Posts by bombastic bob

Microsoft Windows edges closer to SMB security signing fully required by default

Re: Love the contractions on here.

"6) I ask how to properly reconfigure so the things work.

Generally it will have something to do with printing... on the day you REALLY need it!

Windows 7 works with my printer. All Linux and FreeBSD boxen on my network work with my printer.

But a Win-10-nic VM (that I had to use to run tax software this year) does NOT. It will not scan from it either (it's an all-in-one fax/scan/print unit).

So I printed 'required forms' to PDF and used Atril (on FreeBSD) to make the hard copies. For scanned stuff I made the jpeg file on FreeBSD and copied to the Win-10-nic box and then opened it within the tax software (something you print, sign, and scan for filing basically).

Micros~1 does not seem to care much about printers. Nor scanners. Not any more. If yours is "too old", even if it works perfectly, a broken driver may be in your "update future" because "something changed" instead of being properly fixed.

File Explorer gets facelift in latest Windows 11 build

Re: I always mean to try...

I occasionally write MFC applications that run on 7. They seem to work on 10 as well, no problems noted. wxWidgets is very MFC-like in a lot of ways. I have run the exercise a couple o' times to take an MFC application and turn it into a wxWidgets application [takes effort but not THAT much].

I refuse to use the "new, shiny" [which has devolved into a polished turd] "[CR]App SDK" and UWP and TIFKAM in general.

Re: A Facelift?

"I'd describe it as being akin to putting lipstick on a pig."

I have not yet seen this "new, shiny" version myself. but from the descriptions I read (both in the article and in the comments) I can safely conclude that the lipstick was NOT applied to the end that goes "oink".

Re: Thank God!

Doing it that way works, of course, but you forgot to mention the various incidents of arm-twisting and "Are you REALLY REALLY REALLY sure you want to do this" kinds of prompting along the way.

I have only ever done this. I never set up a Micros~1 account, not even for the admin user. It's all test VMs (with 10, 11 still have not done in a VM) anyway but I *still* do not want a "track you everywhere" Micros~1 login.

Users accuse Intuit of 'heavy-handed' support changes on QuickBooks for Desktop

I'm still on 2007

I still use QB 2007. Works fine, runs on Windows 7.

Why update it?

Subscription licensing is yet ANOTHER reason NOT to update!

UK tech industry pushing up salaries – but UI devs out of luck

"specialise in fixing what's not broken"

Key phrase: "It's OUR turn, now!"

Re: You have to ACT young

Being a contractor with a history of saving a project from inexperienced developers dragging it into missed opportunity ALSO helps.

Being old helps you be "that guy".

Re: The only role category to see earning fall was mid-level UX and UI designers

having UI design on embedded systems being one of my least favorite tasks, and doing cool device control things being a LOT more interesting, I'd have to conclude that UI design (I never figured out why anyone calls it 'UX' unless they are from Marin county, related light bulb joke below) doe not require nearly the talent nor competence of "other kinds of coding". Or, how a kernel + device control C programmer like me can easily do the UI design also, given a search engine for docs and "how do I do this in XXX", but the converse is most likely NOT the case without a lot of low level coding experience.

That being said the UI with a web interface can be the fastest and simplest solution, especially for an RPi with a touch screen in 'kiosk mode'. The hard part is the architecture on the system side, aka how do you turn button clicks into "things happening". Lots of solutions for that exist, with PHP 'shell_exec()' being at the heart of it.

If you specialize in UI design you should probably learn how to do OTHER things too, from SQL to device control. An RPi or Arduino can help with that. Design a vending machine maybe? Or a retro game console? You would learn a lot of useful things, and learn where to get the necessary parts.

At that point you would be hired to do the harder stuff but could assist with or even take over the UI part later (or design the glue that makes it all work).

Light bulb joke: How many people from Marin County does it take to change a light bulb? At least 3. 1 to change the bulb and the rest to "share in the experience"

(which reflects what I think of the term 'UX', yeah)

Why you might want an email client in the era of webmail

Dunning-Kruger effect

had to look it up

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

"poor performers have not yet acquired the ability to distinguish between good and bad performances."

