Posts by bombastic bob

Microsoft has open-sourced PowerShell for Linux, Macs. Repeat, Microsoft has open-sourced PowerShell

Re: Have you used Powershell?

"How many of the Bash people who are on here bashing Powershell have actually used it?"

I tried it once or twice under windows, and like the Eldritch Abomination that is ".Not", it's hellspawn 'powershell' is the hideous nightmare from the bowels of hell that it's portrayed to be by us "bashers".

When I decided to learn Linux and BSD, I had to start over with the shell. In the case of BSD, there are actually TWO shell syntaxes that are slightly different (csh vs sh/bash). I find that once I dove in, it was relatively easy to pick up and very very logical, and it helped me to learn Perl.

Powershell, on the other hand, is _SO_ tied into the ".Not" thing that I couldn't stomach it for more than a few minutes. It was like: no. no. NO. NO! NO NO NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! I was like Saavedro in that pathetic 'No' scene towards the end of Myst: Exile.

".Not" was the cancer that really killed windows. It increased the slowness, tried to turn senior developers (used to WinAPI, MFC) into JUNIOR developers (by changing the game and all of the rules into bass-ackwards "object-oriented" nonsense that's really BLOATED and INEFFICIENT collection-based sewage). No thanks. re-learning "that" simply because it's *new* is not acceptable. On the other hand, learning bash after using CMD and command.com was kinda interesting.

FYI - I'd written a command line shell for Windows 3.x back in the day, extending the DOS commands and allowing you to run windows applications either synchronously OR asynchronously, with some rather nice extensions. There was also a REXX for windows, which my shell played nice with (by request, actually, I made those modifications). But of course Win '9x made it all MOOT with CMD playing nicer with windows applications and the 'start' command (not the same as the start button). But if I'd had cygwin back then, I would have used THAT instead.

"I quite like it. I find it's use of words makes it more easily readable. "

like... COBOL!!!

Re: Might be better to...

or cygwin, which does a much better job of it.

Re: More embracing from MS...

"The Embrace - Extend - Extinguish litany is becoming a lame pavlovian response from MS haters who have become so reactive by now..."

when the blind lead the blind, both go over a cliff, or so I've heard...

In this case, it's the "extend" portion of 'embrace, extend, extinguish' (like I mentioned above already). We know what their plans are, and if they CAN, they'll insert ALL of the worst things in Win-10-nic into Linux as well, so nobody will be able to go anywhere ELSE except a Micro-shaft controlled spyware-ridden and adware-ridden environment, in which THEY get "a piece of the action".

Again, I predict a WHOLESALE REJECTION of this powershell on anything but micro-shaft operating systems, MOSTLY because of ".Not" and all of the implications that go with it (and future embedded adware/spyware/tracking).

"do one thing, and do it well" indeed. That, 'powershell' is _NOT_ .

(a shell should be glue for the many 'do one thing' utilities, NOT a monolithic over-controlling piece of bloatware that tries to DO IT ALL, and does so POORLY)

Re: Why is ssh built in?

"Any built in version will either be behind the times"

using v1 protocol and 64-bit keys/hashes no doubt. "Easier to TRACK you with, my dear..."

Re: "On Linux we’re just another shell"

"you need both powershell and systemd to convert linux into windows."

one way to resist (if you're running systemd now):

sudo systemctl enable multi-user.target --force

sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target

(ignore the warnings and messages)

after that, you'll boot into console mode and need to *gasp* type 'startx' to get the GUI.

you're welcome.

Re: They're taking over Linux!

It's the 'Extend' portion of 'Embrace, Extend, *EXTINGUISH*'

I predict WHOLESALE REJECTION of this nonsense, mostly because it's ".Not" under the hood. because if ".Not" is adopted as part of Linux, guess what's next? That's right, the same kind of ADWARE, SPYWARE, and TRACKING you get with Win-10-nic.

queue borg-speak "We will add your distnictiveness to our own. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile"

Microsoft promises free terrible coffee every month you use Edge

Re: Wrong data

"Edge is at over 5% (combined all versions), not at 3.91%"

yeah being off by ~25% on a pathetically small market penetration was SO wrong, it deserves the deepest of apologies, and/or being whipped with a Cat5-o-nine-tails or caned with a cluebat...

So it's doing better than C-pound on the TIOBE index, then?

