Posts by Doctor Syntax

RBS and Natwest online banking goes titsup

Re: LOL!!

"! IT is the core of your business"

And if they keep demonstrating failure to maintain the core of their business the regulators should be asking them why they think they're entitled to keep their licence.

Hyatt says hackers took card data from 250 of its hotels

"Protecting customer information is critically important to Hyatt, and we take the security of customer data very seriously,"

Why do they not engage the brain instead of uttering such tosh.

If it's critically important and you've just failed at it what does it say about your competence at stuff which is just very important or only important let alone nice to have?

2015 was the Year of the Linux Phone ... Nah, we're messing with you

For many of us the advance of systemd with the release of Debian 8 makes 2015 a not very great year at all. Debian 7 moves into LTS next month so that extends it a little further but it's getting time to get od my backside & make sure everything I want, including my favourite proprietary RDBMS & tools, can run on BSD or find substitutes.

The multiplicity of desktops is a strength, not a weakness. I use the desktop to provide access to documents which are reference material or WiP, not applications. If the only desktop was Gnome 3 or Unity I'd have given up on Linux already.

No escape: Microsoft injects 'Get Windows 10' nagware into biz PCs

Re: I will give this the attention it deserves..

"we have to keep one single copy of Microsoft Office alive"

But which version? There's the rub.

"number of lookup"

Over what period of time?

Re: "straight out of its 1990s bullyboy playbook"

"with Win XP probably the last version that was reasonably clean"

Wasn't XP the one that introduced phone home? I'd count W2K as the last one that was reasonably clean.

Re: I have a question...

"Why haven't any governments had a go at M$ ... over their forcing Windows 10 on people"

That's an easy one. You're talking about governments & this has only been going on a few months.

Re: Linux, Linux, Linux, Linux,

"Linux: "Good morning, only 15,473 software updates so far today."

Thank you for your informed comment. Now let's look at reality.

First, and I can't speak for other versions, but with Debian updates arrive as they're ready. You can install them when you wish but it would be silly to not offer an important update promptly because today's the first Wednesday in the month & we only release on the first Tuesday.

Today brought 5 updates. I can tell the system to update. It tells me what's to be done including the following:

"Need to get 2,560 kB of archives.

After this operation, 1,024 B disk space will be freed."

but then asks for confirmation to go ahead rather than just doing it.

It took a second to download and a few more seconds to install. But look again at the second of those lines I quoted. Not only does the upgrade process tell you what the impact on the file system is going to be, sometimes it actually releases space.

The Linux upgrade process these days is in a universe Microsoft hasn't even thought about visiting.

Re: Microsoft claims it's doing this...

"After a long weekend, come to work to find Win 10 has installed itself on most of a company's PCs"

Well, at least it would tell you which users ignored your instructions to turn them off when they're not in use. You did tell them that,didn't you?

"if you are not in the deb camp and want rpms then fedora is UEFI compatible as well."

It's a very long time since I used Fedora but AFAICR I found it to be release often, break often. Maybe a derivative of RH, say Centos or Scientific Linux, would be better; I'm sure they're UEFI compatible.

But as a stepping stone it might also be worth looking at one of the Ubuntu derivatives such as Zorin that set out to provide a user interface as close to W7 as possible.

No, Agile does not 'equal' DevOps: Examining complexity and the long haul

Re: SEP implementation process

"thanks to Douglas Adams for inventing this"

He didn't really invent it, just communicated it to everyone who hadn't worked it out for themselves.

DWP building a separate ID tool as Verify can’t cut it, whisper sources

Re: This is a solved problem surely?

@A/C

If you can scan a genuine paper bill header it's probably easiest to do a bit of editing and knock out a new one on a colour printer. Even better, knowing the waste "management" at the company that used to print my mobile & water bills, it might not be too difficult to obtain some genuine blank stock.

Microsoft wants you, yes you, to write bits of Windows 10. For free

I wonder if it would be possible to put something in there which would upgrade the OS to W7.

Server retired after 18 years and ten months – beat that, readers!

When did Time cease to be a thing? I upgraded my cousin-in-law's Time mini-tower to Linux a few months ago.

Learn you Func Prog on five minute quick!

"And not a moment too soon!!!"

The problems you complain about with OO stem from standard operating practice. Take an existing idea - in this case existing ideas about data structures, add something - in this case glue the procedural stuff onto it, wrap the whole thing up in new nomenclature to disguise what you've borrowed, add some over-the-top stuff - e.g. your example about wheels, and tell the world you've invented something completely new.

Between them the new nomenclature and OOT stuff is enough to put many of us off for years.