Sounds about right to me. Most likely cause: Too many years of "positive re-enforcement" instead of BRUTAL HONESTY.

'Coffin dodger?' First time I've seen/heard THAT one!

(Back to dodging coffins and learnin' these young whippersnappers a thing or two)

[you young whippersnappers wouldn't know a proper UI if it bit you on the nose. in my day we had 3D SKEUOMORPHIC interfaces where buttons look like buttons and text was READABLE! Not this 2D FLATSO FLATASS bright white and light blue unreadable crap with 90% of the screen real estate wasted and NOT EVEN SHADOWING EFFECTS so you have to search for where to click the mouse EVERY! STINKING! TIME! Why, I oughta... *grumble* *gripe* *rant*]

Re: DNS-over-https

They are thinking that a cloudflare server gets to monitor (minotaur?) what you are looking at on teh intarwebs

[I thought this was obbious?]

Re: DNS-over-https

when you do a LOT of "local web server" stuff for development or whatever other reason, DNS over HTTPS is a SHOW STOPPER. *MUST* *TURN* *OFF* !!!

The local DNS then gets to decide what 'http://thingy/' means. On my network it is likely to be an embedded system with a web interface that I am developing a touch screen UI for. [it is extremely difficult to troubleshoot such an interface on the touch screen itself, so I use a browser on a desktop sized to match the screen]

You would think DEVELOPERS would HAVE A CLUE about such things. Then again, these "non-old" devs keep cramming 2D FLATTY FLATSO UIs at us, remove features that we use, etc.

I typicallty use T-bird because of ONE specific feature: "view as plain text". HTML e-mail is *EVIL* and should be *REMOVED* from the internet.

And "web mail" interfaces *STINK* *ON* *ICE* !!!

NASA's electric plane tech is coming in for a late, bumpy landing

good one!

Re: My plan

Why must the "Solution" to these [rectally extrapolated] "problems" *ALWAYS* *BE* something that involves:

* Heavy-handed government control

* Some kind of rationing

* Loss of freedom

* Lowering of living standards

* Increased cost / Lower wages

* Higher tax rates (especially for those trying to BECOME 'the rich')

* Socialism/Communism

That much should be a 'red flag' that maybe, JUST MAYBE, we're being LIED to, and it's REALLY just *TYRANNY* trying to take over...?

Re: Hmm

"The problem of course being government setting a target with no clue how it could ever be hit."

Again, I mention Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority"

Re: Any scientists left at NASA?

why not just drill for oil and make jet fuel?

Hydrocarbon fuels have a MUCH better energy-to-weight ratio than batteries made from the lightest metal in existence (Lithium).

And without saying much else on the topic, man-made CO2 is not causing AGW or AGCC or whateve (in my bombastic opinion at least).

So having an electric airplane is "interesting but impractical", and GUMMINT MANDATES to do the impossible simply remind me of Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority"

Meanwhile the CCP will continue burning as many fossil fuels that they want, even at levels that exceed the rest of the world. Xi Jing 'Pooh' is a chemical engineer. He knows the truth.

Asahi Linux developer warns the one true way is Wayland

Re: Clip board security

using a new data type for copy/pasta would help with this. Render as new data type when copying/pasting passwords for example, something that has a DH key exchange in it...

If it were a standard this would be nice. X11 clipboard can theoretically handle any future data format. Very flexible. Just need to document it and get applications to support it.

NOTE: I have a script that decrypts a key for github where I enter a password, then it goes onto the clipboard via 'xclip' so I can 'git push' etc. and it seems that after a while the clipboard contents just 'go away' on their own, but you can always copy/pasta something else in its place to 'secure' it

Is it time for the X.org project to be TAKEN OVER by X.org fans, and *NOT* "Wayland Cultists" ??

Just a thought...