/me made a cat5-0-nine-tails once, with some old cat5 that would never be used. you basically use 5 cables, folding them in half, and the 10th strand wraps around the bent end using a 'noose knot', forming a nice handle in the process...

Microsoft to overhaul Windows 10 UI – with a 3D Holographic Shell

Re: Think of all the possibilities...

"Ads all over your room or office. All that extra space, think about what advertisers can do with that! They even know where you are looking."

Like - "The Www.yzzerdd"

http://aqua-teen-hunger-force.wikia.com/wiki/Www.yzzerdd.com

Re: A better idea ...

"would be for them to develop a real holographic display that does not require you to wear any special equipment."

I saw a video demo of such a display a few years ago, from Japan. Apparently it's possible to use lasers to heat little dots of light in midair (even in COLOR!). I think the video showed frame rates up to 15fps, but said something like "higher rates were possible"

Downside: it consumes a LOT of electrical power. Maybe that's what that "by 2050" thing was about a week or so ago...

solution: build more power plants, get bigger air conditioners. all that 'warmist' garbage is just anti-progress anti-capitalist nonsense anyway.

Re: Yet more training

"it might be a great UI but it's still Win10 under the hood. If it becomes reality, you'll get it via some massive "update" that you didn't ask for and won't be able to stop."

And a demand for $29.95/month to "continue the service". once the EULA changes for the latest "free/mandatory upgrade".

Re: 3D UI yes... useless crap VR headsets NO! JUST NO !

(with respect to "Ape" and Win-10-nic and the touchy-screen interface)

"encouraged everyone to migrate"

read: "Pounded it into our posteriors with a large mallet"

Re: They have to be joking

(from the article)

"you can manipulate the 3D desktop using a Wii-like remote control, basically pointing at dialog boxes and icons hovering in the air and clicking on them rather than moving a mouse pointer on a 2D screen."

then Sebastian A said:

"So they're saying "We'll do the hard part, designing a horrible UI, now some manufacturer just needs to do the easy part, creating cost-effective transparent monitors."

(and I added)

Well, you STILL need to be able to type schtuff in. I won't be able to write code or enter data with a Wii-mote. Micro-Shaft blew it with the "Ape" tile-screen and the Win-10-nic "Start Thing", and the entire "the METRO" "your PC is now a phone" paradigm.

Now it looks like they want to do something _WORSE_.

Well, maybe we can get a 'droid application going before Micro-shaft ever releases this chimera-monster into the market, and then everyone on their 'droid phones will (effectively) have virtual holographic keyboards hovering in mid-air like Washuu or the people doing the 'Zion Control' thing in the 2nd Matrix movie...

of course you need an inexpensive headset to make this all work, preferably one with an interface that isn't limited by someone's stupid "low energy" greeny bias [like BTLE, which is notoriously SLOW as HELL] nor CONSTANT interference from everyone ELSE around you, meaning it'll need a wired-up interface, USB 3.0 or ?

Maybe Apple will do it for iOS first?

LinkedIn sues 100 information scrapers after technical safeguard fail

Re: Thank God..

"I keep but the barest amount of data on LinkedIn.."

don't forget to clear your browser history before logging in, and after you leave (especially cookies). A few years ago they started doing the "tracking thing" like Face-barph and Tw[*]tter. So if I need to log in there for some reason, I have a "special browser" that clears ALL history and cookies on exit, every time. Open it up, go to LinkedIn, do 'whatever', close the browser. *ZAP* and no tracking.

"but not to Canadian Viagra sellers and spammers from Vietnam who allegedly will do anything for you."

Nor any potential 'investors' from Nigeria or South Africa

Some Windows 10 Anniversary Update: SSD freeze

Re: Where are all the MS apologists?

"simply aren't as inclined to defend Windows 10 because it has alienated us for one reason or another"

that was me, essentially, before ".Not". When Micro-shaft's Developer's Conferences became 'all about ".Not"' I no longer participated. I thought their direction was _WRONG_ back THEN, and it's just changed names and appearance in Windows "Ape" and Win-10-nic [still the same old ".Not" initiative principles, only worse].

Then I discovered OS/X was based on a version of UNIX (Mach) and I decided that there were now 3 operating systems worth knowing anything about (this was in 2002 or 2003): Windows, UNIX/Linux, and [at that time] PalmOS.

