* Posts by bombastic bob

10507 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015

Microsoft: Come and play in our Windows SandBox

bombastic bob Silver badge
Linux

in the POSIX world...

I just create a new user with a separate home directory, and 'guest' level group permissions.

if X11 desktop access is needed, for a different user alongside the logged-in user, you can use DISPLAY and xhost and whatnot to configure it. Yeah I do that _ALL_ of the time. Literally.

On the first day of Christmas, Microsoft gave to me... an emergency out-of-band security patch for IE

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

remote-code execution hole in the browser's scripting engine.

and THIS is why I use NOSCRIPT. Because, you never know when "yet another" script vulnerability will end up spreading malware to YOUR computer, and so it should be disabled by default on all but THE most trusted web sites, and that list should be very, very, very small [and exclude ALL advertisers and CDNs].

From the article: "A possible alternative is to not use Internet Explorer, of course."

exactly!

Introducing 'Happy Quit', where Chinese smokers are text-spammed into nicotine abstinence

bombastic bob Silver badge
Big Brother

Re: Not much to brag about

ack - more effective "non government mandate/irritate" methods exist already.

A lot of people switch to vaping, which every study I've ever read suggests is SIGNIFICANTLY less hazardous to the user, and practically benign to everyone else [unlike smoke, which generally irritates EVERYONE, etc.]. But here in Cali-Fornicate-You, the ninny-nanny types are NOW altering the anti-smoking ads [paid for by deliberately excessive tobacco taxes] to _INCLUDE_ vaping, which I believe is incredibly STUPID...

so maybe "that" is next. Then it'll be caffeine and alcohol. Well, alcohol has been tried already [and the dramatic failure of U.S. prohibition stands as a testimony to why such things should NOT be passed into law]. And in China, I suppose anti-gummint thoughts will need to be purged, too...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Big Brother

Re: Finally

"As long as you don't expect TPTB to leave it at that, before moving on to other 'undesirable' behaviour..."

ack - and, who knows, maybe California is headed that way as well, very soon... [if Silly Valley has their way]

it is the nature of gummints to be this way, as "big nanny" types weasel their way into positions of power so they CAN impose themselves on the world. The only thing "them" is "us".

Houston, we've had a problem: NASA fears internal server hacked, staff personal info swiped by miscreants

bombastic bob Silver badge
Alien

all that alien schtuff...

maybe the leaked info will make it to wikileaks? THE EVIDENCE of the CONSPIRACY to HIDE THE EXISTENCE of EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE will FINALLY be REVEALED!!!

or not...

Microsoft flings untested Windows 10 updates to users! (Oh no it doesn't!)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: gained the tools necessary for hosting a static website back in 2011.

"unless you were barking mad and tried to host via DSL in your own small office or bedroom."

I am _NOT_ barking mad! bark! Bark! BARK!

heh

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: An opening is here

"Please do not suggest Linux of any current variant thats a little like saying a coal fired steam turbine is a better way of making electricity."

Your lack of knowledge of steam plants, in particular coal-fired plants, is blatant. Believe it or not, a well designed coal-burner is efficient, clean, and relatively inexpensive to operate. Having operated a nuclear steam plant in the past, and understanding basic thermodynamics and engineering and physics, it's pretty obvious to me that, yes, compared to MANY ways of generating electricity, a coal-fired steam plant is a tried and true method, that with modern technology, can be made efficient, clean, and cost effective.

Oh, and Linux - good OS. I prefer FreeBSD but Linux gets more love and hardware support, so it might make a better OS for end-users than FreeBSD would. And, of course BETTER THAN WINDOWS, I say, if the devs would get OFF OF THEIR ASSES and make LINUX versions of their applications.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Firefox

"Or, for those of us who dislike Chrome, some other browser."

I'm considering forking 52-LTS or ESR or whatever they call it. If I had more time... and could get paid to maintain it. At least you can build it on FreeBSD without mega-downloads or stupid build environments.

