Posts by bombastic bob

Future airliners will run on hydrogen, vows Airbus as it teases world-plus-dog with concept designs

“four times more voluminous"

hydrogen fuel is “four times more voluminous than kerosene so naturally we aim at shorter distances to be flown,”

So, with increased fuel tank cost/weight and shorter flight distances (assuming the cost per Joule is still the same), WHY are we doing this again???

And, I'm NOT convinced that cost per Joule is lower for Hydrogen, either...

(not saying "do not use Hydrogen", but rather "use good economic sense", and last I checked, jet engines do NOT use fuel cells)

Because, increased costs coupled with less freedom of movement is ALWAYS a BAD thing.

Imagine working for GitHub and writing a command-line interface for the platform, then GitHub makes an 'official' one

Re: Same dev?

"feelings" are SO overrated. Although, you don't want _anger_ from customers/users...

And yet I'm still in "wait and see" mode. Last thing I'm going to want to deal with is a closed-source application that must be installed on non-windows (including FreeBSD) development systems, that have cryptic commands similar to Power[s[Hell, requires ".Not" or Mono to run, etc. etc. etc..

Did the article say whether this GitHub "hub" tool is actually OPEN SOURCE? I suppose I could go look at the site... ok - Build from Source instructions are at THAT link! So far so good, except you have to install 'go' 1.13 or later. and here I was thinking that REAL cli application developers use C and C++ ...

(but at least it's Open Source so kudos to the dev for doing that much and making it buildable on non-windows platforms)

Yeah no doubt it'll show up in FreeBSD's ports system soon, if it's not there already.

Thunderbird implements PGP crypto feature requested 21 years ago

Re: identity and encryption

As long as you have backups of your home directory that includes the .gnupg directory you are fine as long as you dont forget your keys password.

I have to wonder about Windows users, though... Backup? what's that?

There's always an old school way of doing it:

Fred: Hey Joe, what's your publc key? Mine is {alphabet soup}

Joe: it's {alphabet soup}. Let's mark our e-mail clients to send mail to each other using public key encryption every time from now on.

(old school "just ask for it" public key exchange)

but an automatic way would be better.

What I would like to see [if not done already] is an RFC on mail exchanges having their own public key database, maybe even part of the SMTP server itself. Maybe like this:

HELO example.com

PUBK [e-mail]

'PUBK' would tell the SMTP server to send back the public key for [e-mail], if in fact it is a canonical server for testing.com e-mails, joe is a valid mail user, and joe also registered a public key with the server.

Since I haven't seen how gnu public key stuff works [I definitely should look at what TBird is doing now] this may have already been implemented, or there might be an RFC for it already that I haven't downloaded AND looked at. In any case, making it automatic might require some additional infrastructure and protocol implementation by others...

Alibaba wants to get you off the PC upgrade treadmill and into its cloud

Re: Little question

But I'm sure there will be lawyers to find otherwise.

and maybe a subpoena or two for data and logs that get delivered without your knowledge or consent, like with predatory and/or divorce-related lawsuits, evidentiary "fishing expeditions", etc..

If your data is purely under YOUR control, you can always "object" to discovery. not so if it's "on the cloud" - those guys will hand it over without even a 2nd thought to a) stay in business and b) stay under the radar of regulatory agencies in general.

[yeah no corporations have EVER gone after regular people with high profile high dollar lawsuits in a predatory way using "evidence" provided by ISPs and content providers in some kind of apparent fishing expedition to "make examples" of people, right???]

Re: so, a 'Network Computer'?

yes this shift back to "big iron" from individual PCs has been tried several times. Don't forget the "dot bombs" of the early 21st century, too. And MS's cloudy version of DevStudio. All of these aren't doing so well, against the hopes of their developers (and the carnival and bandwagon appeal of their marketeers).

Long ago it was obvious that "big data" works best if you distribute the processing of it, but centralize the storage of it, no doubt with at least SOME niche exceptions but I'm talking about the general case.

There was also an attempt to do something *LIKE* this with "terminal services", and I haven't seen a whole lot of exploitation of THAT platform, either...

"But, but, but, it hasn't been tried by *US* yet!!!"

What was that definition of insanity again?

Bad news for 'cool dads' trying to bond with their teens: China-owned TikTok and WeChat face US download ban by Sunday

Re: banned from being hosted or delivered in America, or served over a CDN, or peered

well if China allowed their application to send data to/from servers hosted in the USA that were NOT forwarding it along to the Chinese Communist Party for spying and other purposes, this wouldn't be an issue. And that's pretty much my understanding of it. Same with the ZTE thing.