Now, PalmOS is essentially gone now, but there are STILL 3 OSs worth knowing anything about: UNIX/Linux/Android, Windows, and iOS, in THAT order of importance. And, last I checked, iOS and Win-10-nic were TIED in overall popularity on stat counter...

Re: Huh,

"C:/ProgramData gets full of crap so yes you should unhide it and look inside at regular intervals."

at least it's THERE and not in "C:\Program Files" with the damned white-space in the middle of the directory name... [SQL Server "light" installs its DATA files in the 'Program Files' tree, which is like some kind of file hierarchy violation, grossly violated in fact]

Micro-shaft should seriously do a 'man hier' on a Linux distro and get a freaking CLUE, and THEN stop trying to keep end-users from doing what they want. Fat chance, yeah.

Re: Why doesn't Win10 support multiple drives better

"trying to use Windows as an OS designed in the '60s won't work, believe me. Just like trying to use Linux as if it was Windows."

here we go again with the FUD. If you knew what you were talking about, you wouldn't make claims like this. yeah you are implying that UNIX-like operating systems were "designed in the 60's". So was the Saturn V by the way, and nobody's sent people to the moon since the last Apollo moon shot, so maybe the 60's designs were pretty GOOD, ya know?

It's ALSO like claiming that the Intel x86 and amd64 architectures were "designed in the 60's" because they bear some resemblance to the architecture of the IBM 360... (which, by the way, was an awesome machine in its day).

And I use FreeBSD and Linux for nearly everything. So I don't need Windows until I have some specific "written for windows" software that I need to run. Or if I need to do windows software development, which is happening LESS and LESS these days...

Re: Leaving Microsoft

"LibreOffice 5 covers most user bases today and is cetainly as good as the iOS, Android mobile versions of MSOffice, given both MS mobile versions lack the 'full fat' MSOffice features of VBA."

VBA is _HIGHLY_ overrated. It's also a huge security problem. Python and/or Perl would be better. not sure if Libre/Open office has a Python or Perl interface available though. (do they?)

Re: Leaving Microsoft

the choir says "amen" and thanks for the sermon.

Microsoft’s stealth scripting engine arrives on Android

complete with 'flatso' 2D FLUGLY

it comes complete with the same 'flatso' 2D FLUGLY you see in the "Start Thing" in Win-10-nic. That oversized 'tw[*]tter' icon is a fine example. Whenever I see it I wanna cringe...

US extradition of Silk Road suspect OK'd by Irish judge

"The US is a barbaric nation who should be told to take a hike, regardless of the crime"

I think the USA would extradite people to UK if asked...

"Yes the US justice system is not perfect by any means and has made errors, at least in the US if you can prove your innocence you'll walk free."

not entirely, 'guilt' must be proven, and innocence is presumed. All of the burden is on the prosecution.

That being said, our jails are rather full at the moment... [so they must be pretty good at it]

But yeah, those "oh my heart bleeds for you" kinds of excuses like Ass-burgers and depression are rarely accepted these days, even by the most left-leaning liberal judges [of which there are many]. I find it laughable that the attorney even TRIED that.

Lets see... 'Ass burgers' - that's when you don't give a flying FEEL about others' emotions, because you're a REAL MAN and not some flaky feely wimp... and its definition as a 'disorder' or 'condition' is just part of the "WIMP-IFICATION and DUMB-IFICATION of society" process like AD[H]D and other 'genius' diseases. yeah, let's call SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE 'disordered' so we don't FEEL bad about ourselves NOT being successful! (and use it as an excuse for 'whatever crime' and/or jurisdictional extradition)

Adblock Plus blocks Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook ads

Re: Ad free day

"I run uBlock Origin and Noscript."

apparently your whitelist is too leniant (farce-bitch still works). All I ever see is a re-direct page with a blocked script icon, if I get sent to an FB page by 'whatever'. which is fine. I don't want their persistent cookies nor 3rd party embedded ad scripts on other web sites [including that damnable 'F' icon image] feeding my browsing info back to "mother Zucker"

Re: I'm grabbing some popcorn

"Was that an advert?"

Cue the intermission riff, or maybe dancing cups singing "Let's all go to the lobby..."

Re: I find the best way to avoid adverts on Farcebook...