I'm considering a proper port of midori without the hamburger menu crap. Maybe a fork of an older version of it... one that still had a menu.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Stop

Re: Firefox

"something in common with Hard Brexiteers"

Uh, no... [I would've compared them to 'globalists', or even 'socialists', actually, more in line with Mozilla's 'Silly Valley' politics... but I digress]

had it not been pandering to the perception, and was actually based on reality, I would've laughed at that.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Take two off and

"Only 11 years to go!"

and you think Micro-shaft is done shoving their mediocre-ware at us 11 years from now? By then they will have been able to eradicate the Win32 API by forcing developers to use UWP and whatever other 'new, shiny' they excrete from the Halls of Redmond...

and of course, this:

Jngle Bells, Something Smells, Must be Win Update!

Computer's on the fritz again, 'New Windows' ain't so great!

(I'm waiting for 'Windows Classic' but looks like ReactOS and Wine may be the only alternatives for legacy windows applications at some point in the future...)

On the first day of Christmas, MIPS sent to me: An open-source-ish alternative to RISC-V

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Interesting

"executes the instruction following a branch"

as I recall it's referred to as a 'guard' instruction and can sometimes be taken advantage of by the compiler. But as often as not it'll be a 'nop'

just as a reference, several devices that were used for Wifi access points about 10 years ago (like Linksys) used MIPS rather than ARM. So OpenWRT was designed for MIPS, particularly Broadcom's MIPS CPU, back when it was first released.

Oh Deer! Poacher sentenced to 12 months of regular Bambi screenings in the cooler

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Down

Re: 'Murica never ceases...

well, then you won't want to know that LEGAL hunting not only helps pay for conservation, but controls the deer population. It's illegal to shoot a doe, and you're limited in the number of bucks you can hunt. And you can only hunt them in a season where it's easy to tell the bucks from the does, and a bit of herd-thinning would actually be GOOD for the deer population.

And I happen to *like* venison. So yeah if you kill it, you must eat the meat. or let others do it for ya!

Or is it the RIFLE part you don't like? Yeah, thought so.

/me notes that if EVERYONE has a firearm, criminals will be a LOT more afraid to use them to commit crimes...

(but yeah, poachers should face penalties, regardless)

Jingle bells, disk drives sell not so well from today. Oh what fun it is to ride on a one-horse open array...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

"Are you saying that you can store more on a mechanical drive than SSD"

Yeah, price per gigabyte is STILL better for spinny drives vs silicon drives. They tend to have more storage per device [since buying a <1TB spinny hard drive is kinda pointless nowadays] than the SSDs so if your laptop has space for a 2nd hard drive, it's likely to be just that - a spinny hard drive. Same for PC as well but that was kinda obvious.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Megaphone

stimulate market: make easier to download videos, and non-windows-10 OS

even though youtube-dl works really well for downloading (and keeping) youtube videos, it's constantly in need of updating as youtube mangles the way it delivers content [perhaps to thwart it].

But if MORE people had an EASIER time of downloading youtube content, then MORE people would SAVE it [rather than streaming every! single! time!]. this would fill up hard drives, requiring BIGGER [and perhaps FASTER] drives to replace old "full" ones.

So if youtube invests in hard drives, they can help stimulate the market by ENCOURAGING people to download content, etc.

They might actually make MORE money that way than if they spy on us or track us for advertising purposes.

Now, would they choose the 'more honorable' path of stimulating a market that they invest in, or are they going to continue to "do no evil when we define evil the way we define it" like they've been doing for a while now... ?

And another market stimulation would be for Intel and hard drive manufacturers to COLLABORATE on getting an OS alternative out there, pre-installed on computers, one that's the equivalent [to businesses] of Windows, and also to the 'Home' user crowd, that's marketed and supported and so on and BASED ON LINUX such that you can install your OWN version of Linux over the top of it [i.e. no 'secure boot' lockouts].

This WOULD stimulate PC sales, thereby stimulating HARD DRIVE sales. Google could even get in on it with Chrome OS and perhaps an option of having Mint pre-installed...

ALL of these things WOULD stimulate hard drive sales. But is anybody LOOKING at this? Must the Win-10-nic MONOPOLY _CONTINUE_ to depress the new PC market? And, apparently, depress the 'new hard drive' market as well.

Boffins don't give a sh!t, slap Trump's face on a turd in science journal

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

what would happen if I'd put Obama's face on a turd in a scientific journal? Or Mrs. Clinton? Or Nancy Pelosi? And so on.