As for "Cool Dads" bonding with their teens. Just say NO to them. A *LOT*. "Dad can I xxx?" "NO". They'll be better off for it. As a dad, your job is to embarrass them and keep them from doing things that are stupid, which is pretty much EVERYTHING they want to do. So no need to learn the latest teen lingo. They can learn the lingo YOU used when YOU wre a teen. "Like, totally, NO!"

So who needs Tik Tok anyway... !

Re: Tok for Tik (sorry, I mean Tit for Tat)

also a bit different philosophically.

1. China bans U.S. applications because they're trying to censor and control and spy on everyone

2. U.S. bans China applications to PREVENT China from censoring, spying on, and controlling U.S. Citizens.

At least, that's MY understanding.

Net neutrality lives... in Europe, anyway: Top court supports open internet rules, snubs telcos and ISPs

"But I can also see that it could be seen as a slippery slope to only allowing blessed video streaming or social media companies."

Correct. An outright ban of "a fast lane" prevents people from buying better service than the next person. I would like to be ABLE to do just that. If I pay more, I SHOULD get better service. Right?

On the other hand, the potential for abuse is ALSO there. So the fix is NOT to outright ban a service in which you pay for faster streaming [as an example] or "priority" content in general, but rather to REGULATE it such that competing services won't be "throttled" [including peer-to-peer and non-commercial traffic]. A typical regulation might allow a 2:1 boost of priority traffic as long as it's below 70% total capacity [for example], and that non-priority traffic would still be at a service level equivalent to what it was before. So it's not being "throttled", just "not boosted". And the company doing it might have to explicitly disclose everything they boost. Then consumers can choose.

"Net Neutrality" is yet another case of possible "well intentioned" ideas becoming anti-freedom, anti-capitalist, or anti-progress. So we're all stuck in the SAME PERFORMANCE GHETTO. Wheee.

No solution is perfect. THIS one is probably the worst of all available choices.

£2.5bn sueball claims Google slurps kids' YouTube browsing habits then sells them on

Discovery process - let's see what we can get made public

The people filing the lawsuit could have all KINDS of fun during the 'Discovery' process, where information gets subpoenaed, testimony is deposed, documents are produced, and so forth. Maybe we can find out what's happening behind closed doors that Google doesn't want confirmed... something that could EQUALLY be applied against them in the UK as well as the USA.

But you know what will happen then - to avoid this from happening, Google will "settle".

I hope they do NOT! In the USA, matters in a trial, unless the judge orders them "sealed", are MATTERS OF PUBLIC RECORD. I hope that in the UK and the EU this is ALSO the case.

icon because "think of the children". heh.

At the very last Moment.js: Time-and-date JavaScript library fetched 12 million times a week ends development

advised developers to consider alternatives.

like, copy/pasta into your OWN version?

this live-update-from-online-repo thing is HIGHLY overrated... and has created a FEW problems in the past... just a few. OK MORE than a few. Old news, yeah. But a "teachable" moment nonetheless. (too bad devs didn't learn)

If you ask me, it's a maintainers NIGHTMARE to have such a moving target, especially if you like RELIABILITY and MAINTAINABILITY.

a) Dev says "I'm quitting"

b) you're screwed - or else

c) clone your own copy, to hell with 3rd party nonsense

icon, because, facepalm.

/me pictures a meme where someone hits his face into a palm tree. "Face Palm" - you're doing it wrong

and this live-code-update concept - YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG

Worried about bootkits, rootkits, UEFI nasties? Have you tried turning on Secure Boot, asks the No Sh*! Agency

they should have said...

they should have said "do not boot windows".

Then you can leave 'Secure' boot OFF, and enjoy your LINUX or FREEBSD. Just don't allow anyone physical access to the device that shouldn't have it, and you should be fine.

(someone had to say it)

As if you needed another reason not to use Visual Studio, C++ extension for Visual Studio Code is live

Re: C++

I still use MFC for Windows stuff. It's gotten "bloatier" though. it also take some effort to REMOVE! ALL! REFERENCES! TO! CLR! AND! OTHER! SUCH! BLOAT!

