* Posts by bombastic bob

10507 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015

Linus Torvalds in sweary rant about punctuation in kernel comments

bombastic bob Silver badge

"If 'blah blah' happens to be a block of code you commented out, you want a fast method to uncomment: just remove 2 lines."

how about this:

#if 0

commented = out * code;

fprintf(stderr, "line %d in %s\n", __LINE__, __FUNCTION__);

#endif // 0

works nice for test or debug code.

Using the '#if 0' block makes it so that if your code contains /* */ comments, you can STILL 'comment it out' with only 2 lines, but then you only need to change the '0' to a '1' to re-enable it afterwards...

or you could get really good at 'tapping out' the keystrokes for putting // at the beginning of a bunch of consecutive lines of code (being a drummer helps), using a rapidly repeated sequence of '//' left, left, down with left hand on '/', right hand on cursor keys [or else use a keystroke recorder to make a macro of it, playable with a hotkey]

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Reflection on the author...

"Bad, or incorrect comments are worse than no comments at all. Documentation is something that needs to be done."

With doxygen, you can kinda get BOTH at the same time (but you have to format the comments properly, and that goes back to Linus' rant)

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Tabs vs Spaces

"May I humbly suggest a decent code editor with colour highlighting of reserved words etc,"

pluma or gedit (prior to gnome 3) will do until I get my own IDE editor finished.

sorting functions alphabetically, though... *shudder* [unless you name them deliberately by functionality].

bombastic bob Silver badge

"I'm sure Linus would find other reasons to hate me, if not that."

no doubt. A record of Linus' quirky antics would make a funny book.

And I saw that Nathan Hale quote written like this once:

"I only regret that I have but one * for my country"

took me a while to figure out what the hell the '*' meant... and then the 'fridge moment' when the light came on.

(As I recall, the '*' quote was on a 'Wretched Mess' calendar, which I don't think still exists in live print, but I google'd and saw a blog that mentioned it, and a books page for the author "Milford Stanley Poltroon" that had a few books about fishing with Monty-Python-worthy titles like 'The Happy Fish Hooker')

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Well there is a point to this

"Code primarily is read by humans, and in fact comments are more commonly read than the actual code. So it makes sense to improve their readability."

Coding style guidelines are (generally) a good idea. it makes things consistent and easier to visually scan. I suppose 'comment style' could just be part of that.

If you use Doxygen, following Linus' comment block style recommendations 'just works'.

When it comes to formatting the actual CODE, however, I have little respect for people who _INSIST_ on K&R style bracing, and believe that 'Allman Style' yields the MOST readable code. (/me ducks to avoid flying objects). Then there's the practice of using hard-tabs for indenting, which ALSO needs to "just go away" (/me ducks again). That way you can use 'cat' and 'less' to view source files in a Linux console, and they'll appear CONSISTENT with what you see in an editor.

(I also do banners with 'figlet' and a shell script that puts a nice 'right-hand edge' on them, centering the text, sticking a copyright statement underneath the banner, yotta yotta - let the script do the right-hand edge and you don't have to fiddle with it)

Bomb-disposal robot violently disposes of Dallas cop-killer gunman

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Hows the Robot?

we'll give Mr. Bomb-bot a post-scrapous medal.

/me wonders, if the robot loses an arm, can it be replaced with a biological one?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: slight correction

assault rifle vs assault weapon.

maybe true, but (sarcasm mode ON) we ALL know that those 'assault' thingies SHOOT PEOPLE ON THEIR OWN which is why politicians have to ban them, which we all know keeps them out of the hands of CRIMINALS, too...

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Gunman murdered by the police?

if the cops use DEADLY FORCE on a POTENTIAL THREAT to civilian lives, safety, and also the lives and safety of police officers, it's not "murder".

It's a PUBLIC SERVICE.

(expected down-votes from unnecessarily squeamish 'feelers' who feel instead of think)

self-defense is, and always WILL be, a HUMAN RIGHT. Defense of OTHERS is HEROIC. The COPS were HEROES.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: @YetAnotherLocksmith ... It makes sense, but...

"They wanted a race war and here it is."

unfortunate, but most likely true. Obaka's roots are in "agitation" of unhappy citizens. The 'civil rights coalition' becomes EMPOWERED when there is racial strife.

If people stopped caring or making a big deal about race, pointing it out whenever possible, making it an excuse or reason or motivation for 'whatever', there would be no racism. But then "they" wouldn't be powerful, important, or perceived as "needed" any more...

so there you have it.

