Posts by Doctor Syntax

Y2K quick-fix crick? 1920s come roaring back after mystery blip at UK's vehicle licensing agency

Re: Even Easier

The irony is that the database storage could be OK and this is just a bodged print conversion. If not the print problem is the least of their worries.

So these were the systems that were bodged rather than fixed. Remind me again how Y2K wasn't a real problem.

It's a no to ZFS in the Linux kernel from me, says Torvalds, points finger of blame at Oracle licensing

Re: The problem is not Oracle (for once)

I think that's what Linus wants to do. But it's hard for him to express this without the use of profanity... do this without contacting and getting the approval of all past kernel contributors including those who have experienced their own kernel panic and gone to that great dump partition in the sky.

FTFY

Re: The problem is not Oracle (for once)

"So why is it Oracle’s fault?"

Or at least Sun's...

Back in the day there were suggestions that the CDDL licence was deliberately designed to be incompatible with GPL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Development_and_Distribution_License

Re: Hypocritical

"Surely someone remembers SCO?"

Yes. It made a really good but maybe overpriced SMB server OS before it turned into a litigation company.

Re: Hypocritical

For example?

Why is a 22GB database containing 56 million US folks' personal details sitting on the open internet using a Chinese IP address? Seriously, why?

Re: ... but it's all publically available anyway ?

"Check Steve Lehto on YouTube for commentary on that one."

Actually, I'd rather check the text. It's at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:31996L0009&from=EN but the summary is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_Directive

Re: ... but it's all publically available anyway ?

If you published their integrated version of it their lawyers would be very quick to explain to you the difference between what's in that and the separate publicly available data bases - and complain you were infringing their copyright.

Re: Ted Codd

Too much like hard work.

Re: And closer to home?

To be fair why should they expect UK police forces to be any more scrupulous in handling somebody else's database when they persistently fail to delete data they've been told to delete by UK courts.

Re: CheckMate

"Here they'd be fined an astronomical amount, then close the business to avoid paying the fine."

In which case their failure to read the fine print of the DPA would come as a nasty surprise to them. Yes, officials can be held responsible.

Re: late capitalists

'Even if the individual components were tested individually it still doesn't mean that their particular combination is safe - a wetting agent may, for instance, increase skin penetration of some other component.

It's amazing how much fuss they can make over putting gloop in bottles whilst saving the costs of safety checks.

Re: late capitalists

"Would that be the same late capitalists that used to think routine testing of cosmetics etc on animals was a legitimate part of their business operations?"

On the other hand: It's Christmas Winterval. Here's a very expensive mixture we're selling you to give to your nearest and dearest to smear over themselves. It's so dangerous we haven't tested it on animals.

Flying taxis? That'll be AFTER you've launched light sabres and anti-gravity skateboards

Re: @ Warm Braw

"The main thing preventing such vehicles is that the technolgy allowing the design of a something that has a sufficiently long range and/or sufficiently short refueling time to be practical is not yet available."

Not unique to flying taxis.

Re: @ Warm Braw

"Airliners have to undergo expensive maintenance at regular intervals, and there's a whole infrastructure around that. Not to mention the certifications of aircraft maintenance technicians."

But flying taxis would be disruptive so they don't have to worry about things like that.

Re: We have the technology

"The bigger problem with mega cities is they are just too 'ing dense. Most people don't want to live in them so they find a house or flat in the burbs and commute."

Those are the second and third order problems. The first order problem is that they're too big in terms of both population and the volume of business being conducted in them. Distribute the business to smaller cities which need a smaller population, less density and less commuting.

There may, of course, be a zero order problem of too many people but we seem well overdue for a pandemic which could take care of that.

Re: Flying taxis = wrong solution to right problem

"In a city like London, the surface is full up."

Crossrail shows that things are getting tricky below the surface as well.

Re: What we need are

No, you just get chopped into packets and reassembled at the other end.

Re: "Lightsaber"

Emmer.

H0LiCOW: Cosmoboffins still have no idea why universe seems to be expanding more rapidly than expected

Is it time to reintroduce Fred Hoyle's continuous creation theory?

Multiverses seem to have their own branch of cosmology.

Re: the Hubble variable

Compile? Maybe it's just running in an interpreter.

Re: Differences

Fair enough. Didn't see it in time.

Re: Differences

"Constant's aren't" is one of the basic rules of software development. Maybe it applies to universes too.

It's Becoming Messy: Judge says IBM's request to shut down age-discrimination lawsuit should be rejected

An implicit admission isn't worth the paper it's not written on. In particular it can't be used against them when the next claim comes up.

Re: 281 cases settled

I bet the settlements were on the basis of "No admission of wrongdoing" or similar.

So do I.

Because a company can settle and then publicly deny the factor that lead them to settle I think they get into a habit of thinking that this applies to any dispute that went against them. Maybe this is why we then get companies continuing to deny an actual decision that went against them.

What was Boeing through their heads? Emails show staff wouldn't put their families on a 737 Max over safety fears

Re: Lots of concern but no much care.

"that only covers federal whistleblowers."