Yeah no hypocrisy nor academic arrogance to see here. Jedi business. Move along.

Visual Studio Code's Python extension goes to Jupyter

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

"venerable" '.Not' framework?

I had a different adjective in mind. Age does not make it respectable, but it DOES make it 'old'. And quite possibly, 'outdated'.

".Not Core" isn't any better, in my opinion, with the exception of open-source-ness.

It's all Micro-shaft putting even MORE lipstick on the non-oinky end of the boar.

Now, if they could make the UNDERLYING OPERATING SYSTEM better, by fixing all of the bugs THERE, or maybe RE-ISSUE a new 'LTR' version of Windows 7 [without the forced updates, naturally], or at the very least let us SHUT THE [profanity] OFF in Win-10-nic and CUSTOMIZE it [including a 3D skeuomorphic look and no 'the metro' bright blue on blinding white 'settings' screens] I'd be a LOT more likely to give them due accolades.

But they haven't. And so I won't. It's just more disappointment, from my perspective.

(oh but making python work better, I guess that's something good. yay.)

'Bomb threat' scammers linked to earlier sextortion campaign

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: 1980s library art

"Being shown round the office - every person was smoking. One even had a cigarette and a pipe in his ashtray."

I wouldn't have got past the door, would've been sneezing/headaches the entire time. _NO_ _WAY_ could I _EVAR_ work in an office with open smoking like that.

(fortunately, the rest of the world has caught up, and you don't see that any more in any place I'm aware of)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

I'd love to be able to reply, and have it read by the perps, something to the effect of "Bring it on, I'd _LOVE_ a good street fight!"

bombastic bob Silver badge
Holmes

Re: Not so sure it's the same group

could just be "the same botnet" or one of a group of botnets.

So finding the botnets' owners might be a good start... [yeah I'm sure they already are on this]

Vitamin Water gets massive publicity for new flavor: Utter BS

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

I just want something that has CAFFEINE in it

One year on after US repealed net neutrality, policymakers reflect soberly on the future

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: Your headline says policymakers...

also, from the article:

"Claims of the damage that rejecting the rules would have on internet access have not come true and so therefore, by extension, the rule change was good."

I'm not entirely sure that THIS is the only justification for the rule change being 'good'. I'm sure it has everything to do with REMOVING regulations, and the lifting of what has been considered to be 'overreach' or 'a power grab' over the internet by the FCC, which could have (in theory) been used to CENSOR or RESTRICT content.

For an example of the latter, consider the so-called "fairness doctrine" that was imposed by the FCC on radio and TV broadcasts, which was (finally) REMOVED in the 80's thanks to Ronald Reagan. FYI Ronald Reagan was NOT just an actor but had been a radio broadcaster AND was the head of the 'Screen Actors Guild', aka a union boss. So I think Reagan had a REALLY GOOD grasp on the CHILLING effects that the so-called 'Fairness Doctrine' had on broadcasting in general.

And the general opinion _I_ have (and others too, from what I hear) is that ONCE a gummint agency has its foot in the door, they'll creep along gaining more and more power and control over time until "the agenda" has been acheved (whatever agenda that is), usually to empower those who are appointed to positions within the bureacracy.

So yeah, the DE-regulation has been GOOD. So-called "Net Neutrality" was ONLY a means of preventing someone from "paying for a fast lane", which, from my perspective, is ANTI-PROGRESS. By removing the fast lanes, instead of regulating them to a sane level, you FORCE EVERYONE to be EQUALLY MEDIOCRE.

Anyway, I've argued these points many times. If your mind is made up, you'll just disregard it anyway. But I had to say it, regardless.

Home users due for a battering with Microsoft 365 subscription stick

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: Yes, what MS really needs now is more marketing...

unfortunately (from the perspective of wanting only the BEST QUALITY merchandise available at reasonable prices) Micro-shaft's marketing ACTUALLY WORKS.

I've said it before: They could sell icewater to Eskimos, in the middle of winter, and use poor quality ingredients in it, and their customers would STILL buy it instead of melting ice or using some other reasonable method of getting fresh water to drink.

P.T. Barnum was right.

Windows 10 can carry on slurping even when you're sure you yelled STOP!

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: diving headlong into the Registry

ads down both sides? I'm not seeing it...

