Posts by Rob Gr

I'll give you my passwords if you investigate police corruption, accused missile systems leaker told cops

Re: mental deranger people carrying weapons?

Care in the Community could have worked out entirely differently if they hadn't cut all the budget for carers in the community at the same time.

Love Minecraft: Java? You'll have to learn to love your Microsoft account as well – it will be required next year

Re: User accounts - NO!

"Why the f*** must we register an account for every piece of software? So the bastards can spam you or sell you."

In this case, the game has an online component, so registering for an account makes a hell of a lot of sense.

Swift tailored for Windows no longer folklore: Apple's programming language available for Microsoft OS

Re: Badly needed

" but I forget the person to whom he attributed it--Alan Perlis, perhaps"

Probably not, as he was involved in the development of ALGOL.

Taylored to our needs

One day I'll read an article about article about Apple's Swift without the, apparently obligatory, illustration of Taylor.

One day, just not today.

Microsoft nudges latest TypeScript iteration out onto the mean streets of JavaScript

Re: "How anyone can bare to work in webdev beats me."

"However, I can barely bear the thought of some web developers going bare, since they look like a member of the family Ursidae."

Bear with me a second.

C++ still rules the Chromium roost though Rust has caught our eye, say browser devs

Re: Kinda sad.

"Rust doesn't have super strong typing of Ada, it follows by default more the dynamic typing of Python" that is quite simply totally and utterly wrong. It allows types to be inferred, but every variable has a well-defined type at compile time, which is extended to include lifetime analysis to ensure variables are not used beyond the point their value is valid. It's one of the strongest type systems I've seen. It is immensely more safe than C++. The compiler is extremely strict.

Beware the Friday afternoon 'Could you just..?' from the muppet who wants to come between you and your beer

My standard rate for *good* friends is a meal and bottle of wine. I simply refuse for anyone else.

Google security engineer says she was fired for daring to remind Googlers they do indeed have labor rights

Re: Can someone please explain...

"Suffice to say, I'll never make a film in California. Why would I want to deal with that nonsense?"

I'm sure the media establishments in California are quaking at the idea of you denying your contribution.

Darkest Dungeon: Lovecraftian PTSD simulator will cause your own mask to slip

Amnesia pioneered the use of sanity in Computer Horror years ago.

Rust in peace: Memory bugs in C and C++ code cause security issues so Microsoft is considering alternatives once again

Re: Don't be a tease

This post simply displays your ignorance of Rust (and languages in general) I'm afraid. It has stronger typing than C++, but uses type inference (similar to "auto" in modern C++, but actually more like Haskell) to save the developer having to name all the types, which makes refactoring easier.

Re: And when we get shit code in Rust ?

The corrolary of course is that a skilled workman always ensures his tools are fit for purpose.

'Software delivered to Boeing' now blamed for 737 Max warning fiasco

Re: Management's job

All together now...

I'm an Engineer and I'm OK..

Re: Management's job

It was superseded by "Excrement falls down not up!"

Which conveniently, also applies to their planes.

The Year Of Linux On The Desktop – at last! Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 brings the Linux kernel into Windows

Re: Hmm..

Or Sun (Sun O/S) or Silicon Graphics, or...

Zuck it up: Facebook hit with triple whammy of legal probes, action in Canada, US, Ireland

Re: Wanted ad

"I'm told that Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, is a person of total integrity."

Now I have to clean coffee from my keyboard again!

Why are there never free power sockets when my Y-fronts need charging?

God damn these electric sex pants The IT Crowd

RIP Dr Peuto, Zilog and Sun's bright SPARC

I was about to make a comment that was startlingly similar. That book was awesome and gave me a foundation in many aspects of computing.

While US fires criminal charges at Huawei, UK tells legislators not to worry, everything's fine

Re: @robpomeroy

Indeed, I seem to remember Uber recently being involved in such activities for example.

Re: Who's afraid of the big bad dragon

I has evidently escaped your attention that the majority of African Americans did not arrive as immigrants, but as slaves. Most have lived there for generations now, and so are not immigrants at all.