I favor just fixing the bugs, extending features where needed, MAYBE go to X11R8 to address performance, and MOVE FORWARD with X11.

[certain legacy features could be wrapped in a 'legacy library' without losing 'the new stuff' nor impacting performance]

Re: Nope

good one, heh

Re: Nope

"Wayland might be an OK option for the "Oh, SHINY!" set, but for professionals not so much."

It is *EXACTLY* that, In My Bombastic Opinion

Re: Nope

You have the ability to choose Wayland. Do NOT advocate taking away MY choice to use X11!!!

Because, like with gnome, the devs behind the push for Wayl;and are (apparently) trying to DO JUST THAT - "Move Us" (for our own good) to the "new shiny" instead of LETTING US STICK WITH THE THING THAT DOES THE JOB!

Re: Nope

With X11 I can set up a login, and with some care, set up a shell that uses DISPLAY to run an X11 application in the context of THAT user, and by use of ssh with a cert, NOT have top enter a password.

That way you can (for example) sandbox everything you do with a web browser within that login TO that login. If web site 'a' tracks you, you can completely sandbox your history etc. JUST to that login. You can ignore using NoScript for THAT login, and things work, and maybe even (with firefox) have it PURGE HISTORY on exit.

As an example I need to use slack for work. So, the slack login has its own Firefox with its own history etc. allowing script and completely separate from anything ELSE I might do.

And also, if you work on embedded stuff, you can run an editor on the embedded platform (running Linux, let's say) and by setting DISPLAY you can use your desktop for an editor like 'pluma' or the 'meld' application or one of many OTHER useful GUI-based programming tools. Good luck doing that with WAYLAND. [I have heard about the workarounds. No thanks]

Microsoft will upgrade Windows 10 21H2 users whether they like it or not

upvote for obvious snark

pwned

who owns my computer again?

OK I am running 10 in a VM for testing and other things that *MUST* have Win-10-nic, and I do regularly force-run windows update for those few times I use 10, but still the basic attitude from THEM that "they own YOUR computer" is worse than irritating.

It reminds me of the days when autoexec.bat and config.sys would get "things" added to them whether you wanted it or not - because - whatever thing you just installed IS the ONLY thing your PC could POSSIBLY run, and therefore taking over and mucking with stuff is just fine. Seriously.

NASA InSight lander spills the beans on Mars' core

martian canals

It was once said that Mars had 'canals' from early observers with much less sophisticated telescopes. Maybe the water did not disappear as long ago as people think?

Or then again it was from optical illusions caused by primitive optics...

In any case it's worth a mention

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_canals

Re: Dusty Panels

Send a robot maid to clean the panels, like a 'Nan-droid' maybe?

Re: Core composition

From my experience on a submarine and from what I know about Sonar back THEN, it is still pretty amazing what sound alone can tell you

A lot of this probably has to do with speed of sound which can generate curved paths among other things (due to change in density). Who knows, maybe sound resonance gives you some kind of 'spectral line' to identify material...

.

Uncle Sam probes H-1B abuse surge: What do our vultures make of it?

Re: Its a joke

"lack of the thoroughly unnecessary postgraduate degree"

which should always be conditional with "or equivalent experience", especially when tech moves forward faster than academia!

Re: yes, prosecute

I do not have issue with H1-B visas. However like you said, the unchecked FLOOD of MILLIONS of unskilled people with NO real way of supporting themselves (except thrpugh slave labor to cartels) is where the REAL problem lies. The citizens of one nation do NOT deserve to be LOOTED by illegal migrants from another nation (via use of social services and increased crime, for starters), no matter how anyone *FEELZ* about it.

But H1-B when done properly is fine with me. Unless, of course, some people abuse it on the HIRING end to hold visa status over the heads of employees... [and exploit, etc.].

Eco warriors sue FAA over Starship fallout, claim watchdog is lost in space

Re: Parked car

"seems to be the usual environmental shakedown

As you pointed out, if it were REALLY about the environment, these people would care about windmills killing birds and off-shore windmill construction killing whales, both of which have been an issue recently. I saw a video online where a windmill smacked into a vulture circling around (probably because of OTHER dead birds on the ground) and the vulture dropped to the ground, only able to move half of its neck and its head. Nevermind all of the farmland being covered up by solar panels...