I don't mind ads, I just don't see them because, NOSCRIPT.

Now,, El Reg, please consider that MANY readers of your fine on-line news thingy are SECURITY PROFESSIONALS and IT PROFESSIONALS and are likely to do things *LIKE* block script.

I wouldn't mind seeing ads. ADS WITHOUT SCRIPT IN THEM, that is. I might even BUY something from one of the advertised vendors. It's relevant to my interests already, no need for TRACKING via script by the 3rd party ad providers...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Linux

"What you're using a computer for should be a consideration in choosing an OS"

with few exceptions, I would recommend "testing it under Wine, first" before purchasing a Win-10-nic machine/license JUST to run "that application".

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: OpenBSD

well, FreeBSD is pretty good with legacy support. Not perfect, and you may have to go back a few revisions to get it to work, but I think legacy peripherals still have a lot of support. Linux is also pretty good, but BSD and Linux typically get 'modernized' to avoid having to support hardware that might, well, interfere with getting the code to work better or to implement new features.

example: 32-bit kernels on 64-bit MIPS platforms - gone in FBSD 12, as I understand it. Is anyone complaining? Maybe, but I doubt it will matter much.

yeah, THAT kind of thing. I suspect OBSD and FBSD do similar things in this regard. As I mentioned earlier, the FBSD kernel source contains many references to OpenBSD, so there's been at least SOME collaboration in the past, at least, and I expect that it will continue.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: BSD privacy

"Playing games without someone knowing is not easy"

unplug 'teh intarwebs' via ethernet, and don't set the login info for any wireless adaptor in your game console.

Fixed.

(you can re-connect when needed for updates, or in-game rewards, depending on the game etc.)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

OpenBSD

"if you are really worried about security and privacy, then there really is only one option: OpenBSD."

I haven't tried OBSD but I have seen collaboration between that project and FreeBSD, at least within some of the kernel drivers.

perhaps I should get the latest and put it in a VM, for grins.

but, relevant to topic, ANY OTHER OS would be better than Win-10-nic for privacy.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

It is _SO_ like MS and Win-10-nic

It is _SO_ like MS and Win-10-nic to bury the settings for "do not slurp" in 2 unrelated places, without documentation, and only mention them when faced with legal action.

Back in the "control panel" days, things like this would typically all be on ONE page, or at least one set of tabs in a dialog box.

But UWP "The Settings" can't fit more than 2 or 3 things on that BRIGHT BLUE ON BLINDING WHITE crap interface, even on a GINORMOUS monitor, because 4 inch phone screens. So it requires TWO (2) places, not one, but TWO, 2 places, to make the change(s) necessary to AVOID THE SLURPAGE.

(rage - see icon)

Aside from avoiding the cloudy 'Micro-shaft Logon' completely when setting up your computer...

"Got, Linux?"

The eulogising of The Mother Of All Demos at 50 is Silicon Valley going goo-goo for gurus again

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Fighting the slide towards hagiography.

I was looking at it from a more political perspective, and did a bit of research, and confirmed that the comparison was, in fact, pretty good.

I'd prefer that it was Ayn Rand. Instead, we got a bunch of lefties and/or snowflakes with TOO MUCH MONEY AND INFLUENCE, pretending they "care" but in fact, they're in it FOR THE MONEY.

(I'd be in it for the money, too, but I'd be honest about it, and "not do evil")

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Telefunken invented the balled mouse?

"Unbeknownst to me there was a small gathering on secretaries a few meters away"

Lucky you it wasn't 2018 - "modern" policies would've gotten you fired, or worse, subjected to "sensitivity training"

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Icon

" It wasn't until later that I became aware of just how primitive computer technology was back in the late 60s."

back in the 60's the only perception most people had about computers were:

a) big hunks of iron with spinning reel to reel tape drives on them;

b) mysterious sciency things that threatened your job security and impersonally made 'errors' that you could not get corrected (like your bank statement)

c) that, like a hollywood robot (think 'Lost In Space' and the Bat Computer) could just answer abstract questions and had infinite stores of encyclopedic knowledge

Oh, and the "punch card" thing. that's how they were programmed, most of the time. And so, when you verbally asked your computer for an answer, it would be spat out on a - you guessed it - a punch card.

