Posts by bombastic bob

Microsoft releases open source bug-bomb in the rambling house of C

Re: C is not an applications programming language

I disagree with that subject line... C is a perfectly good application programming language. the thing is, coders need to self-enforce a few simple rules, and use methods that aren't inherently problematic.

you know, like 'strcpy(buffer, string)' --- should be 'strncpy(bufer, string, maxlen)'

Point is: learn to FREAKING CODE. Don't code like a script kiddie. Don't allow script kiddies to commit code that don't check buffer lengths. that kind of thing.

And DO! NOT! RELY! ON! THE! COMPILER! TO! PROTECT! YOU!! Protect YOURSELF.

then again, Micro-shaft designed C-pound and ".Not" for the INEXPERIENCED coder, so that senior people wouldn't be "senior" any more...

Russian government hackers spent a year in our servers, admits DNC

"I'm surprised the NORKS didn't get blamed." "add the Chinese since they supposedly got the personnel database."

Maybe *THEY* learned to *NOT* leave footprints behind? Or the other possibility... we were *MEANT* to find those footprints!

Re: Hillary's mail server

"Until a denial is issued, we may assume for convenience that" Mrs. "Clinton and the DNC hired their admins from the same applicant pool and got similar skill levels."

Considering the politics of the DNC, and the EXPECTATION that their security team are ALSO of a similar political mindset, the average intelligence of their 'pool' might just be a room temperature I.Q. number (in Farenheit, not Celsius, I'm being kind that way). General snarky comment on average intelligence of average gummint employees notwithstanding.

/me ducks for expected rotten veggies and thumb-downs from the 'howlers'

Oh, and it looks like they were running WINDOWS servers! I'd have to wonder if a properly configured (and firewalled) BSD or Linux server would've been so easily cracked... unless they have a root password of 'dadada'. And allow ssh logins to root. Without 'fail2ban' or some other means to cut down on the crack attempts. Yeah.

Microsoft buys LinkedIn for the price of 36 Instagrams

"Microsoft Acquisitions" leitmotif

http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-blob-lyrics-burt-bacharach.html

"Beware of the blob, it creeps

And leaps and glides and slides

Across the floor

Right through the door

And all around the wall

A splotch, a blotch

Be careful of the blob"

(ending theme from 'The Blob', from the early 1960's)

Yes. Microsoft is now "The Blob". They were "The Borg". Now they're just "The Blob".

RIP ROP: Intel's cunning plot to kill stack-hopping exploits at CPU level

Re: Silver Bullet

"My password used to be password, but I changed it to dadada."

you TRYING to put that song into people's heads? heh heh heh

(password, secret, love, sex, money... and GOD. don't forget GOD. system admins *LOVE* to use GOD).

and there's that OTHER xkcd, something about "correct horse battery staple"

Re: Would also bork legitimate code

"Back in the days of the 8-bit processor, I remember writing code (in assembler!) that would implement a 16-bit jump by pushing the target onto the stack and doing a ret."

on SOME processors, you STILL have to do that. I'm thinking 'microcontrollers' at the moment. There's no 24-bit jump instruction on an AVR, but some AVRs have 24-bit addressing. So the fastest way to jump 24-bit is to leverage the 24-bit program counter value on the stack after a call. I am pretty sure there's a 24-bit CALL function, however [can't recall at the moment]. Just no JUMP instruction. So when my bootloader does a jump to the start of code, while running within the highest 128kb page of memory, it must do the 3-byte address stack push followed by 'RET'. With '#ifdef' around it for CPUs that have a < 128kb address space. It works.

non-executable flags on 386

as I recall, protected mode had this, but you had to NOT alias the code area with a corresponding data area. Unfortunately, windows *DID* just that. 32-bit 'flat model' was no exception (there were a couple of 32-bit global selector entries available for that). I had a utility for peeking into the internals of win 3.x and '9x that would leverage that global selector. I'd create call gates and jump to internal operating system functions inside of drivers to get certain kinds of system information. It was kinda cool, but I ALSO recognized how vulnerable the systems were, because someone "not me" could do the SAME! THING! for nefarious purposes.

Re: It'd be nice to have a system...

"Every PC is a VM? What would you run those VMs on?"

some kind of hypervisor, apparently not a bad concept. but a hypervisor has its inherent problems, too (recent vulnerabilities in "ring -2" as I recall). you're just kicking it down the road.

if you want to put out a fire, you break the 'fire triangle' (fuel, heat, oxidizer). The 'shadow stack' does that, in a way. So does code address randomization, by the way...

address space randomization might help more

perhaps code address space randomization would help more. In the 64-bit world, this is practical. Just have every instance of a program load with a different start address for 'bottom of code space'. It won't be perfect, but it could be done in SOFTWARE with existing tech. Similar things have been done for network port assignments to help prevent certain kinds of "port predicting" attack vectors.

that way the code address won't be easily known. You'd need CODE to discover what a function address actually is so that you CAN jump to it, and if you can't run code via your exploit, you can't (easily) get the address to jump to. the RET house of cards falls down.