OK, I left out inheritance but the basic principle is "data structures on steroids" but calling it that wouldn't have brought the same kudos.

Re: That Went right over my head...

"Sometimes I think if you want to learn something, the last thing your should do is read a book."

If all else fails, read the manual. Or maybe that's not quite what you meant.

Welcome back Verity

We've missed you.

But could we have an introduction to functional programming with Object Pascal. Or vice versa.

Nest thermostat owners out in the cold after software update cockup

" Like many companies these days, the Nest terms and conditions explicitly forbid customers from entering into class-action lawsuits against the company. Instead, all disputes are to be settled by arbitration on a case by case basis."

Whether this is a valid term or a meaningless jumble of letters could depend on local consumer protection law.

Er, what sort of Docker experience were you expecting?

"less than 3,000 per cent back in January 2008"

Last time I looked zero was indeed less than 3,000.

We know this isn't about PRISM, Matt Warman MP. But do you?

Re: @Doctor Syntax The quicker this bill is passed the better

"I like your optimism"

Optimism? That was pessimism.

"I suspect that the EU courts will no longer have any jurisdiction over human rights in the UK before the year is out."

In that case HMG will end up with similar problems the US has re Safe Harbour when it comes to doing business with the rest of Europe. Then they find a few large companies deciding to migrate their HQs to other parts of the EU.

The quicker this bill is passed the better

Because then it'll be a quicker trip to the ECHR or ECJ to get a drubbing.

"democratic and judicial oversight"

I think you're confusing political with democratic.

What this bill does is attempt to legitimise the abolition of the presumption of innocence and to redefine "due" in the concept of "due process of law". Last year we celebrated the presence of that latter concept in the last 8 centuries of English law. We celebrated it by abolishing it.

Council of Europe gets tough on net neutrality

"With the exception of traffic management, network security or a court order, the council says that there should be no interference with data traffic flowing across the internet. The wording is precise, strong and unambiguous."

So whatever chokes one service relative to another will be "traffic management". Got it. No ambiguity at all.

Microsoft’s Revolution Analytics buy pays off, Linux-based R Server launched

"All of which will start displaying GWX nagware."

Or "telemetry".

"The reason vendors are racing to improve support for data analytics is that the IoT era already generates (and will continue to do so) huge amounts of data which is otherwise useless."

Does this mean that data analytics will stop the IoT era generating huge amounts of data?

Intel Skylake delays, Win10 and stock glut blamed for Q4 PC sales shrinkage

"I'm not really getting why Windows 10 could be responsible. ... Does HP think that buyers of their Win8/8.1 machines hate the OS so much that they would be willing to buy a whole new PC?"

AIUI HP were complaining that the final [sic] production build of W10 was made available to them too close to release date & this blocked production. But that doesn't seem to tally with tales of unsold stock clogging the warehouses.

Windows 10 shattered Remote Desktop's security defaults – so get patching

Re: Best KB article in this update batch

'"Translates some functionalities in multiple languages for the accuracy of the meaning and to avoid duplicity"

Not quite the Queen's English.'

Maybe something was lost in translation.

Brazilian whacks: as economy tanks, cyber-crooks samba

@moiety

The problem is that it involves handing $70 to someone who professes to expertise in fraud. Or is there honour among theives?

$30 webcam spun into persistent network backdoor

"The attacks are useful as an alternative backdoor for targeted attackers who already have access to a machine"

A WiFi camera might well be installed outside the premises it's supposed to be guarding so it access could be possible.

Not good enough, VW: California nixes toxic mix fix in strict interdict

'mitigation for "past and future environmental harm"'

If CARB's actions delay fixing the offending vehicles are they going to hold themselves responsible for "future environmental harm" during the delay?

One Ring to pwn them all: IoT doorbell can reveal your Wi-Fi key

Re: Doorbells? Who needs doorbells?

"Delivery people send you a text and then knock."

Hereabouts they ring the bell & ask for such & such house. It's a consequence of most houses not having numbers & looking for the nameplate being too hard.

Microsoft’s Get Windows 10 nagware shows signs of sentience

Re: When

"Sadly my win 7 box here has had updates turned off"

Strange choice of adverb.

Re: Well, if it wants to jump species...

"I have just bought a GPS that REQUIRES Windows (or a Mac) to upgrade the maps. Imagine my disappointment"

Always read the small print.

But check if Wine will do the trick. Or Vista in a VM.

Re: GWX isn't the problem.

"Before 10 came out I could update a clean 7 build in around a hour or two. Hit update, a minute later the list of 200 updates would appear, click install and go get on with something else for an hour or two."