And I still use DevStudio 2010, the LAST one that was NOT all 2D FLATTY FLATSO McFLATFACE, which was ALSO oriented towards Windows 7, and NOT "Ape" nor Win-10-nic.

What I'd like to see is wxWidgets support, INCLUDING dialog editors, toolbar editors, menu editors, and other such things. THAT is TRUE cross-platform, very MFC-like (not 1:1, takes some time to port an MFC application to wxWidgets, but it CAN be done) and DEFINITELY suited for serious cross-platform application development.

I've run wxWidgets/GTK applications on FreeBSD and Linux. Should run the same on windows and Mac. In fact I put a nice "sort demo" written for wx out there on github if anyone wants to have a look. it was originally an MFC application, back in the 90's. It's since been improved.

/me points out, if you're going to haul around some monolithic library of excess, might as well static-link it and use something that's truly cross-platform. Sure you'll have to build a version for each OS, but with static link you get minimal dependencies and fewer support issues caused by anything resembling DLL HELL...

In any case, it would be _WISE_ to have wizards and editing tools for wxWidgets in VS Code. THAT might make it worth using, In My Bombastic Opinion.

Consolidating databases has significant storage benefits – and therefore everyone should be doing it

Re: Improving tech is bad?

"And when does the optimisation happen? When do we get to go back to make sure it's efficient? When something breaks and we have no choice."

if the bang-to-buck ratio is too low, it'll never be looked at again.

That being said, some inefficiencies can be avoided entirely by avoiding the platforms and programming lingos that tend to CREATE them. Yes, I'm talking about YOU TWO, C-Pound, JavaScript. Mostly JavaScript.

And sometimes, just doing things the old-school "shell script and POSIX utilities" way, gets things done the fastest, so you can focus on those few inefficiencies that make sense to focus on, deliver on time, stay under budget, etc.

I can 'proceed without you', judge tells Julian Assange after courtroom outburst

Re: Blackmailed

The threat to take a kid away from a single father who's accused [and therefore coerced into testimony] sounds as though it's WAY above the jurisdiction of the FBI, and in light of OTHER alleged FBI abuses, currently being investigated by the D.O.J., could eventually work in Assange's (and others') favor. Convictions can be overturned as a result of evidence being declared "inadmissible" due to rights and even procedural violations by police.

That being said, I'm not really happy with the way Assange is being sought after by our F.B.I. unless the evidence they have is compelling enough to warrant it. So far I haven't heard any, and the media is making this sound like a political hit job. OK the FBI _has_ been informally accused of doing things _like_ "political hit jobs" as well (and is under investigation by the D.O.J.). All this could end up being decided by the U.K. court in Assange's favor, in light of these *kinds* of things.

I hope Assange isn't extradited. But he's definitely getting his day in court. We shall see. He needs to let his lawyers do the talking and shut up.

There's just NOT enough information to say anything else about it, in my bombastic opinion.

Pvt Manning goes by 'Chelsea' now I think. I have no sympathy for Pvt Manning. When you're in the military you have a duty. etc.. the ends do NOT justify the means.

Then again, Congress ALSO has a duty, and they've obviously FAILED at that, with respect to unconstitutional spying etc..

Re: No fair trial in the US

aren't there existing U.K. laws that might be involved? Couldn't the U.S. make a case in U.K. court?

or maybe that's the extradition hearing itself...

Zero. Zilch. Nada. That's how many signs of intelligent life astroboffins found in probe of TEN MILLION stars

Re: Surprise, surprise...

effective encryption looks like random noise

yes. and in theory if you analyze it and find 'peaks' or repitition in the distribution, it might suggest a weakness in your algorithm.

For an AM or FM receiver, modulation like spread spectrum or QAM look like noise, too. But in theory it would show up as a peak on a spectrum analyzer, if the frequency band were narrow enough. Unfortunately, Earth broadcasts spread across the entire radio spectrum all the way up into the 10's of Ghz without a whole lot of gaps... and would therefore look JUST LIKE NOISE. "no peaks" probably. (or no significant ones).

Receiving a signal requires that it be above the noise threshold, or that you have such a good error correction algorithm that you can base demodulation on "presence of a tone" whether it's noise or not.