In obesity fight, UK’s heavy-handed soda tax beats US' watered-down warning

Re: Tax Tax and more fucking tax

"Why not charge the obese for treatment, and not tax everyone including those that drink soda drinks responsibly, dont have a BMI of 50 and look after themselves."

2 words: political correctness. THAT, and it's not about actual OBESITY. [it's about the power, control, and manipulation, same as usual]. Besides, the BMI itself is flawed. you need a % body fat analysis and more to 'get it right'. BMI is just a convenience for making up stupid statistics saying >60% of people are "obese", keeping the bar low so no MUSCULAR or BARREL CHESTED person can "pass"

Re: So the tax Fruit juice too.

"Sugar directly from fruit vs HFCS/Processed cane sugar for example?"

HFCS may be a part of the problem [I avoid it myself]. Some believe you need MORE of it to get the same 'sweetness' as white processed cane sugar. So , in theory, more calories for the same 'sweet', and as it's FRUCTOSE, not sucrose, it's metabolized differently, doesn't increase insulin levels when consumed, etc. etc.. Then again, you can buy 'real sugar' versions of popular soda brands if you go to the right source, at least within the USA. I understand the stuff bottled in Mexico also uses real sugar, not HFCS. I've heard people talk about it on the radio, saying it tastes better.

Re: Bah!

"People might switch to a cheaper drink."

or just add sugar later. it's usually free, in pre-measured packets, next to the creamer

"True, however, your body has a harder time metabolizing the sugar in fruit than drinks. Fruit juice, on the other hand, is just bad all around. More calories than most sodas, and less nutritious than the fruit it came from."

Shhh... don't tell them, or the Florida orange growers will go ballistic over the impending doom

Actually in the case of fructose, it's apparently metabolized in the liver, and doesn't cause insulin levels to increase. I think some studies linked high fructose consumption to earlier onset of type II diabetes, but that's must me trying to remember so it could be wrong. or not.

that just suggests that health, weight, metabolism, food consumption, and everything else is a COMPLEX (and individual) thing that just can't be legislated.

Re: "the obesity epidemic"

"The obesity epidemic where 68.8% of the US population are considered overweight or obese."

because the standards are based on the BMI which is a total crock of [expletive deleted]. Most body builders and athletes would be qualified as "obese" under those standards.

'obesity' should be based on percent body fat and overall general health. In fact, being too skinny is usually WORSE than being too fat, up to a point anyway. I don't see anyone claiming there's a "skinny" epidemic.

more LIES, DAMN LIES and STATISTICS being used to manipulate people, I say.

Re: Aspartame

"Any food or drink with any Aspartame at all gives my wife severe migraines"

no 'substitute' [that is legal] is perfect. I wonder if that's why Sodium Cyclamates were rumored enough to cause cancer [which they don't] that they were BANNED by the U.S. FDA back in the 60's... it seemed everything had cyclamates in them, including pre-sweetened coolaid and toothpaste. And of course the expensive testing is unprofitable now, since cyclamates are SO CHEAP TO MAKE.

just pointing that potential conspiracy theory out...

Re: A tax of 24 pence and 18 pence will be levied on each liter...

"Are you sure that that is the intended goal?"

it's the STATED goal, that's for sure. we have this *kind* of problem in California all the time. The REAL goal is always the same: control, power, manipulation. The 'elite' decide what's best for US, and generally make it so that THEY aren't impacted by the legislation. How about 'boutique' shopping bags instead of the really inexpensive plastic ones, allegedly to save the environment or something? It's on the ballot this November, because legislators "felt" that their existence threatened the world. Seriously I think they just like everyone using the 'boutique' washable bags that would be spreaders and retainers of food-born germs and other health problems.

So none of this is new. It's all the same *kind* of thing, with different details and supporting gripes.

Expect the 'tea tax' next. OK I'm joking, but still. Maybe the U.K. needs a "Tea Party".

THERE's your problem

"n a country where healthcare is funded by the public and is free at the point of delivery *we* fund the purchasing of these things."