"And what if the only point of contact you have with someone important (like a member of your family) is through Farcebook because they don't have e-mail or a reliable telephone?"

if your family member has no e-mail, sign him up for gmail maybe? you need intarwebs for faceb[itch|ook] and so ANYTHING would work.

Business users force Microsoft to back off Windows 10 PC kill plan

Re: Microsoft start listening to people outside your bubble

"convention for some reason keeps everyone using Microsoft."

it's probably LEGACY more than anything else, and a general LACK of interest by software vendors to start making Linux versions. Example, if QuickBooks had a Linux version, businesses would be more likely to use Linux instead of a Win-10-nic box, especially when "everything else" runs fine on Linux and they don't have to get Office 365 subscription etc. (or deal with Win-10-nic).

Once again, one of my favorite analyses of what happens when a business DUMPS Microsoft, and goes with a Linux solution (from the mid-noughties):

http://web.archive.org/web/20131203041308/http://news.cnet.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html

(Ernie Ball saved about $80k in the first year, nearly paying for the ~$100k "fine" from the aggressive surprise software audit)

Re: FTFY!

"and then rolling out their standard Win7 image onto said systems."

as long as the 'downUPgrade to 7' option remains...

but if this article is ANY indication, someone at M-shaft saw the writing on the wall.

Linux malware? That'll never happen. Ok, just this once then

Re: How is this a Linux issue?

it's on a Linux system... I guess ANY malware running on a Linux system, being so rare, is "newsworthy" simply because of the "Look I found one!" factor

Re: the system packages for most distros are totally open by default.

"t's the reason why some distros are so keen on using sudo rather than encouraging a root login"

a fair compromise, if the 'sudoer' user's password isn't super-short/easily-guessed

And disallowing ALL root logins for sshd (or any OTHER remote access) should be THE DEFAULT, but isn't always. [it's easy, just one line in sshd_config]

Bungling Microsoft singlehandedly proves that golden backdoor keys are a terrible idea

Re: Explain this to me...

"What is this, if not bold blatant barefaced double standards?"

let's see if Micro-shaft or any of its top execs and/or board members are prominent donors for the Demo-Rat party and/or the Clintstone Foundation... Right Julian? heh heh heh

Seriously, though, it's what happens when consumers aren't paying enough attention. UEFI was a bad idea to begin with. Those of us who understand REAL security know that things like this CAN be bypassed. There's NO way to 'lock it down' enough and prevent it from being bypassed. Unless there's a hardware jumper that prevents flashing the NVRAM, and a BIOS setting that prevents writing the boot sector(s) on the hard drive, you can't stop it. Even THEN, it's not 100% effective to have "those things" either.

Perhaps keeping things simple, making backups easy, and having a bootable CD/DVD image for recovery is the smarter choice... [but don't expect Micro-shaft to do THAT, because it doesn't 'pwn' your machine enough]

Judges put FCC back in its box: No, you can't override state laws, not even for city broadband

limited powers

seems that 'limited powers' to federal agencies might still be in place, regardless of recent attempts to 'federalize' everything via "executive orders". Yeah, that 'Constitution' thing limiting Federal power again. It's about time SOMEONE paid attention to that...

Italian MP threatens parents forcing veggie diets on kids with jail

"When you've seen a young overweight mum go out get a Mc dogshite meal for an already chubby two year old for the first meal of the day, I honestly felt like a slap was in order but she was a lot bigger than me."

natural selection is harsh. but in the long run, maybe we should just let nature take its course? And for this to work, you can't let the adult grossly-overweight person go on the public teet because "the fat" prevents getting a job...

and let the kids at school do their part, too. fatty-fatty-2-by-four etc. maybe it'll MOTIVATE healthier lifestyle. no, wait... it's not "politically correct"! [society re-enforcing bad behavior again by coddling instead of slapping]

Re: Meat is saving animals

with the (obvious) exceptions of overfishing and possibly overhunting, I agree. In fact, the 'delta smelt' that's using up 30% of California's water supply (during an extended drought, forcing our '2nd time around' Demo-Rat governor to restrict citizens' water usage, while simultaneously DUMPING our state's limited water down the Sacramento river to 'save the fish') could become a non-issue if we came up with a good recipe, maybe canning them like sardines? A fish farm for 'delta smelt' would guarantee they never go away, ever.