Re: Surprise, surprise...

signals to/from spacecraft use microwave beams, as I understand it, a highly directional signal. Transmitters on setellites don't put out kilowatts of power as I understand it. You need about 3 or 4 times the radiated power to amplify it to that level, and that's a LOT of solar panels or fuel cell or nuclear power. One source says that Voyager has a 23 watt transmitter. Another source says that the current total power consumption is 249 watts for the entire spacecraft. Yet another source says that GPS satellite transmit at around 25 watts. In any case, it's not the kilowatts or megawatts you'd need to send an easily detectble signal out in an omnidirectional broadcast. [you make up for the low power by using high gain directional antennas, aka 'beams'].

But if you were _REALLY_ lucky, you might be listening within the cone of such a beam and so you might detect it. Might. And that's the point of SETI and others searching everywhere for many years. Various conditions may not allow us to receive signals for long enough so we just scan what we can. The earth has day/night periods and revolves around the sun, and you can't really listen well during the day on Earth, nor in the general direction of the sun with satellites. So there ya go. "When we can". Maybe do it enough times, you find something. [similar thinking in nuclear physics sometimes]

Re: Surprise, surprise...

some kinds of modulation would appear as "pure noise" to an un-initiated listener. Even the kinds of modulation used by cell phones would be COMPLETELY un-decodable 50 years ago, let alone the stuff we use for digital TV (like QAM).

So it may simply be we're not recognizing it. Either that or they found out that we could receive their signals and are doing "radio silence" like a WW2 sub running silent to hide from a destroyer...

And 30 years ago we had no proof of planets outside of our solar system. We do now.

The "Bozo Bit" - it's the bit that gets flipped on when you fail the bozo test, like asking really stupid questions one too many times, wanting to be hand-held through a process where a simple RTFM would get you going, or similar. Customer Service and Tech Support identify YOU as a "Bozo". it's not a good thing. So, in that regard, MAYBE they're sending us a signal that's been modulated in such a way that when our tech evolves sufficiently, we'll be able to demodulate it. Then the 'Bozo Bit' will be cleared, and first contact established. Just a thought.

Paragon 'optimistic' that its NTFS driver will be accepted into the Linux Kernel

Re: Whatever for?

My main concern is dumping 17,000 more lines of code into the laps of the kernel maintainers, for something that only a handful of Linux users will even need (greatly stretching the definition of 'need').

If Paragon improved the FUSE driver instead, wouldn't THAT be better?

Or were they hoping that people would boot Linux from NTFS...

Re: @DrXym - Whatever for?

Dual boot situations

Is ANYone still doing that in a SIGNIFICANT way?

external drives

FUSE driver works for that, doesn't it? you just want the files on/off of the external drive, so a reliable way of doing that is sufficient.

using Linux repair disks to repair an NTFS partition

Now, THAT is a legit reason. But wouldn't FUSE work for this as well???

The open source tools that they're offering might help, though...

(I still question putting it into the kernel to be maintained by the Linux kernel team)

Ghost of Windows past spotted haunting Yorkshire railway station

Got, Linux?

a better solution presents itself...

What price security? Well, for the US ban on Huawei/ZTE kit it's around $1.8bn, and you're going to pay most of it

Re: The long game

"There may not be any hard evidence that Huawei equipment contains the specific features needed to spy on whoever employs it"

long game might include "UP"grades later. You know, like how Windows was "up"graded to INCLUDE SPYWARE, etc..

Re: Evidence? Anywhere?

Yes, comrade, we must NOT anger our communist overlords...

</snark>

In the frame with the Great MS Bakeoff: Microsoft sets out plans for Windows windows

Re: They still don't get it do they?

From the article: In 2012 Microsoft decided to make a modern and more secure Windows system based on the Windows Runtime, or WinRT

That word 'modern' - they keep using that word. it does not mean what they think (feel?) it means...

And for as long as Windows supports running win32 apps, people will keep win32 code around,

Until Micros~1 finds a way to kill it - like they did the "classic" windows desktop!!!

(except for us anti-win-10-nic rebels who REFUSE to COMPLY and the many who switch to Linux or Mac instead)

Back in the day, HP tried to introduce new products at lower prices than existing ones, with better features etc. in order to motivate people to get new products. THEN they'd EOL the old ones. This was when Mr. Hewlett and Mr. Packard still ran it. (not so much any more)

What Micros~1 did is the exact opposite. They KILLED the old products by artificially "end of life"ing them, and swapped a PILE OF CRAP (Win-10-nic, TIFKAM, WinRT-ish foolishness) and told us we had to LIKE it, INSTALL it, UPGRADE to it, by FORCE (GWX) if necessary.

