Posts by bombastic bob

Microsoft, Lenovo cross-licensing love-in: Android mobes knocked up with... Office apps

Re: more unwanted crud

"Sadly once Microsoft is done with it, it likely will be vital to the phone actually functioning."

and 'always on' in the background, serving up advertisements and tracking you (like Win-10-nic).

Indian techies told to prepare for tax sprint

What will this do to outsourced tech support?

I'm no fan of tech support outsourced to India. my experiences have ALL been negative. This is primarily because I _HATE_ boilerplate phone support and JUST want them to fix THEIR problem [and 99.9999% of the time, it _IS_ _THEIR_ problem]. But of course their rules say "do not deviate from boilerplate or you're fired" most likely.

NOW... when this new tax goes into being, will these phone tech support companies have to pass this cost along to all of the companies that outsource to them? Will this result in me talking to people in CHINA instead?

I still haven't gotten used to the thick accents over the phones, even though I'm pretty good at deciphering accents, and I've worked with many people from India in the past without difficulty understanding them. Ah, well, I guess I'll just have to re-train...

Systemd adds filesystem mount tool

Re: re: 1970 thinking.

"These multi core things used to be called CPU Modules, just you kiddies forget the modules bit."

eh? I don't think you're talking about the same thing I'm talking about... [but whatever]

if you want to split hairs, then yes, a single CPU CORE will do 'one thing at a time' based on a single thread of execution being 'one thing'. [must I _really_ go this far to avoid ambiguity?]

I consider a multi-core CPU to, in and of itself, be "one CPU" (being as all the other hardware and memory bus is pretty much shared). So from _THAT_ perspective, the CPU can do mutliple 'things' at one time, i.e. multiple threads of execution simultaneously executing on the multiple cores.

semantics - what a pain

Re: And thus..

"It does one thing: manages a dynamic, ever-changing system."

I've never seen one of those. Do they even exist?

sledge hammer not required. System V for me.

Re: And thus..

" If you say a log can be reliably kept with nothing but ASCII, explain how you can say a coin landed edge when all you have to work with is a single bit: 1 or 0?"

uh, WHAT? [what does that have to do with a daemon logging a message into a system log]

it's like a 'straw man' argument. you invented some weird exception and then expect that to disprove the opposing position. I don't think your logic is working very well here.

ASCII text is about as free form as you can possibly want. you can be verbose or terse, use numbers or words or an entire freaking paragraph. whatever you want. I think I'll stick with that, as it's easy to use 'less /var/log/whatever'

Re: I've forgotten...

I've never had a problem using the old System V method which was decades-stable. Debian had a really nice way of ensuring that startup and shutdown scripts execute in the right order. I've also never seen network adaptors 'reverse' (and I run multi-home machines, so there). And FreeBSD still uses good ol' System V stuff [only simpler and with /etc/rc.conf to help you].

No, systemd was done because THEY COULD. Someone must've got a wild hair stuck up his anus and *felt* that the whole sysinit process needed to be re-designed from scratch. It became "his baby" with all of the "feel good about yourself" that goes with it.

Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority" talks about this kind of thinking, too.

(WHY was it again that they LOST the war? heh)

Re: it's already bad enough with dbus...

"Well then, you're not the typical user. The typical user expects to be able to access the card from the moment they stick it in. "

WHY! SHOULD! POWER! USERS! BE! TREATED! LIKE! IDIOTS! BECAUSE! SOME! LUSERS! ARE! IDIOTS!???

ok done shouting now.

you do *NOT* fix things by LAMING the operating system. Micro-shaft did this with Win-10-nic. let's *NOT* do this with Linux.

what do you mean 'dynamic hardware' ? Plugging USB stuff in?

on FBSD I can configure the system to take specific actions when a USB device of a particular type is plugged in. I think you can do the same on a basic Linux system as well, particularly one without systemd on it. I haven't looked at this capability in a while, though.

There's no advantage to running systemd. It's merely "this generation" doing things THEIR way, because it's THEIR TURN. It makes them *feel* important.

[this is also how we ended up with 3 phone OSs, written and force-fed onto customers' desktop computers, being recently excreted out of Redmond - this generation saying "it's OUR turn to do it OUR way now!"]