/me would like fried condor and dodo burgers, next. And yeah, we'll never run out of cows, sheep, pigs, chickens etc. because they _TASTE_ _GOOD_.

Re: Criminal offence to impose a diet lacking in essential elements ?

"But just be aware that quite a lot of people are fully aware how scientifically bankrupt the whole 'organic' food set up is."

especially in those cases where _HUMAN_ excrement had been used for fertilizer [yes, it's happened]. "organic" indeed.

I happen to like meat. if growth hormones cause *MY* muscles to enlarge, so much the better! besides, so many "food fallacies" have existed over the years. It *used* to be that MARGARINE was considered 'healthy' with all of those "poly-unsaturates". We *NOW* call them "trans-fats".

So *LEGISLATING* dietary choices doesn't sound so SMART now...

"Therefore I'm hoping to see parents being banned from forcing..."

other things we should potentially ban parents from 'forcing' or aggressively teaching:

a) a belief in 'man made global warming'

b) voting 'Demo-Rat' (in the USA anyway) or 'socialist' in any form

c) being atheist

d) acting like reverse-racists (i.e. chip-on-shoulder minorities)

e) willingly accepting gummint handouts instead of teaching self-reliance

f) wearing islamic clothing

g) NOT defending yourself against bullies, aggressors, etc.

h) that guns are inherently evil

yes - what if the tables are turned, the 'rubber band is on the OTHER claw', etc. ???

probably best to 'mind our OWN business' instead, like someone else suggested.

[howler-monkey down-voting expected - fling poo while you're at it]

you make too much common sense

"How about if people just got on with their own life and let other people get on with theirs"

you make too much common sense, and have the down-votes to prove it!

a *BIG* thumbs-up from ME

London's Met Police has missed the Windows XP escape deadline

Re: Windows 8.1 is NOT an upgrade...

"Windows 7 only has 3.5 years of extended support left."

better 'go Linux' instead, then. it will save money, allow local companies to support regional police departments, and NOT send a bunch of money to Micro-shaft.

I'm sure cops are smart/savvy enough to switch over. The pain is limited by certain distros, like Mint with Cinnamon. And you probably won't need to buy 'all new hardware' either.

(more money left over to keep cops on the street catching bad guys)

Breaking 350 million: What's next for Windows 10?

"Regular people are simply scared of an upgrade breaking something and having to learn new things. When they buy a new PC they will not have a choice."

you actually SAID that? what a LOW opinion of other humans you must have! We are NOT in an 'idiocracy', yet...

(careful, your arrogance and snobbery are showing)

Aside from the snooty-snob "we *FEEL* we know better than YOU" types at Micro-shaft MAKING! THE! OPERATING! SYSTEM! "that way", we also have SAME-MINDED SYCOPHANTIC FAN-BOIS parroting the SAME! KINDS! OF! ARROGANCE! about "regular people".

And _THAT_ is the point: Micro-shaft is NO longer "have it YOUR way" customer service oriented. They are "CONTROL THE MASSES" oriented. ONLY the *MOST* ARROGANT! of people would even *DARE* to *CONSIDER* doing this kind of thing, and "The Borg" Micro-shaft wants to ASSIMILATE YOU into doing EVERYTHING *THEIR* way so they can LOCK! YOU! IN! forever, and ADVERT! you, and SPY! ON! you, and MONETIZE! you in *EVERY* possible way.

I think 'regular people' are growing *VERY* tired of LOTS of things *KINDS* of things right now... and won't tolerate this much longer.

"At some point H/W manufacturers may either move to Chromebooks or the like or get together to fund development of an alternative OS, maybe based on Linux, BSD or possibly ReactOS which they can control."

I've been hoping for this for YEARS, and netbooks had a shot at this [too bad they were way too tiny and underpowered to make any usability sense for most people]. The downside is that it would take a significant MARKETING EFFORT to put all of the necessary pieces together.

1. Improve user-perception of Linux so they know that it does everything their windows boxen do [basically going against Micro-shaft's FUD campaign over the last 15+ years]

2. Get major software vendors on-board to make Linux versions [or convince people to use the open source versions, like Libre Office vs Micro-shaft Office]

3. Eliminate any 'WinTax' effects and allow vendors to DISCOUNT Linux boxen accordingly, competing directly with Win-10-nic on new boxen, minus the OEM license cost. This may require politicians be confronted [with clue-bats?] to change anti-trust legislation and/or investigate Micro-shaft's 'WinTax' under anti-racketeering laws.