You Musk be joking: A mind-reading Neuralink chip in a pig's brain? Downloadable memories? Telepathy? Watch and judge for yourself

Re: Reductionist science, thus fatally flawed speculative tech.

well, when you consider how existing prosthetics like cochlear implants work. it would seem "the differences" from one person's brain to another might not be all that significant for this kind of tech.

My guess; a training period will be required.

Still it made me think of "Ghost in the Shell", and the kinds of 'mind hacks' that were possible. Some pre-emptive defense against THAT, or having your "cloud memories" altered [and then YOU convinced that the ones in the cloud are "the real ones"] and things of that nature, might be needed before this kind of tech goes, well, "live".

Dell: 60% of our people won't be going back into an office regularly after COVID-19

Re: We seem to have lost the point of commerce

"How many WFH people does it take to produce a Dell PC from scratch?"

It would depend on the number of "lights out" and heavily automated factories (etc.) there are in that process. It's coming, yeah.

"As for all that empty office space it will create"

Depending on how convenient it is to set up, they could do it like a mini-hotel for office space. All of the work-from-homers who want an actual OFFICE to go to could actually RENT an office room, store stuff there, get advantages of business internet connectivity, yotta yotta. Ideally it would be close to home and in an area where parking isn't a problem, etc..

But yeah this won't cover all of the opened-up office space in downtown areas, where people won't want a private office [most likely they'd pick one that's closer to home, as people flee the urban areas for suburbs even more than before]

Re: I get I'm in a microscopically small minority, but...

Those are all good points. But how about a hybrid solution where you have office space that's 1/2 as big as you would normally need (double up desks in cubes, etc., "hot desk" or even drop the walls, it's only for half a day a week), You can have 'designated on-site days' for different parts of the crew, who are relevant to one another's work, where you have meetings and do colab work.

that seems to work the best, in my opinion, for the vast majority of cases.

Re: Extroverts hate it

"Check in on your extrovert friends"

not sure that categorizes me very well... being as I score as a strong 'ENTP' on the Myers-Briggs thing. 'E' is for 'extrovert and so it's part of how I process things. But you may be on the right track, just labeling it as 'extrovert' rather than 'socialite' (which would be my characterization).

I would actually suggest (based on Myers-Briggs kinds of things) that ENFP would be "the talker", with the 'F' being 'Feeling' (vs 'T' for 'Thinking'). Not so much the 'extrovert' but the one who feels and is ALSO extrovert...

'ENFP' is categorized by some as "The inspirers" as opposed to "ENTP" "The inventors" or (my favorite) the MAD SCIENTISTS! [I love MAD SCIENCE!]. Yeah mad scientists don't need external inspiration - the science itself IS the inspiration!!!

Re: I get I'm in a microscopically small minority, but...

You're a talker, aren't you?

good catch, I guess [but I was entertained, so up-vote]

although some dynamics like the occasional conversation or joke helps relieve tension in the office, some people _are_ like that... all talk, no work, and from home, no excuse to consume "wall time" vs working in bursts (interrupted with enough goof-off time to stay sane) with flexible hours that help you put your peak performance on the clock instead of "wall time".

difficult problem arises - my head is foggy, I'm gonna think about it for a while - grab lunch and hit the game console for 2 hours - ok I think I know what to do about it! work, work, work... [much less of a drag than being confined to an office and dealing with creative block]

Re: Efficiency gains

"our employee engagement and productivity is at an all-time high."

As long as work-at-homers are honest about their hours spent actually doing work, it's been my point for a LONG time, that the flexibility of work-from-home makes you more productive than 'wall time' at an office.

"Welcome Aboard" to the rest of the world. I'm glad to see it!

Engineer admits he wiped 456 Cisco WebEx VMs from AWS after leaving the biz, derailed 16,000 Teams accounts

He accessed Cisco's AWS five months after quitting Cisco.

So why is a security-oriented networking company NOT sufficiently cleaning up their login info (like changing passwords, deleting stale logins) after an employee leaves? Unless it was accessed with a deliberately installed back door...

Maybe I missed it but did they say WHY he left Cisco? Did he have a reason (in his own mind at any rate) to retaliate against them?

If I were his current employer I'd smile and carefully assign him a limited number of tasks while changing all of the access codes, without his knowledge. And not fire him. Reason for termination: incarceration. Works for me.

Re: And the point is...

Single sign on helps a lot there...