(expecting lots of thumb-downs, just like the other two).

Oh, and gotta LOVE the geek factor of hacking the bomb DISPOSAL robot's usage to dispose of a cop-killing perp!

Farewell to Microsoft's Sun Tzu: Thanks for all the cheese, Kevin Turner

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: 2007 was the turning point

"When in their sordid history did they ever listen to customers?"

beta programs prior to 1995 worked out pretty well. They were trying VERY hard to support legacy hardware as well as current. They really _did_ do a good job of it back then.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: And, what has happened at MS since 2005?

"The reason why UAC broke many programs is because quite often lazy programmers did not follow best practices."

In part you're right. UAC has its benefits, as well as its irritations. When 7 'mellowed it out' it became palatable. It's a good point to make.

However: the REAL fix would have been to re-do the security model to be friendly to the idea that running as ADMINISTRATOR is to be DISCOURAGED, and ALL steps should be taken to make applications run NOT as administrator without any real difficulty. This last part is problematic, even with major applications. You'd think they could put their files into a place where you don't need to be an administrator to access and/or modify them... (or prompt for admin privs to update them, as needed).

Anyway, I've vented my spleen on how Micro-shaft is "doing it wrong" countless times already. Or more like "The right way" "The wrong way" and "The Micro-shaft way".

bombastic bob Silver badge

And, what has happened at MS since 2005?

From the article I'd guess that 11 years means he was hired in 2005?

And what has happened SINCE then? How much of this guy's influence has gone into product development?

Marketing OFTEN dictates what THEY believe (or more likely, 'feel') is the direction the market is going, and development WILL comply with that.

And it seems obvious to me that this guy, if he was driving development, could NOT have been more wrong...

With the exception of Windows 7's "backpedaling" to give people a MORE XP-like and less "buy new expensive hardware" experience (without actually BEING XP 2.0), we have Vista, "Ape", "Ape point 1", and Win-10-nic. NONE of these was a marketing success.

And there's this (from the article):

"It took years for people to adjust to the new Office 2007 UI, hurting sales. Windows Vista? That was Windows 8, before Windows 8 was Windows 8."

Whereas previous (prior to THIS guy) versions of Office had a MORE FAMILIAR interface, something people wouldn't SCREAM about after upgrading or buying a new computer with the new software on it.

THIS guy may be the source of "force the market to change so we can dominate it" kinds of thinking that *I* believe are behind Micro-shafts STUPID moves in product development.

Vista tried to force us AWAY from really cheap (yet functional) PCs. Fail. UAC and signed driver requirements just made it all WORSE.

The 'new' office paradigm (which I haven't used, but have heard complaints about) REALLY angered people into "not upgrading". Or, they went with Open Office or Libre Office. I did (even on Winders).

The 'new' look of Windows "Ape" (8) was even MORE appalling (to MOST people). It helped to KILL new computer sales (along with Moore's law no longer compensating for Micro-shaft OS inefficiencies, so "keep what you have" instead of "downgrade to a 'new' model").

And *NOW* we have Win-10-nic. And Satella is kicking this guy out the door, but making it look like a "re-organization". I think the board of directors may have played their hand in this one.

But here's another question: Was THIS guy responsible for GWX? If I understand the description of him, he may very well BE "the guy" who THOUGHT IT UP!!!

Win 10 Anniversary: 'We're beginning to check in final code' says Microsoft

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: 'Free' update to end.

"Penguin, because well, you still can - anytime (no hoops to jump through)."

honestly, I don't disagree by much (and want very much for Linux to succeed as a regularly used desktop OS for non-geeks). And now the "big but": BUT, you have a lot of windows-only software out there that won't run with Wine. For those software packages, you (unfortunately) need a winders box.

It's a note to software devs to "get hot" on Linux versions, to help CREATE the migration. Because, WHEN it happens, YOUR package will be the one people will migrate TO [edge on competition].

But yeah, Micro-shaft's "underwhelming" Win-10-nic is just plastic flowers on the grave. Or lipstick on the boar. Whatever.

Wannabe Prime Minister Andrea Leadsom thinks all websites should be rated – just like movies

bombastic bob Silver badge

Sounds like yet another politician trying to regulate something they have zero understanding of

@Oliver Mayes

deserves its own topic

oh, 'well said' by the way.

and remember THIS?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/01/27/paint_drying_classification/

(that was a crowning moment of awesome!)