They say software will eat the world. Here are some software bugs that took a stab at it

bombastic bob Silver badge
WTF?

Re: Management is but one problem

simple and usable - yeah I like those things. Good for 'first principles"

from article: "High-level languages with automatic memory management and no direct use of pointers, such as Java, first released in 1996, have made it easier for developers to avoid some errors."

while at the same time, creating INEFFICIENCY and BLOAT. And solving LITTLE. See icon.

A bit of self-discipline and specific "look for that" reviews of the code, by people who didn't write the thing, might be in order instead of resorting to 'garbage collection' memory "management".

I doubt you'll EVAR see things _like_ OpenSSL coded with a computer lingo that employees "garbage collection". But if that happens, I think it'll be forked by SANE developers who understand the implications and unintended consequences of resorting to 'garbage collection' memory management.

It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you hackers are targeting 'nuclear, defense, energy, financial' biz

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

emails contain poisoned Word documents

...

facepalm. see icon.

It's time for corporate firewall appliances to aggressively strip off any MS Office document attachments, particularly those that contain scripts, and for company policies to dictate and enforce "never open or preview them". If it can't be sent as plain text or something WITHOUT script in it, don't allow it to be received.

it's been what, TWO DECADES since the first word macro virus?

The Wikipedia page on Macro viruses states that the Melissa virus was from 1999.

Hole-y ship: ISS 'nauts take a wander to crack Soyuz driller whodunnit

bombastic bob Silver badge
Boffin

Re: Bits of foil

actually, escaping air through the hole would have enough oxygen in it to oxidize most materials that they'd make spacecraft out of, such as aluminum or titanium, both of which rapidly form a protective oxide coating when exposed to O2 in air...

[hence welding aluminum or titanium is extremely difficult, compare to other materials, because of the oxidation and thermal properties and other such thing]

bombastic bob Silver badge
Joke

Re: Prank Check

/me observes goat-man backside plus hands graffiti hastily drawn around the hole in black felt-tip marker...

(that's because there were no spray paint cans available)

Waymo presents ChauffeurNet, a neural net designed to copy human driving

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: @jake - California != the world

yeah anyplace near 'the grapevine' or Donner's pass is ripe for weather-related bad road conditions. Black ice in August? Ew.

A couple of times I had to sleep in my car waiting for I5 South to open over 'the grapevine' (night driving to get home by monday) and one time the CHP escorted everyone behind the snow plows with black ice still on the road. There was stop/go going up the hill with ice and mush underneath our tires. I saw cars pulled off the side of the road similar to mine, drivers apparently unable to get moving again with the icy-slick road after having to stop while pointing up a steep hill. So I wonder if the bots could be taught "the trick" of partially applying the brakes to prevent one tire from spinning really fast, and thereby get some traction on the other tire...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: I would dare Waymo

Thinking about winter weather...

Being blown off of an icy road due to strong crosswinds, especially for high profile vehicles, might be a nice "anomoly" to add to their list

Then there are 'hydroplane' conditions when raining, which might require you to NOT make any sudden adjustments, even if you're outside of a lane. Or lets say you end up spinning anyway and need to recover from it.

It appears to me they're still working on 'fair weather' problems like a child running in front of the car, or someone drifting into your lane.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: How many billions of dollars are being spent chasing this?

'shock news' heh.

from article: "Neural networks are notoriously data hungry; it takes them millions of demonstrations in order to learn a specific task."

Well, in theory, 'once learned' the concepts can be copied. But I suspect that using raw neural network learning is grossly inefficient.

Some things are intuitively obvious, like staying in the lane, stopping at a stop sign, and so on. Being able to recognize what a "lane" is and what a "stop sign" is should be solvable as separate problems.

But of course, there do not appear to be enough details as to how they're really going about this.

I see this, instead, as an opportunity to just "hard code" some basic rules in there, to avoid having to run a million simulations that come up with the same "conclusion" in the AI [and it'll probably RUN faster on the hardware]. So "Nice Try" to the AI people, who are probably being like the proverbial hammer seeing everything as a nail...

In 2018, Facebook is the villain and Microsoft the shining light, according to techies

bombastic bob Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Legislate, regulate

@Milton

No. Just no. Other than something like GDPR, which requires that users would be given a choice regarding the data slurpage, the moment you start doing things like taxing e-mail and prohibiting anonymity... well, let's just say it won't work. "Other Means" will be made use of to circumvent it.