But let's all make excuses for racism in the system, eh?

Dozens of .gov HTTPS certs expire, webpages offline, FBI on ice, IT security slows... Yup, it's day 20 of Trump's govt shutdown

Re: Just an idea

Simple, freeze their assets too until it gets sorted.

Is Google purposefully breaking Microsoft, Apple browsers on its websites? Some insiders are confident it is

Re: Brittle software?

That also required the legal system in the US and EU interceding to force MS to drop anti-competitive practices. I suspect the same intervention may be required here, but am not convinced the authorities are on the case.

Microsoft's .NET Core 3 is almost here, which means time to move on from .NET Framework

"WHat the fuck do I get with .net?"

Memory safety for one. And don't try to tell me that you're one of the C developers who don't make memory errors - they're like Unicorns.

Magecart fiends punch card-skimming code in Sotheby's Home website

Re: re Headline

A pinch and a Hollerith punch for the first of the month?

(I'll fetch my chad and leave)

The antisocial network: 'Facebook has a black people problem,' claims staffer in exit salvo

Re: no, just no.

And yet violence by right wing individuals and organisations seems to be reaching an apex at exactly the same time as they have been given a platform to voice their opinions. Allowing them a platform amplifies their voices, and they feel empowered to turn voice into action.

Such opinions are much less likely to be expressed privately, as most reasonable people would call them out.

Re: no, just no.

Still people don't seem to understand the distinction between allowing someone freedom of speech and being compelled to provide them a platform.

Facebook, Twitter et al. have no duty to allow all voices to be heard. People wanting to espouse these views can always look elsewhere to do so.

What do a meth, coke, molly, heroin stash and Vegas allegedly have in common? Broadcom cofounder Henry Nicolas

Re: and this appears to be

That's kind of irrelevant, as there appear to have been sufficient quantities to look like trafficking.

Smash-hit game Fortnite is dangerous... for cheaters: Tools found laced with malware

It really should surprise noone that cheats, unauthorised mods (or even, occassionally authorised mods), and cracked software are a common attack vector for malware. In no way is this limited to Fortnite. Any parent of a 14 year old can tell you this - laptops read regular disinfection when used by teenage gamers.

Facebook sends lowly minions to placate Euro law makers over data-slurp scandal

"I did a quick check and Facebook is worth nearly 1/2 trillion dollars. So, if they do not play ball, any fine really, is going to be insignificant."

GDPR penalities are up to €20 million, or 4% of annual turnover - whichever is higher. So, even to Facebook, that could be a problem.

What's all the C Plus Fuss? Bjarne Stroustrup warns of dangerous future plans for his C++

Re: Disagree....

C++ Rule #2:

Insulting those who raise valid criticisms of the language really helps engage the community.

Re: C and C-style C++

With all the incurrring dangers relating to buffer overflows, unfreed memory, etc.

To write new code without some form of protection from these kind of errors is verging on irresponsible now.

NHS: Thanks for the free work, Linux nerds, now face our trademark cops

Re: Shameful

I concur here - I wouldn't expect any product to use the initials NHS, unless actually part of the NHS. Having been warned over NHSubuntu, they really may have foreseen issues with NHoS. On the other hand, immediately reaching for lawyers was a bit heavy handed.

I'm also surprised the NHS would actually consider anything produced on a volunteer basis by 4 workers. What about support concerns? Are they capable of moving fast in the case of breakage? There may be other factors at play.

Facebook folds fake news flag: We're not disputing that

Re: Detecting Fake News is hard

Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent (1988) illustrated that Western media has always been guilty of the sin of omission, and is manipulated by political parties to "frame a debate". I find it unlikely there has ever been a newspaper that just prints "facts", without having some filter of the vested interests of the owners.

Re: Detecting Fake News is hard

To really stop reading fake news, you'd pretty well have to stop reading news.

However, some outlets of news seem to make no attempt at actually providing news. Social media and the UK tabloids spring to mind.