Unless it's "root"... oh, and I fixed the grammar too. See icon,

Re: And the point is...

not adhering to industry standard IT practices

There is still a distinct possibility that the perpetrator inserted a back door into the AWS code, and used THAT to do the damage. At least, that's my take on it.

Re: This Is A Job For An American

If it was possible to bring down the CISCO WebEx by shooting at it, then an American would be perfectly qualified

That was almost funny! Yee Haaw! (heh)

TikTok CEO quits after less than three months in the job

Re: Jump or pushed?

or the other possibility is that the CEO was attempting to resolve this problem and, in doing so, realized that the claims against TIkTok had actual MERIT, and as such, did not want his name associated with the aftermath. But of course, if you want a good recommendation for your NEXT gig, say nice things on the way out the door.

iPhone soon to be Hecho en Mexico? Taiwan's Foxconn, Pegatron mulling going south of the US border – report

Re: Wouldn't that be ironic?

yeah, well, I expect 'Hecho en Mexico' or similar to be proudly displayed on the package someplace. There's a bit of pride in what they do, south of the border, and they'll do a good job.

And I bet there will be the opportunity for more automated assembly in Mexico, newer equipment etc. If you're going to make a capital investment in buildings, equipment, and hiring, the cost of transportation and "other things" make Mexico a sensible choice. And, let's face it - more automation means you don't have to hire quite as many new people to do the same job...

[I'll avoid a mental image of hundreds of people hand-placing components with tweezers and magnifiers, because I don't think they actually do that any more in China... or do they?]

Weary traveler of 2020, rest here with some soothing, happy tech news. FreeBSD finally merges in OpenZFS

FreeBSD and "Linuxy" code

often time FreeBSD (and the other BSDs) might lag behind others because developers often ignore their existence and write "Linuxy" code, code that makes assumptions that you're ONLY going to run it on Linux. That's not very POSIX of them, but it happens a LOT.

And FreeBSD has had a good strong working ZFS implementation running for a LONG time now. So porting FROM FreeBSD's implementation would make good sense.

However, two split ZFS code branches appeared instead. One, FreeBSD's ZFS implementation (which I've been using for several years now), and OpenZFS, apparently targeting Linux. But which one got "most of the love"? The 'Linuxy" one, apparently...

Yet, maybe Linux could benefit from some FreeBSD ZFS features, too. (As far as OpenZFS features go, I'm actually pretty happy with how it is on FreeBSD at the moment so "meh").

Here's one thing FreeBSD has done VERY right with ZFS: A few years ago FreeBSD more or less perfected "boot into ZFS" so you could have a pure ZFS system. But if you want, you can still boot UFS and have ZFS volumes as well. Setting the system up for "all ZFS" or UFS boot is pretty easy. In fact, pure ZFS is a bit easier (for new installs).

I've seen references to "boot into ZFS" being done in Linux, but everything I've read so far seems "hacky" and may be "not officially supported" by the distro (or anything else for that matter).

Relying on plain-text email is a 'barrier to entry' for kernel development, says Linux Foundation board member

Re: "they don't know how to send a plain-text email"

Sending plain text e-mail as a handy test for minimal IT skills

YES!!!

From the article: It is just that the modern mail client has intentionally moved towards HTML

"Modern" - like the way certain desktop environments are called "modern" ?

If my inbox gets an e-mail that says "you must enable HTML to view the content" it's automatically marked as spam. For security reasons, I _NEVER_ view e-mail as HTML unless there's some compelling reason to do so and I know exactly who sent it, etc.. And NEVER on a windows machine does HTML mail get viewed nor previewed in other-than-plain-text.

Thunderbird's EASY to configure for plain text, viewing as well as sending. I think that "modern" e-mail clients SHOULD be able to do the same thing.

/me points out that many years ago I circulated an e-mail to friends that deliberately illustrated the dangers of HTML e-mail, including script and embedded multimedia content you could not turn off - you'd hear me doing a "devil voice" saying "what is this?" "It's a message from HELL!" along with embedded flaming things and rotating pentagrams, and things like that. And of course if I could do THAT, then anybody could...

Re: "plain old ASCII text is a barrier to communications"

when I first saw the title i was thinking "what, some idiot wants HTML mail instead?" But then I read the article and realized what it was about.

From the article: Should it migrate toward something more like, say, issues and pull requests on the Microsoft-owned GitHub?. (/me points out it had that before MS bought it).