It does?

Re: To the Armchair Engineers

"You can test each change."

"Can" and "will" are different words with different meanings and consequences.

Re: That's interesting..

You have to wonder how much of that stock will ever get delivered.

Re: Decent aircraft

"it wouldn't be too much to ask the Boeing be broken up and sold off"

I can imagine something of that sort happening. The US would want to preserve the armaments business. If the loss of reputation on the passenger side were to put that at risk then breaking it up might follow PDQ.

Re: "the FAA remains focused on [..] returning the Boeing 737 MAX to passenger service"

I wonder to what extent the FAA's [lack of] involvement in all this should be counted as state aid, something the US has been vocal about in others and particular others who were competing with Boeing.

Re: I guess

"a lack of production capability to suddenly take up the entire market share that Boeing had this time last year."

Sub-contract some of the work to Boeing? But inspect it very, very carefully.

"unless business as usual comes to a screeching halt over this, which I doubt"

If it has enough bad effect on sales it could well have that effect. Of course the armaments side of the business wouldn't be affected and the US govt obviously has an interest in keeping that going. I wonder if we'll see the corporation split to protect that.

'No BS' web host Gandi lives up to half of its motto... Some customer data wiped out in storage server meltdown

Re: I am a bit concerned

"For instance, I have used shared hosting to process one terabyte of data twice a day."

That may not be a use case typical of most of their customers.

"Can anyone recommend any alternatives?"

I only use them for domain and email: Mythic Beasts.

BOFH: You brought nothing to the party but a six-pack of regret

"I'll need a glass of water"

Water? Is this some January detox thing?

Google scolded for depriving the poor of privacy as Chinese malware bundled on phones for hard-up Americans

Re: A lesson for chinese data grabbers

"It seems to me that we in the west are perfectly happy if our data is being slurped by our own guys."

Speak for yourself.

Personally I'm fed up with being told I'm happy with this, approve that, demand something else when they're all things with which I disagree.

"Surely Virgin, Unimax (who?) and the US gov are more responsible for these phones since they actually make and distribute them."

The US gov makes or distributes phones? Since when?

OTOH I'd agree that the obvious line of attack would be those selling them, at least under European customer protection legislation. It's then up to the vendor to twist the arms of the makers.

Re: Isn't Android open source?

There is a big difference between Google using its monopoly power to favour its own products and using it for customer protection.

Dixons fined £500,000 by ICO for crap security that exposed 5.6 million customers' payment cards

Alternative address - for any such tricks:

Post code: SK9 5AF

No number but a name: Wycliffe House

Post code W3 6RS

"House" number 1.

Ask them to tell you that in writing. Then copy their letter and your reply to the ICO.

What if everyone just said 'Nah' to tracking?

"The mere fact that the selection of adverts you are presented with in your social feeds, search engine searches and banner advertising changes over time is proof of this ongoing optimisation."

You just don't get it, do you?

To go all Bob: I BLOCK ADS.

And I HAVE NO SOCIAL FEEDS. Zilch.

Don't let this stop you telling your clients you can send me advertising. If you could your selection would undoubtedly be for those things I've already bought or stuff I don't want.

An example of the latter. If, for geographical reasons, I search for a place name, the results will be swamped with estate agents sites for that area despite the fact that I have no intention whatsoever of even going there let alone buying a house there. It's not a phrase I'd use often but I feel sorry for those estate agents who are being bilked for fees to put that crap in front of me.

Re: I just don't care.

" If they are any good their research will tell them they are wasting their time."

The people who are building that profile aren't wasting their time. They're using it to sell services to advertisers. The advertisers are, however, wasting their money.

The soap opera continues. HP again tells Xerox: Show us more money!

Good old Beeb! They had this article a few days ago https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50609165 that appears to be treating Icahn as something out of the past.

Windows 7 and Server 2008 end of support: What will change on 14 January?

"Users who spend most of their time in, say, Google Chrome, Microsoft Office, and some custom internal applications, may find the benefits of upgrading to Windows 10 hard to see"

These are the ones which would be easiest to migrate to 10. There are suitable applications waiting for them. Those who find the benefits really hard to see are those dependant on applications which weren't ported to 10, maybe using H/W for which there are no drivers later than 7.

Google and IBM square off in Schrodinger’s catfight over quantum supremacy

It's Google. How long before they close it down and move onto something else? That supercooling stuff will make a great internet-connected fridge.

Astroboffins discover Sun is surfing on 9,000-light-year gas wave that acts as Milky Way's stellar nursery

It's one of those things that raises more questions than it answers. Is it a static wave or does it undulate? If the latter, what's its period? How long did it take to form? How did it form? Lots of number crunching to come....

Ring of fired: Amazon axes multiple workers who secretly snooped on netizens' surveillance camera footage

Re: Punishment seems too extreme

Redeployed was Harold Wilson-speak for unemployed back in the '60s.

GSMA report: Sorry, handset makers, 5G is not going to save the smartphone market

Re: "It just so happens that there's something better."

"But the companies want to sell to everybody"

And if they don't regulators might make them.