Anyway, if you *FEEL* (not think, feel) that way about anonymity, perhaps you can set an example for the rest of us by posting your personal data and real name in this forum? You know, name, phone number, date of birth, address, where you work, yotta yotta yotta...

Oh, that's not very safe, now is it? It's why some level of anonymity MUST exist in public forums in order to have a free exchange of ideas. Then people are free to say/do pretty much whatever they want without being HARASSED I.R.L. about it (when you look at college political correctness activism, as one example, it has a CHILLING EFFECT on free speech. Anonymity protects freedom of thought).

So, do you see why banning anonymity is a BAD idea?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: Some what does MS do with the data?

"There was telemetry collection at least as far back as XP. "

"Yes, but it was optional. Now it's not. That's an enormous difference."

EXACTLY!

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: How quickly they forget @Shadow Systems

agreed, MS's EULA and policies are a bit *chilling*. It's another reason NOT to use Win-10-nic. As for things like github and LInkedIn, I've got my eye on them...

You can try doing like I do: Don't surf the web from a Windows computer (especially NOT Win-10-nic), don't enable Javascript unless you have no choice, and ONLY use 'in memory' cookies for web sites that MIGHT track you (so you can dump them whenever you want).

And if you need to access a web site with scripting etc. enabled, set up a "sandbox" browser (with a different user login) that dumps ALL history when you're done with it (not just another instance of the same browser you're looking at pr0n in a different tab with, heh). Then it can't attempt to examine the web cache or history of the one you NORMALLY use, either. It won't HAVE a cache nor history when you close it!

On a POSIX system with X11, as long as you've enabled TCP access for the X server (and blocked port 6000 in your firewall to 'teh intarwebs'), you can run 'remote sessions' from different logins similar to this:

For the user that starts the X server (I use startx, not gdm or anything like that, YMMV) the '.xserverrc' file will need to contain something like this before you start the X server:

exec Xorg -listen tcp

Then, via a 'logged in' user on the desktop, in a bash shell:

xhost +localhost

then,

su - otheruser

(log in as normal)

export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0

Then run firefox or whatever, and it will run IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS OTHER USER, which can have its own settings, script enable/disable, etc.. It's reasonably "sandboxed", and won't be 'just another window in the same application' as any running browser on the desktop.

Oh, and yes - this means NOT running Windows, the FIRST line of defense against MS's EULA and "privacy" policy.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: How quickly they forget @Shadow Systems

@Sandtitz

yeah I was ready to thumbs-up all of that until I saw the VPN comment... and how exactly is Micro-shaft slurping every web site you browse via a VPN? *crickets*

Are they simply keeping a log of the URLs you visit? maybe. Easier ways exist to make THAT happen, including having the browser do that, if they REALLY wanted to do so. But that could be more easily done with a DNS server, too [just log the name lookups]. Right, Google? Or just do like Fa[e]cebook and put an 'F' icon on all of the pages you wanna track, with some scripty/cookie tracking, by paying web content providers to do so via ads [or whatever].

So yeah some accurate evidence of them spying would be acceptable, but "evidence please" on the MITM stuff. Otherwise, FUD.

Microsoft to rule the biz chat roost – survey

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: None of the above.

Just create an IRC channel on EfNet or Freenode. works for me. Make it 'invite only'. Or run your own IRC server if there's some super-secret thing being discussed. You could even use SSL encryption and some ancient hardware running Linux...

Super Micro says audit found no trace of Chinese spy chips on its boards

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

'Fake News' by Bloomberg, then?

I think SuperMicro has at least done the right thing and made a SERIOUS effort to, well, "take it seriously" and ensure that NONE of their products have been tampered with. It's also likely they'll continue to look for the possibility just so they can SAY they are.

It's hard to re-build a reputation that's been SO DAMAGED like this.

THAT being said, reputations are what they are, and I think the ball is NOW in Bloomberg's court.

'Fake News' has been getting out of hand a LOT. These "un-named sources" who seem to know SO much, wanting to blow the lid off of some scandal, blah blah yotta yotta TABLOID NEWS.