It's really about manipulation, control, power, and money by attacking modern tech and great accomplishments, and not about saving whales or buzzards [especially not from "green" energy windmills].

(I think their goal is WEF style socialism and CCP type control over everyone's life - and making us eat BUGS)

Re: X-rays

X rays are everywhere. "Mr. Sun" makes them. Flying at 30,000 feet exposes you to considerably more than living at sea level.

When I was in the Navy on a nuclear sub, I could point a gamma radiation detector upwards while on the surface and easily get 20-30 counts per minute. While underway (reactor running), about the same pointing towards the reactor compartment (from that .location). But pointing straight up, it was ZERO.

All of that solar radiation (X and gamma rays) was being shielded by >100 feet of water.

No more feature updates for Windows 10 – current version is final

Re: Truly, certainly not

Give me windows 10 with a windows 7 START menu and I'm happy.

Unfortunately that half solution STILL uses the butt-ugly 2D FLATSO TIFKAM look that I happen to *HATE*

I'll gladly take XP's "bulbous" look over THAT!

forcing "up"grades upon us all. again.

they (Microps~1 and their 'partners') just want to force us into buying new hardware with TPM 2

China again signals desire to shape global IPv6 standards

I have not yet heard any compelling arguments NOT to implement IPv6 as it currently exists, even if it is imperfect.

I just do not want CHINA/CCP dictating internet protocols, no matter HOW much "Hunny" Xi Jing Pooh spreads on it (to make it more 'palatable')

Re: Dodgy stats

There are also many free IPv4 to IPv6 tunnels out there. (I happen to use he.net)

It helps with implementation if you can make an IPv6 tunnel and correctly support it with your WiFi router.

Re: Dodgy stats

I have been using an IPv6 tunnel for several years and I think it works just fine, except that my personal domain does not have the ability to be served up with an IPv6 address directly (this is the name provider's fault but I am too lazy to switch providers).

Otherwise it's fine, performance-wise and everything else. For me, anyway...

(and this is with my updated connection, not the old one with a pathetically slow DSL)

Re: I'd just like to say don't trust CHINA

From the article: "New IP, which has its roots at Huawei, included features that would allow governments greater control over the internet".

China is run by the CCP, aka COMMUNISTS. They mistreat their own people, use "social credit score" to intimidate and ensure COMPLIANCE, and are JUST as much of an 'Evil Emptire' with their NEW AXIS that includes Russia and Iran.

Do we REALLY want THESE people DICTATING to the rest of us how we should conduct online communication worldwide??

** NO ** !!! Xi Jing Pooh may have the biggest "balloons" but we do NOT need to surrender ANY more worldwide power/influence to the CCP!!!

Microsoft is busy rewriting core Windows code in memory-safe Rust

"Yes, dynamic arrays will change (and checking each time is safer)"

How 'safe' does it need to be inside the kernel though? When properly designed, kernel functions will always get valid pointers, so they do not need to be checked and re-checked over and over.

One could argue that going 25MPH on an open highway is "safe". But people do not LIKE going slow. People want AUTOBAHN speeds!

Same with computer performanced. Overly-unnecessary 'paranoid' pointer safety is another concern with using Rust (for me, behind garbage collection)

Yes, but isn't it fun to watch a monolithic software company come to a near-halt screeching tires and heading off at a 90 degree angle with foot to the floor?

(in my mind I see a tall 'over-compensation' building nearly toppling over in the process)

But give it to Micros~1 to re-re-re-re-write "New, Shiny" because "New, Shiny" regardless of common sense, actual improvement, or profitability.