Microsoft's cringey 'Hey bae <3' recruiter email translated by El Reg

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Makes you wonder

"Since MSFT is committed to diversity and finding talent from wherever"

"diversity" is *HIGHLY* overrated. If it's not skills-related, it should _NOT_ be JOB-related, for hiring or any other reason. But it would figure that Micro-shaft would focus on non-job-related "things" as a hiring basis, such as being a "hip" youngun' who understand the lingo of that letter... (we need more 'insert non-job-qualification-characteristic here' in our employ).

yeah, diversity may be thought of like a well established alloy (in someone's dreams) but REALITY is more like a POORLY DONE alloy, something that shatters under stress, or bends well before the design load is reached. Making 'diversity' a primary hiring factor just WEAKENS the outcome, overall, because you're not focusing on hiring people who can DO! THE! JOB! - you're playing "social goody-goody" instead. Typical stupidity of the left, yeah.

"Wow, I think my alloy needs more LEAD in it. There's no LEAD representation here. Better get some LEAD in it, otherwise the LEAD representatives will SUE ME for NOT ADDING ENOUGH LEAD because it's POORLY REPRESENTED based on the available metals and their percentages in nature..."

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Every time I see "<3"...

"Looks as if someone tried to depict BAE letting off gas."

or an unusual (and apparently partial) depiction of male anatomy

bombastic bob Silver badge

this trope is older than television

when your parents try to act all 'hip" like they're teenagers, only to end up acting "lame" instead (and embarrassing the offspring, but it's their job to embarrass offspring, so go figure)

https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Get_a_Load_of_That_Square

seems applicable, to me...

Microsoft COO jumps ship

bombastic bob Silver badge

employees ranking one another

"what made Turner such a hated figure at Microsoft was his introduction of score carding – a system he brought over from Walmart where employees rank each other on their output. Since this is tied directly to bonuses, it led to a poisonous political atmosphere in the company and is cited by many as the worst thing about working for the software giant."

too bad they didn't have CUSTOMERS rank them... that might actually make *SENSE*.

[then people like ME, who *HATE* Win-10-nic and Windows "Ape" (8.x), can give them all a 5 'stinky diapers' rating, as deserved]

but yeah, the internal politics of employees 'ranking' one another, well, RANKS.

Debian founder Ian Murdock killed himself – SF medical examiner

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Bah!

"Mixing Aspberger's with an addictive personality disorder and you have the recipe for an unhappy life."

Ass-burger's. What a CROCK of CRAP *that* is. It used to be called 'absent-minded professor' or 'genius personality'. It's when you are SO smart, that stupid things like "emotional sensitivity" are _ignored_, because they _should_ be. But, whatever. Let's just call 'genius' a 'disorder' now, so we can make morons "feel better" about themselves. HAH!

That being said, your psychological diagnosis is rather narrow. What drove Ian to suicide is most likely a LOT more complex. If he was making delusional reports about police brutality, it might be an indicator of a LOT of different things, from tumors and chemical imbalances to an underlying psychosis of some kind that went undetected for a long time.

Or... MAYBE he started on some kind of treatment that caused it? Nobody's said ANYTHING about that, and I've heard (from people who know, in the media) that certain kinds of mental disorders (that require medication) being treated by the WRONG STUFF can cause suicidal tendencies and delusions and things of that nature. And shrinks "go shopping" to find the 'right' treatment, more often than not.

Personally, I think TRUE genius is a hair's width from insanity, anyway. So there you go.

bombastic bob Silver badge

"Not very sensitive."

Ugh... the 's' word 'sensitive'. Almost as bad as the 'f' word 'feel'.

'Sensitive' is *HIGHLY* overrated. snarky irreverant comedy, on the other hand...

Still not happy to see someone so accomplished and intelligent driven by some kind of apparent mental disorder to the point of suicide.

FBI won't jail future US president over private email server

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: elReg trolling?

"Seriously, H. Clinton vs. D. Trump, is that the best the US can do?"

well, _I_ didn't have the time and money to run for president this time around. So I'd say, "yeah".

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Interesting downplaying there

"The fix was in and he knew that he couldn't get the indictment to go forward."

PRAGMATIC, indeed. good observation.

And the thumbs down:up ratio is 2:1 - nice job! [the shills and Soros minions are down-thumbing like madmen]

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: How about...

"Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like, but I do not believe for one instant that several thousand emails no longer exist."

the Clintstones are well known to have shredded a bunch of documents at the Rose Law firm related to Whitewater... (according to actual testimony from a courier in 1994). "What evidence?" Exactly!

This is nothing new, in other words. Nor, is it unexpected from the Clintstones.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Interesting downplaying there

'Classified as "secret".'

'They're ignoring it because it's not bad."

(sarcasm appreciated)

Keeping it in perspective, here's a nice way of saying what the different classifications might mean:

for official use only: potentially embarassing

confidential: disclosure could compromise security or military advantage

secret: disclosure could GET SOMEONE KILLED [or worse]

top secret: disclosure could START A WAR [or worse] or cause the U.S. to LOSE a war

(and there are higher levels but I don't know what they are)

most of the interpretation of what each level means is just my opinion, but I was in the military back in the day, and I had access to classified material as part of what I did (nuclear reactor operator on a submarine). The location of a submarine is considered 'secret' and there was actual top secret equipment on the boat. Other things, like whether or not nuclear weapons are on board, are also 'secret'. The propulsion plant and mechanical details were 'confidential', and at the Nuclear Power school in Orlando, Florida, we had to stamp all of our notes and keep them locked up when not in class or studying.

Anyway, in case nobody understood what 'secret' really means: In short, disclosing 'secret' information (or higher classification) can EASILY get people *KILLED*.

You know, like the TERRORIST ATTACK at Ben Ghazi a few years ago...

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: You can now call her O.J. Clinton.

"Just wait until Vlad starts blackmailing her."

which is why we don't have "proof" of any Russian break-ins to the Clintstone private e-mail server aka "a way to prevent 'Freedom of Information' requests from revealing their dirty secrets". It's easier to blackmail someone if nobody can prove that Russia has that info. Or anyone ELSE for that matter (China maybe?).

Not just 'one law for the Clintons, and another for everyone else', but communications and records and paper trails and all of that stuff that got Nixon in trouble. Mrs. Clinton was *kinda* involved in THAT, on the Demo-rat side anyway [to OUST Nixon].

And what about that 'Foundation' of theirs, that allegedly accepts 100 million dollars in bribes charitable contributions from foreign interests, many of them NOT acting in the USA's best interest [a kinder and gentler way of putting it].

Donald Trump is going to have a FIELD DAY with this. You KNOW it's coming. Mrs. Clinton's flat out lies to the American public, reminiscent of Bill's "I did not have sex with that woman" followed by LYING UNDER OATH [which Mrs. Clinton may NOT have done, but seeing her ADMIT things under oath might prove fun to watch, intermixed with her LIES to the American people, in a political ad]. Mrs. Clinton *CLEARLY* tried to skirt 'Freedom of Information' records-keeping and has NOT provided sufficient evidence that she's disclosed *ALL* work-related e-mails, classified or otherwise.

As for the comparison to O.J., I was thinking of that earlier. O.J. certainly lawyered up and got away with murder. And the Clintstone legal team is probably the best and most powerful in the world.

Linux letting go: 32-bit builds on the way out

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: There's always FreeBSD

"Ubuntu like to think they're trend setters, but they get it wrong more often than they get it right."

unity and gnome 3 - there's two right there.

And here's a thought: does dropping 32-bit support _INCLUDE_ the 32-bit 'binary compatibility' libraries? sure they're in a separate library directory, with an appropriate name [I forget where they go], and you have to deliberately install those packages. HOWEVER, if they're no longer AVAILABLE in future releases, THAT could be a BIG problem...

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: what about RPi?

well that's the point, the IMPLICATION of 'x86' is why I ask the question, "what about RPi"? But if all they meant is x86, then there may be some point to that, except for us legacy computer users who might have an old Toshiba laptop laying about that still works, doesn't support PAE, but has plenty of RAM and disk space to run Linux (and works well for testing certain things, particularly bluetooth connectivity and microcontroller-related serial port stuff). Oh, wait, I _do_ have one of those!

They're also forgetting it's possible to load a 32-bit build onto a 64-bit CPU... (so testing on newer hardware is STILL possible).

In any case, there's also another bit of 'forgetting' going on here: we forget that 64-bit binaries run SLIGHTLY SLOWER than 32-bit binaries, because the data and instructions are (by default) BIGGER than they would be for 32-bit, so you suck more RAM through the pipeline. The binary files are also slightly larger, and memory requirement is slightly higher.