Bloomberg, I think you guys SCREWED THE PROVERBIAL POOCH. Funny how they doubled down on it, too.

I hope they have really GOOD evidence to support their claim, if it's true. Because it's PLAUSIBLE. But if they have NOTHING, which I suspect is the case, they'll end up on the wrong side of a defamation and libel lawsuit. And, don't forget the drop in stock value.

Then again, the drop in stock might be 'stock manipulation'. Did anyone MAKE LOTS OF MONEY by SELLING SHORT on SuperMicro stock? S.E.C. where are you?

I'd like to see how this plays out. Needless to say, if spy chips WERE being planted, I doubt it will happen again any time soon, because NOW people are LOOKING for it...

Poor people should get slower internet speeds, American ISPs tell FCC

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

Re: Well, if they don't think it's fair...

It's not fair if:

a) doing the necessary things to EARN BETTER INCOME does _NOT_ get you "better things" (including internet service);

b) you are CHARGED BASED ON YOUR INCOME for the SAME SERVICES as everyone else gets;

c) HIGH TAXES "keep you in your place" so that those who do NOT work hard, etc. can have the SAME THINGS that YOU have to EARN;

etc.

ISP's could provide CHEAP DIAL UP for people who can't aford broadband. In fact, there are FREE DIALUP services, last I checked.

But the _LAST THING_ I would _EVAR_ want to see, is a "universal lifeline service" for INTERNET. Because, _I_ would never get it, I'd ALWAYS have to PAY for it, and people who ARE LAZY would RECEIVE IT.

Unless there is INCENTIVE for people to BETTER THEMSELVES, "the lazy" will ALWAYS use SOCIAL PROGRAMS and "PROGRESSIVE" taxation/fees as *A* *HAMMOCK* !!!!!

("get a job hippy")

Google CEO tells US Congress Chocolate Factory will unleash Dragonfly in China

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

I thought Google was supposed to 'do no evil'?

If Dragonfly is a real thing, which they're apparently NOT (directly) admitting over at Google ('for China' wouldn't be the same as admitting they're creating a special 'filter' just for the communist regime to use AGAINST their own people), then the NEW motto should be: "Don't let anyone SEE US do evil" or "Don't ADMIT to doing evil".

And WHAT! MAKES! ANYONE! BELIEVE! THEY! ARE! NOT! ALREADY! USING! the 'Dragonfly' "technology" TO! SILENCE! ANYONE! THEY! *FEEL*! DESERVES! IT! ??? (aka Conservatives, Critics, and Competition - and Enemies, oh my!!).

I am definitely NOT buying their B.S.. And if they *FEEL* (the 'F' word) as if nobody in Congress can figure out when they're getting manipulated and condescended to, they are in for a BIG surprise. [OK most lawmakers probably ARE idiots, but at least a few of them aren't, and they're most likely NOT amused. I wouldn't be]

Microsoft, you shouldn't have: Festive Windows 10 Insiders build about as exciting as new socks

bombastic bob Silver badge
Coat

Re: A CLI??????!!!!!

/me re-writes words to REM song

"Shiny happy WINDOWS everywhere..."

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: good start, now...

put that all into an 'extras pack' for people who want it. then see how often it gets installed...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

2D flatty flat flatso flatness flugly

'"Stupid flat look" - aesthetics is a choice, i actually like the way win 10 looks'

OK. that's YOUR choice. Why can't _I_ have *MY* choice???

answer: because a handful of ARROGANT SMUG 'we know better than YOU what YOU should have' types RE-WROTE THE [profanities] UI to be ALL 2D FLATSO AND FLUGLY, that's why!!!!

And they forgot that THE CUSTOMER (me) is ALWAYS right, and should be GIVING ME (the customer) _WHAT_ _I_ _WANT_ !!!

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Any change to notepad is big news of course.

yeah fixing some of the more 'irritating features' of Notepad _IS_ an improvement. As long as it doesn't go all UWP on us.

assuming UTF-8 (without a control char seq saying 'I am UTF-8 format') is a good start. So is that irritating prompt to 'create a new file' if you enter a non-existent file name on the command line... [maybe just the ability to turn that on/off in case someone WANTS that?]

Fix that and line endings and it should be good to go. Now how about a back-port for 7?