That would be a good start...

Re: Windows 10 a hopeless muddle

"The acceptable amount of ads in an OS is ABSO-FUCKING-LUTLY none whatsoever."

not enough thumbs to give it an appropriate number of "thumbs up".

You, sir, are a steely-eyed computer guru, and 310% correct!

Re: Fire Sale, Fire Sale?

"Will they be willing to forgive the WinTax with more exciting firesale prices?"

perhaps some anti-trust investigations need to look more carefully into that 'WinTax' thing...

or the OEMs can "eat the cost" of the WinTax and ship with Linux so they'll sell... who knows, I'm at least HOPING for some sense to be restored to the market!

Re: Pacman & cancer

"I right clicked on them and selected unpin and they went and never came back."

wait until the next major update, after the hours' long download of gigabytes of cruft, the 'machine not available' stall in your othewise productive (limited by Win-10-nic's inherent anti-productivity features, of course) day, and the re-re-re-resetting of your (limited) customizations, on MICRO-SHAFT's SCHEDULE, not YOURS, so that it MAXIMIZES the effect of PUNISHING you for NOT choosing THEIR DEFAULTS, at a time and place of THEIR choosing.

That's Win-10-nic for you, no longer YOUR SERVANT, but YOUR MASTER. It's like a robot revolution! Except, of course, it's MICRO-SHAFT doing it, not the computer themselves...

Re: Windows 10 did especially well

"the Japanese don't like the way Nine sounds cos it's similar to their word for torture or suffering."

9 = 'kyuu' - which can imply 'sudden' if I read the japanese/english dictionary correctly. I'm not an expert, but I know THAT much at least. (granted, the Japanese language has a LOT of homonyms in it, which is I think why they still use Kanji for writing, because it disambiguates things well).

Another rumor I heard is that '9' sounds like 'Nein' in German, which of course means "no". (ironically 'no' in japanese is 'iie' which sometimes sounds like "Ja" which means 'yes' in German).

The most likely skip of '9' is that '10' implies "completion" from a numerological standpoint, primarily because "count to 10" and we have '10 fingers' and other things LIKE that which are common to the human experience. So MS used the TAROT for their inspiration for "10" ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

No, seriously, the Windows '9x explanation is PROBABLY the best one. To avoid confusion with past, SUCCESSFUL versions of Windows, of course, since Win-10-nic is a PURE ABORTION when it comes to everything in it.

Re: What's next for Windows 10?

"Ironic then that MSFT ship AdBlock for Edge browser."

no, because their NEXT 'feature' would allow PAID FOR ADS (i.e. pay up or we don't let your ads get through) to slip past it... (yes, that DOES happen with OTHER ad blockers, doesn't it?)

So not "ironic" - more like sneaky, underhanded, ...

Windows 10 Anniversary Update is borking boxen everywhere

Re: "Where every customer is a perpetual unpaid beta tester."

"Not every customer. I set group policy in Pro 10 to delay these updates by six months."

yeah, you USED to be able to do that, huh? Well, it's been "fixed" from what I've read.

When Micro-shaft LAID OFF all of their testing staff, they started relying on "insiders" to do their beta (read: alpha) testing. Now your average "insider" (who didn't unofficially *LEAVE* the program) is a fanboi sycophantic SUCK UP to anything Micro-shaft. So you can expect LOTS of ass-kissing approval of anything, and testing ONLY on the most limited range of computer hardware available (like Surface laptops and things that came WITH Windows 8.x or Win-10-nic pre-installed).

THAT would have been the "alpha" test.

THEN, it's released for Home (and now, Pro) users, and it becomes the new BETA test.

Oops, they did it again. They nuked your machine. etc. [sounds best of sung by Brittney, heh].

And _I_ thought that maybe the anniversary release was like "SP1", after which you MIGHT be able to assume some actual STABILITY. But then again, I remembered: Win-10-nic!

Stealthy malware infects digitally-signed files without altering hashes

why am I _NOT_ surprised

Why am I _NOT_ surprised that a way of bypassing the alleged security of code signing' would eventually render it POINTLESS.