Further, how many programs _NEED_ >2Gb of RAM space in order to operate? Not a lot, yeah, unless they're coded by _IDIOTS_ that waste resources, assuming "no limits", and/or rely on 'garbage collection' to compensate for a lack of knowledge of 'malloc' and 'free' (Mozilla, that's YOU).

In any case, the RPi and other 'embedded' platforms (x86 included) are reasons NOT to dump 32-bit in general. But, we've seen bad decisions before. I suppose a FORK will happen, just like for systemd, just like for Gnome 2 (now MATE), just like for Open Office and 'MySQL' (when they were sold, so "something" would STAY OPEN).

/me points out that "faster hardware and more RAM" is *NOT* justification to use inefficient code, because you CAN now - Micro-shaft does EXACTLY that, and we hate it, don't we? Rather, it should be reason to produce MORE inexpensive hardware (with yester-year's specs) that can be used for mundane purposes, like embedded systems basically are.

bombastic bob Silver badge

what about RPi?

someone out there is cluelessly forgetting EMBEDDED SYSTEMS, and the Raspberry Pi, when they so ARROGANTLY PROCLAIM that everything MUST be 64-bit now... like 32-bit is now STONE AGE or whatever.

they're starting to sound a bit like Micro-shaft... [best sung like it's from musical theater or something]

Prominent Brit law firm instructed to block Brexit Article 50 trigger

bombastic bob Silver badge

we get court challenges a lot in the USA

We get court challenges to legitimate 'wins' in referendums ALL of the time here in the USA. This is because hand-picked (activist) judges are relatively easy to manipulate, compared to what the PEOPLE want. Expect to get THEIR agenda shoved up/down/into various orifices as a result. It's how "they" get things done. Not by referendum, not by convincing your representatives in Parliament to legislate, but by ABUSING the legal system to block, frustrate, and ram an agenda through. Because "they" are a minority opinion, but "they" won't tolerate not getting "their" way in SPITE of the majority. "They" know BETTER, after all...

Microsoft's Windows 10 nagware goes FULL SCREEN in final push

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: It's fine

"Windows 10 is absolutely fine, no worse than Windows 7"

"after upgrade it consumes less CPU and works noticeably faster."

you forgot to include the 'sarcasm' tags... (oh, were you SERIOUS? I'm sorry, your experience differs so much from mine that I can't see any possibility of you even being REMOTELY correct here)

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Disability legislation

"Or US ADA"

Micro-Shaft is ALREADY skirting *THAT* one after having limited our choices with respect to screen colors and OTHER settings (ones that _I_ believe 'assist' *MY* old eyes, like having borders for windows that are MORE! THAN! ONE! PIXEL! WIDE! and with a COLOR assigned on top of the grey edges - I like red, makes the border VERY visible, but can't have THAT in 'Win-10-nic' now can we?).

I've mentioned it a zillion times on the 'answers' forum, before they threatened to ban me because of my writing style (you know, using CAPITALIZATION for EMPHASIS, and occasional BANG! MARKS! for even MORE emphasis), but it was REALLY because I _constantly_ _complained_ about these *kinds* of things, trying to turn the barge around [but to no avail]. Usually the fanboi-trolls and MS-shills would make rude comments like "refusing to change" and kept calling the 'new' stuff "modern" like I was some *OLD* *FART* stuck in his ways, unwilling to 'modernize'.

And I think that's Microsoft's attitude these days, which should REALLY anger everyone over 40... or those who have some kind of disability, for whom the windows settings and simple assistive technologies usually made computers usable.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Simplix

"There is a lot of good stuff that comes out of Russia too... they have a lot of really talented programmers over there"

ACK - I've worked with several Russian engineers in the past (would visit the U.S. from St. Petersberg periodically) and they'd come into our office with their Russian-made laptops etc..

There is a kind of 'N.I.H.' mentality inside Russia. They like making their own stuff, NOT importing. So you can see some potential here. And they ARE pretty good at it.

Now, if a company in Russia were to produce its OWN OS, something that people outside of Russia would want, something that might COMPETE DIRECTLY WITH WINDOWS, it would be a rather interesting outcome from Micro-Shaft's big blunder with Win-10-nic...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: Just like that annoying paperclip

*BRILLIANT* (you, sir, deserve our applause). 10 thumbs up for that one (but I could only vote 1).