Re: Solving problems that do not exist anymore

"I love the BSDs but sadly for many it won't be a suitable replacement yet "

I've used FreeBSD for a long time. There are often "linuxy" things written into applications by people who believe that ALL open source operating systems are linux, and have things like systemd running (etc.). So the 'ports' maintainers have to write patches and workarounds for things to compensate. Dbus was one of those patched things, and has had issues with file mounting because of it. gnome wants to mount that file system because you plugged it in, dammit, regardless of what YOU want, and oh you configured it NOT to, so it's not on the desktop... yet you still have to use 'umount -f' to unmount because, DBus.

so yeah, linuxy things being assume/done in the design, ports maintainers have to patch it, does not always work perfectly afterwards.

and this goes back to adding a mount utiltiy to systemd...

WHAT is going to happen on SYSTEMS THAT DO NOT USE SYSTEMD??? Are the desktop people just going to ASSUME that systemd is tehre, and invoke it's version of the mount utility on your behalf?

I hope not.

(smiling daemon logo 'cause I'm on FreeBSD at the moment)

it's already bad enough with dbus...

it's already bad enough with dbus, trying to auto-mount things when I don't want it to, or causing me to have to use "umount -f" because it partially locks something somewhere internally without telling me about it...

Making systemd have even WORSE behavior, trying to automount things you don't EVER want mounted, like an SD card you're about to do a "dd if=image.img of=/dev/sdcard" or similar to, is JUST another thing that would get in the way and potentially cause system cluster-blank screwups down the road...

and I don't care WHAT file system was on that SD card 10 seconds ago... and the LAST thing I want is some "smart" systemd doohickey AUTO-MOUNTING it, or [worse] FORCING ME TO USE THEIR UTILITY TO UN-AUTO-MOUNT before I can do what I *REALLY* want...

[and if I had to *KILL* an 'fsck' process on that drive, because systemd "FELT" it needed it, when I wanted to _OVERWRITE_ _THE_ _FILE_ _SYSTEM_ I think I'd throw the CPU box through a window and scream until my ears bled)

Re: re: 1970 thinking.

"The fact that you think computers can do more than one thing at a time, rather than spend a tiny amount of time doing one thing then swtiching to another one, shows a staggering lack of understanding."

er, you forgot about 'multi-core' dude. Sorry, but I mostly agree with your rant against the "1970 thinking" statement, except that one little detail...

so my quad core CPU can do 4 things at once [and when I write a multi-threaded algorithm, it really does!]. But yeah time-slice thread scheduling on a single core DOES give "the illusion" of doing multiple things at once, while really doing 'what you said'.

"1970 thinking." (by an anon, naturally)

I was 10 years old in 1970. I learned programming on punch cards and these pencil mark 'mark sense' cards that used the same hollerith code. I don't know exactly what you're implying by all of that "1970 thinking" comment, but whenever I hear "remain stuck in the past" I think of an arrogant millenial calling us "gramps" or "old fart" and assuming we're stone-age neanderthals for recognizing 'what works' vs 'new, shiny'.

Show some RESPECT, you young whipper-snapper! And read Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority".

"Do one thing and do it well". It's an excellent philosophy when it comes to making small utilities that have many many uses. Like a knife. Not a "super-doohickey-2D-flugly-GUI-the-metro" knife, but a general purpose 'works for many things' knife, which can often be repurposed in ways its inventor never DREAMED of, because "do one thing and do it well".

Your wget is broken and should DIE, dev tells Microsoft

Re: Nothing new

"People still used FTP?"

well windows didn't have an ssh implementation for using scp until very recently. And I have to wonder whether or not any of the "standard ssh features" are BROKE-DICK in the *new* PowerSmell

except, of course, cygwin. scp works fine there. so does rsync. yeah.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update completely borks USB webcams. Yay.

Re: The beginning of the end

(regarding micro-shaft office)

"I hate that &^%#$ ribbon (and it appears I'm not the only one)."

it's the most hated feature, I'd venture to guess. And in addition, I *hate* 2D flugly and hamburger menus, 2 more "new, shiny" things that have attempted to dominate our desktops. Yucchhhhh!

