. Everything costs 10x here what it costs elsewhere. A box of insulin pens can cost as much as $1,110, while I can buy those exact same pens from Canada for $99. Canada Drugs Direct sells Azopt glaucoma eye drops for $25 a bottle. That same bottle costs between $250 and $300 here. I got an $800 bill for a routine cholesterol test. A co-worker suffered a mild concussion and went to the ER. The doctor suggested an overnight stay for observation, and the bill was over $20,000. I could write a book with examples, but the 10x formula seems to apply everywhere in our "healthcare" industry.

OTF, which backs Tor, Let's Encrypt and more, sues to save its funding from Trump cuts

I'm in the middle class and my taxes actually went up. So no, "everyone" didn't get a tax break.

Microsoft's many Outlooks are confusing users – including its own employees

My dad predicted that 25 years ago. At that time, the term he used was: "Microsoft wants to rent Windows".