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

Re: A final throw of the dice before

"Pretty obvious they would be turning to a subscription model, probably why there's so many holdouts.."

ONE reason (and maybe a big one). OTHERS include, ( /me clears throat )

  • The Adware
  • The Spyware
  • 2D FLUGLY (lack of 3D skeumorphic like 7)
  • Removal of customization options
  • "The Metro" in general
  • FORCED updates
  • Frequent 'High bandwidth' upgrade/update downloads
  • Windows Logon and its anti-privacy EULA
  • No clear performance improvements over 7
  • Feature Removal (from those built into earlier versions of windows)
  • The 'Start Thing' vs the 'Start Menu'
  • Using customers for Q.A. testing (i.e. releasing UNSTABLE CRAP via 'updates')

A longer list is, of course, possible, but these are *MY* reasons, NOT including the subscription thing, which has yet to manifest itself.

bombastic bob Silver badge
FAIL

"Microsoft Chutzpah" - the application

Complete with it's "The Metro"-style TAKEOVER of your ENTIRE SCREEN, and the 2D FLUGLY (flat/ugly) look, reminding you of *EXACTLY* *WHY* you do *NOT* want to DOWNgrade to "Win-10-nic".

It EPITOMIZES exactly why so MANY of us REFUSE their "offer".

Apple, Amazon and Google are screwing us, warns Elizabeth Warren

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Oh my. I'm shocked that screwing is going on!

"Fauxcahontas has her new wedge issue to flog."

'Fauxcahontas'. good one. I'm actually at least 1/8 American Indian (2 different tribes, and I can name one of them along with my ancestor who was a member of that tribe), and I have a few facial features to prove it, the shape of my nose and things like that. SHE, on the other hand, has NONE of that. Then again a LOT of us across the pond, particularly descendents of pioneers, can make a similar claim. So it's no big deal, really, unless you're a liberal Demo-Rat trying to identify with 'groups' and manipulate people.

bombastic bob Silver badge

"I see two tech companies missing from the list. Intel and Microsoft !"

They must've paid the extortion fee already.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Let me see if i understand this.

"Senator Warren is a Democrat."

and in the back pocket of the same dragons she's attempting to APPEAR to be slaying. Create an enemy, appear to want to SLAY it, rally the emotions and manipulate, manipulate, manipulate!

So we get the Queen of Hearts _AND_ the Queen of Diamonds. _TWO_ "Red Queens!" Oh, joy!

Those two would drive me MAD as a Hatter.

Seagate axing 1,600 staff amid PC sales slump

bombastic bob Silver badge

Seagate might invest in Linux to offset PC sales slump

it's worth a thought... if people see a Linux PC as being something they WANT, rather than being force to buy a Win-10-nic machine, maybe Seagate would get a really GOOD return on the investment?

the actual investment would have to include marketing, some software development, and a LOT of encouragement of key software-makers to product "a Linux version" (or at least Wine compatible versions), maybe even PAYING THEM to do it.

Fear and Brexit in Tech City: Digital 'elite' are having a nervous breakdown

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Let cooler heads prevail...

"It's now time for the return of King Arthur."

he might have some trouble getting things through Parliament...

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: So any company that trades with an EU country has to open their borders to EU inhabitants?

The UK is a _small_ market? Sorry, I don't think that's the case. I'm not in the UK but I DEFINITELY understand how important to the world the UK is. Otherwise, why ELSE would all that "cheap labor" be flocking to the UK, instead of STAYING PUT?

It's because the UK economy IS important, and that's where the JOBS are. (other countries too, and they may be NEXT to vote 'leave').

Some years ago Google and other silicon valley companies were caught colluding to keep wages down, by agreeing to NOT engage in 'predatory hiring practices' with one another's employees (among other things, as I recall). It's therefore NOT surprising that companies would vote 'remain' to keep more 'free movement' immigrant workers in the 'available' pile.

(yeah we have a bit of a problem with that over here in the USA, too. I live in San Diego. Border issues and immigration are pretty important topics where I live).

Google Spain raided by Agencia Tributaria in latest European crackdown

bombastic bob Silver badge

why tax corporations at all?

why tax corporations at all? Just have the stock-holders pay tax on the dividends as 'income'. That would encourage corporations to spend the money IN THOSE PLACES WHERE THERE IS NO TAX, and you'd get the 'trickle down' effect. Yeah, I actually BELIEVE that supply-side economics WORKS every time it's tried. Predictable thumb-down howler-monkey campaign will follow, yeah. I'll call it a badge of honor.