I don't have *ANY* love for "the tollbooth" involving 3rd party cert authorities, or (worse yet) the NEW requirement for ONLY MICROSOFT to sign a device driver for windows 10. It's just another tollbooth, after all, and just another way to *KILL* open source and limit what end-users can do with their own computers.

Well, looks like it was a complete waste of time, eh Microsoft? Or was your ORIGINAL motivation just another way of "protecting" DRM... which was another failure.

I guess we'll all just have to go back to NOT trusting binary executable downloads again, doing more frequent backups, and being VERY careful about clicking 'Yes' to the "Run Installer" prompt.

US Politicians tell DEF CON it'll take Congress ages to sort out how to regulate crypto

Re: Doughnut Eaters

article said: "had to take into account the needs of law enforcement to track suspects and bring them to justice."

and you said:"Backdoors are a panacea for the lazy and incompetent."

EXACTLY! *REAL* police work does NOT need a "back door". You know, the "old fashioned" kind, like photos, surveilance in public areas, yotta yotta, plus "get a warrant" types of stuff.

If Con-Grab had EVER argued that they wanted SKELETON/MASTER KEYS for EVERY LOCK, so they *might* be able to collect locked up evidence on bad guys, they'd have been laughed *AND* voted out of office. Yet, in our modern 'generation of [p-word referring to CATS]' (as Mr. Eastwood might say), filled with clueless 4" content consumers that wouldn't understand the difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption, this "back door" idea is either being brushed off as 'nothing', or is even DESIRED, with the mistaken concept that "it's for our own good" or something...

Consider the 'master key' problem with airline luggage - what was it called again? The master keys have been published for 3D printers, rendering the locks *WORTHLESS*. Same for crypto, if it ever gets a BACK DOOR. And *ONLY* the BAD GUYS will have REAL need of them.

besides, what's to stop BAD GUYS from using home-grown no-back-door encryption, when the rest of us HONEST people have been left with flawed "back door" encryption only? It's just SILLY to think law breakers will obey any encryption standard requirements.

Classic Shell hackers: We infected FossHub so ransomware couldn't (and yeah, also for fun)

I hope they enjoy the Iron Bar Hotel

I hope they'll enjoy the Iron Bar Hotel, because the *kinds* of miscreants that do these things 'for fun' end up there, eventually. Usually it's after they've done something really stupid, maybe even a few years ago (such as using the same identifier as an old gamer ID or on a public forum), and the law enforcement investigations finally catch up (they don't give up, like a tortoise constantly trying to escape his enclosure) and suddenly, you're arrested, need an expensive attorney, and are facing 15-30 in a supermax due to your apparent danger to society... and are forced into a guilty plea in a plea bargain to avoid serious time (maybe get 1 or 2 years in a min security or something).

And last I heard, the Iron Bar Hotel has no proper intarweb or cell phone services.

[I see no favors being done, here]

California to put all your power-hungry PCs on a low carb(on) diet

Re: Eh, well

with respect to cars... 'one model that's modded to make it legal to sell in Calfornia'

the only way Cali-fornicate-you can get away with that kind of thing is the LICENSING requirements. To license your car in Cali-fornicate-you, it has to pass "certain standards". However, you _COULD_ have a house in Nevada or Arizona, and license you cars THERE, and avoid all that nonsense. This is something the WEALTHY can do, naturally.

However, it is NOT the same with a computer. I don't need a "computer license" and if I did, I'd operate *WITHOUT* one (screw them). States can NOT block things being sold from a different state to a resident of Cali-fornicate-you, regardless of "things" crossing state lines or anything else, for that matter. The Federal Government is entirely in charge of interstate commerce, so there will NEVER be a state-line ban on such a thing. I mean, what are they going to do, put a CHECK POINT 10 miles in from Las Vegas, looking for COMPUTERS ???

So I should be able to mail order a computer (or the parts to build it) from ANY store in Nevada, Texas, Arizona, etc. or CHINA for that matter, and have it shipped directly to me, and Sacramento can pucker up and KISS MY POSTERIOR, thusly, and repeatedly.

And if I were wealthy enough, I could do an engine swap when it comes time to get my car smogged, and swap the high performance mega-engine back afterwards. But only the wealthy can do THAT.

It just proves how assinine all of this is, really. And I'm sure I didn't vote for ANY of those idiots proposing this 'green computing thing'. It's a fair bet they're all DEMO-RATS.