BAE confirms it is slashing 2,000 jobs

"Also I thought we were in the business of selling high tech death machines to dubious human rights abusing regimes abroad such as

Saudi Arabia,Oman,Kuwait, as well as ,Germany and Spain ,Italy,Austria"

Exactly, my heart fails resolutely to bleed on this one.

Stack Overflow + Salary Calculator = your worth

The UK salaries seem totally wide of the mark, as evidenced by the adverts immediately below the calculator, all of which fall below the lowest percentile.

It's official: Users navigate flat UI designs 22 per cent slower

Re: @ Hollerithevo As a UX person as well as web dev

That was exactly my thought - based on the heat map illustration it looks like the same layout was tested with flat UI elements vs 3D elements. However, changing to a good modern design requires more than just changing a theme - it should use the placement and coloring to give the user cues which elements are active and which are passive.

Assange offers job to sacked Google diversity manifestbro

Re: Well..

"why aren't men given priority in nursing if this is a thing?"

Because they're too busy being disproportionately employed at higher positions as doctors and specialists, which pay a shit load more, in spite of similar outcomes from medical qualifications.

Google's macho memo man fired, say reports

Generally, positive discrimination is introduced to combat the fact that discrimination is already happening, in the opposite direction. Ideally, it would not be needed, but there seems little evidence of that in various aspects of society.

Revealed: 779 cases of data misuse across 34 British police forces

I've always felt that crimes committed by the police should actually be punished more severely than amongst the general population, precisely because of the abuse of position and as a deterrent.

Microsoft hits new low: Threatens to axe classic Paint from Windows 10

Re: The end

1. Click in Search box

2. Type Sn..

3. Select "Snipping Tool"

4. Click New

5. Marquee select part of screen of interest.

6. Switch to email

7. Ctrl+V

Done

Facebook's left hand is fighting for Americans' right to privacy

I'm surprised the interested agencies don't register as advertisers, then they could hoover all the info they desire.

Brit prosecutors ask IT suppliers to fight over £3 USB cable tender

Re: Dixons Price

That would be nice, but I think these places know that the only reason people don't buy such things online is that they want one yesterday.

A minister for GDS? Don't talk digital pony

"Maude is regarded as having achieved more than most in trying to break the insane amount of money the public sector still spends on, frankly, crap IT."

I think your fingers must have slipped on the last two words there. Crap-IT-a, surely.

When we said don't link to the article, Google, we meant DON'T LINK TO THE ARTICLE!

Sadly, that's not the case here. The right to be forgotten simply allows someone to request that links to information be removed when "there is no compelling reason for its continued processing" - that is not the same thing as the information being incorrect.

Bye bye MP3: You sucked the life out of music. But vinyl is just as warped

Re: MP3

One thing, as the owner of a large collection of vinyl and CDs there are none of my vinyl records that are unplayable - occassionally small artifacts, but mostly listenable.

Lots of my CDs have started jumping and become utterly unlistenable. I'm transferring them all to digital storage and just keeping the CD inserts - the rest are just junk now.

Windows 10: Triumphs and tragedies from Microsoft Build

Re: Putty ....

Hmm, that's not my experience - all 500 PC's in our offices have been upgraded to Win 10.

Londoners will be trialling driverless cars in pedestrianised area

Re: Make use of...

There is no such thing as Road Tax in the UK. Sorry to disappoint you. There is vehicle tax, but roads are under the remit of local government (except motorways), so actually cyclists probably effectively subsidise motorists to use roads - they don't produce much wear.

I believe the transport minister has bad form wrt cyclists and pedestrians:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2016/dec/15/transport-secretary-chris-grayling-knocks-over-cyclist-as-he-opens-his-car-door-video

Ever visited a land now under Islamic State rule? And you want to see America? Hand over that Facebook, Twitter, pal

Re: The key word is 'Ever'

"There's also this Huffington Post article from 2012 which says that more people were killed by bees & wasps than by terrorism."

What do you think is behind the development of pesticides that are threatening bees with extinction?

Bloke whose drone was blasted out of sky by angry dad loses another court battle for compo

Re: What a colostomy bag...

I love the irony of someone who chooses the child-catcher as his profile image posting this.