My biggest concern is the same as it is for Linux kernel using Rust: garbage collection

(it does not belong in code ANYWHERE and is so often abused nowadays that mail readers and browsers left running will ultimately allocate EVERY FREE BYTE OF RAM, causing performance stutfers when you switch to something else, because 'hang onto RAM' for THAT is the ONLY application worth running on YOUR computer, at least in the devs' less than brilliant minds)

US Supreme Court snubs that guy who wants AI recognized as patent inventors

Re: So sue

well if ChatGPT can pass a BAR EXAM...

Microsoft suggests businesses buy fewer PCs. No, really

would be more "sustainable" if each version of windows did not require new hardware...

And of course Micros~1 wants us to use "the cloud" instead of a REAL computer, so that they have even MORE control, MORE lock-in, and MORE spyware.

(please do not look behind the curtain, the manipulation is for your own good, nothing to see here, Jedi business, move along)

Wrong time to weaken encryption, UK IT chartered institute tells government

Re: Whose Encryption Might Be "Weakened"?

FYI - you should NOT have to "prove innocence". THEY *MUST* need to PROVE GUILT.

And the genie has been out of the bottle for a LONG time. A user-downloadable-from-anywhere APK for encrypt/decrypt with end-end capability would be very easy, using PGP even, hosted on github or gitlab and 100% open source.

The only way that politicians COULD EVER STOP threatening such things is when it becomes obvious EVERYONE will DISOBEY.

"Compliance" is what *they* rely on. Sadly, *they* will never stop TRYING these sorts of things.

Deplatforming hate forums doesn't work, British boffins warn

deplatforming does not work to stop spam but should happen anyway

comparison of criminal trolling/harassing with spamming, if you shut down a spam-scam site it quickly pops back up somewhere else. Infamous rolex watch and fashion purse fake goods sites come to mind.

(of course you still take down criminal sites, and prosecute when possible)

Re: Missing half the population?

I'd be interested to know what the researchers define as 'misogynistic attitudes'.

When I see these kinds of terms being tossed about my skeptic hat goes on and I look further down for accusations about masculinity being "toxic" [an instant hit from my B.S. detector]. Then when it becomes obvious it was written from a ridiculous position of bias against masculinity I can either lampoon it or ignore it entirely.

Re: If you feed the trolls ...

what are the targets supposed to do?

In general, get the cops involved, track down the perpetrators (who are violating various laws) and file lawsuits.

Re: If you feed the trolls ...

whenever I think of "Feeding Trolls" I am reminded of an old Screwball Squirrel cartoon (and a similar Bugs Bunny cartoon)

"I will love him and hug him and call him George"

(Screwy Squirrel was literally squished to death when the dog hugged him a bit too much...)

Cardboard drones running open source flight software take off in Ukraine and beyond

Re: We've been here before ...

I have to wonder what the radar signature of cardboard looks like when compared to plastic...

US Navy turns to hull-climbing bots to combat maintenance backlog

Re: Danger of Sabotage

basically we still need human "supervision" along with high security.

Having been in a Navy shipyard involving drydocks a few times, there are a LOT of people doing these kinds of tasks - welding, painting, visual inspections, x-ray the hull, etc.

Robots would help a LOT. But of course people need to supervise them.

Tesla ordered to pay worker $3M-plus over racist treatment

Re: Wow easy money

"It does not seem right."

On the surface without seeing any of the evidence4 in the case, I would initially react the same way.

Cali-FORN-You is a hostile environment for business in general these days, and Fremont (between San Jose and Oakland) is no exception I'm sure, but if the case WAS legit, then whatever was awarded was done to punish actual violations, including legal costs in litigating it.

So yeah, I suspect a LOT of these cases are nuisance claims from disgruntled employees looking to screw over the former boss. But if bad actors actually DID act like racists etc, and the corporation had inadequate (or no) response to legit claims, it's on the company, not the plaintiff.

Bank rewrote ads for infosec jobs to stop scaring away women

Re: So they removed the impossible?

I think it might've been Graham Chapman.

The only reason he was standing up during the interview was that his feet were nailed to the floor.

(ok this thread has gotten way too silly)