Microsoft releases cross-platform .NET Core 1.0 at Linux event

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: why you should use Microsoft dev tools

"you may need a paid version for non trivial applications"

like Qt maybe? I haven't used their IDE (it might be pretty good). I've messed with the toolkit on occasion, though.

The _ONE_ feature in MS dev tools that I _REALLY_ like, which seems absent everywhere else, is "virtual space". (yes, my own tool will prominently have that, and no need to be able to shut it off, either).

Seeing MS trying to wedge ".Not" into the Linux world bugs me. I've successfully written 'dual source' applications using a combination of wxWidgets and MFC. It was mostly to verify it COULD be done, but also a practical way of making it happen.

The _LACK_ of success of Mono should've been the death of ".Not" on Linux. Apparently, like with the Windows "Ape" (8.x) 'migration of suck' (and making it worse) to Win-10-nic, Microsoft can't read the writing on the wall. They just push forward over the cliff, ANYWAY, _in_ _spite_ of the obvious warnings, because, Microsoft.

(fanboi 'thumb downs' will be laughed at, again)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Oh good

"Red Hat Systemd; and Microsoft .NET together - What could possible go wrong?"

wait... " Microsoft ® SystemD ©®☭™ "

and patent encumberances... oh my

bombastic bob Silver badge

"New .NET Core workloads can now be easily moved from a Windows Server environment to Red Hat Enterprise Linux"

"God knows why anyone would want to though."

perhaps they should migrate to a NON-'.Not' solution INSTEAD. might be less effort.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Embrace, Extend, Extinguish...

"Secondly, they remember the old Embrace, Extend, Extinguish approach to other technologies."

yeah I should've remembered that. thanks for the reminder, all who've mentioned it and commented on it. Not as much 'uber alles' as EMBRACE, EXTEND, EXTINGUISH

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: why you should use Microsoft dev tools

"Because Visual Studio is a an excellent development environment? What's the open source alternative now?"

I'm actually working on one. OK it's slow going, and it's pre-alpha, but it wouldn't take a really long time to find considering it's on github and sourceforge and has my 'handle' associated with it.

(proper funding might speed up the process, otherwise it's 'when I have time')

bombastic bob Silver badge

Is Microsoft ready for LINUX ???

"To be honest, I wonder if a lot of MS software is ready for the Windows I platforms I use."

Or, the corollary: Is Microsoft ready for LINUX ???

Red Hat may 'support them' but I think they'll support *ANYTHING* (and should, within reason).

But all ".Not" will become is Micro-shaft's CONTROL over EVERYTHING, an "uber alles" move In My Bombastic Opinion.

wxWidgets, GTK, Qt, and even JAVA make for better cross platform development than ".Not". Microsoft is just flailing.

I've been working on my own cross-platform dev kit for quite some time - yeah, slow going - and I've seen others besides the ones I already mentioned, so it's not like they're the ONLY GAME IN TOWN, but they want people to *THINK* they are. My personal pref (other than my own, which is incomplete) would be wxWidgets, because the translation from an MFC/C++ windows application is pretty straightforward (ok NOT trivial, but it's somewhat 'procedural' once you get started).

No means no: Windows 10 nagware's red X will stop update – Microsoft

bombastic bob Silver badge

The free upgrade will be withdrawn on July 29

Promise???

or will GWX demand my credit card number to purchase the "up"grade I didn't want, now that it's no longer "free" ???

Hillary Clinton: My promises to America's tech industry

bombastic bob Silver badge

open access to gummint data, like her E-MAILS maybe?

If Mrs. Clinton weren't lying through her teeth (her native language, "the lie") I might think what she says has at least SOME merit. But like a broken clock, she's occasionally correct.

Now, when it comes to access to gummint data, what about her E-MAILS, particularly the ones she "lost" but were recently FOUND, and DEFINITELY related to government business.

And she obviously knows NOTHING about the internet, or technology. Her swiss-cheese security on the e-mail server is proof of THAT.

I wouldn't trust Mrs. Clinton if she did everything under watch of cameras. The practiced sleight-of-hand and illusions of honesty are just too much.

yeah g'head and downvote it. I don't care. Gumint needs to keep out of the internet anyway. All it can do is get in the way, and rob one person to pay another. Gummint doesn't "help" anyone. Claiming it CAN is just a big, fat, lie.