The fact that this was considered acceptable, or at least normal, is a sad comment on the extent to which MS had brainwashed admins.

Come in Internet Explorers, your time is up. Or not. Up to you

Re: Stuck with old IE?

" Anyone who decides not to do so is just putting off the inevitable."

This is true but it's unlikely to be anyone prepared to listen to a sysadmin let alone working as one.

Boffins switch on pinchfist incandescent bulb

Re: LED and CRI

"t's sometimes more cost-effective to replace the light fitting than to retro-fit LEDs. Or at least it is if you are your own electrician."

Going shopping with SWMBO for light fittings? Not worth it!

Southend-on-Sea splashes £1.5m on hybrid cloud data centre

"The council is re-locating a data centre"

Which council? Solihull? Are you padding out a very short story with quotes from a previous one?

What's going on with X.org? Desktop software body could lose domain

Re: "reached out"... no. Just No.

'What's wrong with "We contacted..." ?'

"We asked..." is simpler.

Future Snowden hunt starts with audit of NSA spooks' privileges

They seem to assume that staff would be doing this via their normal work machines. Have they forgotten that these include people who install backdoors & tap networks?

Turkish carder scores record 332-year jail term

"and seven months"

Nice to see courts giving such attention to detail.

Hacks rebel after bosses secretly install motion sensors under desks

Re: Becoming all too common...

"I hope I can get out before they decide to play their stupid games with my job."

That would be missing an opportunity. If the timing's just right you have an opportunity to tell them what to do with their job rather than quietly disappear.

Re: Telegraph not unique

"too many managers who are more internally directed rather than looking externally and selling or delivering stuff that adds value to the bottom line"

too many managers

FTFY

Anyone using M-DISC to archive snaps?

Re: Just encrypt your data and email it

But where will you archive the key?

Re: Data =/= Information

My aunt and mother were both great hoarders of photographs. But not great labellers. So I have problems of who were these Edwardian ladies staring at the camera and who were the children with them? And what was the building all these people were standing beside? A few labelled pictures are a useful archive; a few Tb of unlabelled jpegs are so many random bits.

Re: Media works … DVD a bit tight for all you snaps.

"I don't have time to be picky about what is stored"

Maybe best to delete it all. If you don't have time to review it now you're never going to have time to look at it all or to find the one picture which you seem to remember you have somewhere if only you can find it...

Re: Media works … DVD a bit tight for all you snaps.

"More to the point perhaps is the use for family histories; family trees including pictures,, scans of certificates and other historic addenda."

Print out on good quality paper. Your descendants might not be bothered to work out how to use your digital version but hard copy won't be a problem. Unless they burn it, of course; maybe you should print a large threat to come back & haunt them on the cover.

Investigatory Powers Bill: A force for good – if done right?

Re: Secret law is anathema to democracy...

"When you Brits are being shafted (and in many ways, the rest of the world) you're very calm."

At present the matter is before Parliament. Despite what happens in PMQs florid displays of anger are likely to be counter-productive. A better tactic is presenting reasoned and reasonable arguments as ammunition for any sympathetic politicians who might be listening (as I hope Lord Strasburger still is despite the reception he was given).

"Add another thing - a judge can only grant a maximum of X warrants in any 24 month period. This is to stop a judge that is overly sympathetic to bullshit or probe to rubber stamping."

What concerns you here is what's sometimes called regulatory capture, the judges being the first layer of regulation. If you look at point 5 you'll see that this is also checked for. The approach I've suggested is to check for outcomes.

One could easily envisage a situation where a case has a large number of suspects The judge is presented with a request for warrants against all of them. I'm assuming that individual warrants would be issued for each suspect. This could eat up an undue proportion of your X without the judge being overly sympathetic to bullshit or rubber stamping. In fact, by having to read the background to the case once he could concentrate on wanting to know why there are so many suspects and requiring warrants to be vacated as soon as it became clear that a suspect was eliminated.

Rationing the inputs wouldn't be as effective as reviewing the outcomes.

Re: @Doctor Syntax

"You missed one key thing."

No.

From point 5: "this would be to check for attempts to slip unjustified, overbroad requests through the system"

One of the purposes of the checking layer would be to prevent what you're concerned about.

A well-informed commentard on a thread some time ago pointed out than in some cases multiple warrants had to be sought to follow up on an initial warrant - IIRC an example was discovering that a suspect had a second mobile & another warrant had to be issued to cover that. It's likely that a warrant system that required undue follow-ups would be counter-productive - the judges would be overwhelmed with requests & not able to give due scrutiny. An effective system would need a sufficient degree of flexibility which is why I didn't suggest a specific granularity but a system of checks to countermand abuse.