Yes, Github's "issues" system might be one possible answer. In short, you need a blog-like environment in which you can track things. Example, when you do a branch merge to a pull request, an issue is effectively created in which you can comment on the resulting merge. And ideally it tracks back to the other issues involved in the decisions that led up to the pull request, all of the people discussing it, yotta yotta. I like it, at any rate, even with its imperfections.

So in a way the answer is already staring at them. Just "make it better".

and last I checked, you can still track issues with e-mail notifications.

what I feared: FB or Tweet-like threads designed for 4-inch phone screens oriented vertically, emojis, excessive HTML-i-ness, and bandwidth-hogging fluff. OK some of that is already in 'issues' but still...

The truth is, honest people need willpower to cheat, while cheaters need it to be honest

Re: "moral default"

re: MRI-based lie detector

Perhaps. Perhaps...

Start Me Up: 25 years ago this week, Windows 95 launched and, for a brief moment, Microsoft was almost cool

Re: Summer 95

In spring of '95, MS's (beta) plus pack had internet access, unlike many other networks, via MSN. It took CompuServe another YEAR to get internet access... and AOL too, as I recall.

I thought IE 1.0 was pretty cool. No excessive fluff, lightweight, did what a browser SHOULD do. And nothing more... pretty much what Netscrape and Mosaic were doing.

Re: Happy memories

I watched Ballmer do his 'Developers' thing at one of the conferences - I think it was the 1993 PDC in Anaheim, wasn't it? [this was back when MS was "cool"]

[FreeBSD and Devuan user, now.]

parts were cooperative nmulti-tasking, parts were pre-emptive. It depends on whether the GUI was involved.

Although some have said that the scheduler wasn't truly pre-emptive until OSR2, it's pretty clear to me that 32-bit code with threads worked as advertised... and were pre-emptive. Whereas anything dealing with the GUI wasn't.

From the article: And the biggest was the Start button which, even a quarter of a century later still exists albeit after various redesigns and rethinks.

"They" should re-think things BACK to the WAY THEY WERE, thankyouverymuch... (change is NOT necessarily "for the better" - I have seen inevitable change in a package of raw meat - it's called "Rotting")

If you think Mozilla pushed a broken Firefox Android build, good news: It didn't. Bad news: It's working as intended

Re: Just in time?

at least you CAN turn it off... for now...

Shades of what they did when AUSTRALIS rolled out.

Don't they LEARN? (apparently NOT)

icon, because, facepalm

Microsoft sides with Epic over Apple developer ban, supports motion for temporary restraining order

Re: Cynical

in some cases, existing anti-trust laws prevent you from owning everything from one end to the other, such that "fair competition" can exist

And I do not believe that iOS devices being locked into ONLY "the apple store" is in any way REMOTELY close to "a fair playing field" when they dominate WAY too much of it like this. [so maybe some anti-trust action is due?]

But, thus far, Apple has "gotten away with it".

After all, it's their bat, their ball, their field, and their rules. Wanna play? Oh, and fork over money for the developer kit, you'll need one of THOSE, too... For each type of OS. And if you don't like it, go home. YOU can't play!

/me NOT an i-thing developer for that reason, among others

(Android, on the other hand, doesn't require "The Store", and the dev kit is FREE last I checked)

Chinese State media uses new release of local Linux to troll Trump

Re: The OS also supports x86 CPUs flowing from the AMD’s joint venture in China ...

interesting. thanks.

some of these details are difficult to find in the various timelines published all over the place.

WSL2 is so last year: Linux compatibility layer backported to older Windows 10 versions

Re: What Linux add ons can you install?

if you ask me, I'd prefer a windows subsystem to run ON LINUX [like Wine only blessed and supported]

I'd pay MONEY for THAT...

(then we can have all of the Linux add-ons we want, and the desktop we want, and the look/feel of window decorations etc. that we want, NOT have to deal with "Settings", or "Start Thing", yotta yotta)

TikTok takes to the courts to challenge US ban

A foreign-owned company suing the US Government

Not just "A foreign-owned company suing the US Government", but suing to OPERATE FREELY WITHIN A FOREIGN COUNTRY as if they were CITIZENS. "They have no rights" is an understatement. And last I checked, the executive branch (in the USA) has complete jurisdiction on whether or not to allow foreign entities to do ANYTHING inside the USA.

I expect UK or EU would be the same way, more or less. "National Sovereignty" etc.