Re: Windows 10 Titanic Edition

"All it needs is a catchy soundtrack."

'Those endearing young charms'

piano or xylophone, doesn't matter.

https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Xylophone_Gag

Have you tried turning it off and back on again?

no, but I put it in the microwave on 'high' for 15 minutes.

Re: The beginning of the end

"We are watching the beginning of the end of Microsoft."

PROMISE???

Re: Linux? Meh.

"Where the FreeBSD icon when you need it?"

would THIS one suffice? (posting from FreeBSD)

(but I like Linux too!)

Password strength meters promote piss-poor paswords

"Work insists on a change every two months."

a really good password can be kept for DECADES, so long as it's hard to guess and easy to remember. Changing it more often than your socks can only create confusion and resentment and HORRIBLY insecure passwords like "passwordAugust"

"solutions" that hyperfocus on pathetically insignificant details just irritate me, like the people who think them up AND the people who insist on implementing them. They probably 'feel' everything instead of 'think', too. How predictable, yeah.

correct horse battery staple

perhaps the obvious isn't good enough.

back in the day, CompuServe generated a password for you, consisting of two unrelated words and something from the 'shift number' row on your keyboard. Same basic idea.

besides, abc123-fart would be just fine. It doesn't take much to destroy a dictionary attack. they're not that sophisticated. most of them are probably done by non-native English speakers or script kiddies anyway...

(but don't use 'fart' as it's probably going to go into a dictionary now)

so go ahead and use your easily remembered password, then add something else that's unrelated with a shift-number figure in between.

Windows Phone dives into irrelevant-like-BlackBerry territory

Re: Not surprized at all

I've only got a cheap "dumb" Nokia that has whatever non-smart OS came with it. it's a PHONE. works for me.

Re: A war with China will put an end to these bourgeois concerns!

"The female presidential candidate will put some starch into your collars, peons!"

Yes, after Micro-shaft donates a bozillian dollars to the 'Clinstone Foundation' she'll be compelled to make sure that gummint contracts for "Micro-shaft Phone" devices be universally made throughout the entire federal system, by MANDATE of course, as a political payback for the corrupt contributions to her "foundation"... thus saving Micro-shaft's bacon.

Predictable, yeah. Let's not feed "that pig" (well, either ONE for that matter).

GO TRUMP! (/me ducks)

Re: Microsoft

"What's wrong with the UI from the 90s? "

EXACTLY! These "new, shiny" addicts need to take a look at more important things FIRST, like whether they're more productive or not as a result of the "new, shiny", or whether "new, shiny" is actually CUMBERSOME and BUTT-UGLY, but they're telling the rest of us we're stone-age neanderthals for liking "the old way".

If I'm going to have to change, it will be to something running Mate or Cinnamon. Or Android. Or iOS. etc.

Microsoft’s Continuum: Game changer or novelty?

Re: Cunning Stunts

"Android will soon be able to do what Continuum promises."

and 'stunningly' so. I look forward to an Android desktop, so long as it lets me use my favorite desktop manager (like Mate or Cinnamon) with a 3D skeuomorphic theme.

of course, Android DOES look a bit more skeuomorphic than does Win-10-nic, even on a phone. They weren't compelled to change everyone to flatso 2D FLUGLY.

You can ONLY run [CR]APPS?

Well, if the ONLY thing you can run are [CR]APPS, then it's DOOMED to FAIL.

I mean, WHO actually _WANTS_ a "the METRO" style [CR]APP to do anything 'full-size screen' on anyway? Oh, maybe you'll just play ad-ridden Micro-shaft games... in which case it's "ok" ?

and full-screen STINKS ON ICE. 'nuff said I think. It's a part of what was wrong with "Ape point 0h". At least in "Ape point 1ne" you could run [CR]apps in a window like on Win-10-nic. now broken with 'Continuuuuum'

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

Re: Why?

"Being able to take a script I already use on a Windows box and use it on a Linux box will save time."

you've heard of cygwin, right? now you can write everything 'bash style' and run it on windows as well as Linux.

you're welcome.

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"