THERE's your problem. I'm a firm believer that if you remove the CONSEQUENCES for irresponsibility, it's like removing the PEST PREDATORS from an ecosystem: you get pestilence.

it's not the CAUSE that ought to be attacked, but the PROBLEM. So why not "Tax the fatass" instead?? Or if fatty-fatty two-by-four can't fit through the kitchen door, then STOP! REQUIRING! KITCHEN! DOOR! MAKERS! TO! ACCOMMODATE! FATTY!! (admittedly allegorical)

But I can see this degrading into a discussion over BMI-related weight standards, which favors the 'skinny frame' lanky person over someone of Scottish descent [me] who has a barrel chest, short legs, and ultra-wide shoulders and weighs about 25% more than the average person due to being muscular.

[the REAL weight gain problem is from the high-carbo "low fat" diet foods anyway, right Dr. Atkins?]

Re: 'Other people are doing things I don't like'

"What alternative do you suggest?"

How about "M.Y.O.B." - Mind Your Own Business[es]

On a related note, an alleged 'Obesity Epidemic' isn't a problem when Peter doesn't have to pay for Paul's irresponsibilities. That goes though ALL aspects of life, by the way, from substance abuse to risky behavior.

Is Windows 10 ignoring sysadmins' network QoS settings?

I noticed this a year ago during the 'insider' program

I noticed this same thing a year ago during the 'insider' program. I complained about it. A *LOT*. I have limited bandwidth available, and Microsoft was _STEALING_ it whenever they *FELT* like it, which might be while I'm listening to streaming radio or something. It was part of my argument *AGAINST* the "not being able to control WHEN windows updates 'happen'".

THAT obviously landed on DEAF ears. Micro-shaft does not care what customers want. Micro-shaft is doing everything in Win-10-nic for their OWN benefit, SCREW everyone else.

Even in remotest Africa, Windows 10 nagware ruins your day: Update burns satellite link cash

Re: Pretty cynical upgrade

"Vast parts of the world are unable to get a decent connection to the tubes and I doubt this is an isolated case."

Exactly, and even in the USA there are places where 'high speed' isn't so high.

I've come to the conclusion that Micro-shaft is being run by a bunch of immature elitist children. All of the experienced people retired and cashed in their stock options, leaving the "millenial generation" running the show, The exceptions (Nadella, Belfiore) aren't much better from what I can tell. They "feel" as if *EVERYONE* on the planet has "bandwidth to burn", and even tries to force us to share that bandwidth with everyone around us [I guess Micro-shaft pays for THEIR bendwidth usage..].

MSDN downloads have been broken since February last year, if it takes more than about 5 hours to download a multi-GB ISO image (their security parameters time out and the web server resets the connection). So if your connection isn't at least 3Mbits/sec [business connections at that rate cost $150/month or more in my area] you can't download large ISO images (such as, let's say, 64-bit Windows 10? Or the latest DevStudio?) without doing some *HACKING*.

Fortunately, after nearly a year of not working properly (as reported by ME), Micro-shaft fixed the 'range' header in their MSDN web server so that it's now POSSIBLE to pick up where you left off, if the URL doesn't actually time out. I came up with a hack that use wireshark [to grab their URL with the security parameters] to continue a download via 'wget' using a named output file and a different URL. It "works". Prior to that you used an ActiveX control in IE to download for more than 5 hours, and I had to do that at a business back in the late noughties (2008-ish time frame). So this was not and IS not a *NEW* problem. They simply ASSUME we're all SUPER RICH and can AFFORD *UNLIMITED* BANDWIDTH (and don't mind them STEALING it).

Hopefully they won't break my hack. It's not like I didn't PAY for the privilege of downloading.

Anyway I hope that shows their attitude about *OUR* bandwidth limitations, whatever they may be. It's like they don't give a flying "frack".

Windows 10 market share jumps two per cent

"Does the Windows 10 market share include..." (etc.

I have suggested in the past that Microsoft may, in fact, be inflating their own web statistics on weekends by running their office computers in "pound the network" mode. It's been observed by more than one person and at least one 'El Reg' article that during the week, windows 7 gets a bigger "net share" than on the weekends and holidays. That would be ONE way to explain it.

And the 'gummint' stats COULD be explained by welfare recipients pounding their servers using "free" windows 10 to find out how to get more "free" gummint benefits... (they've got plenty of time after all)

OK I admit there's nothing to back this up except my personal cynicism.

"You are so stuck in the old ways of doing things"

"Stop trying to hold MS back because you refuse to change"

"The whole world has moved on already"

"get with the times."

That's more arrogant shilling (the verb, not the currency) than I've seen in a long time, and all in a single post!

"Some people here are just crazy."

you say that like it's a BAD thing...

"If the desktop is so over why do people even care how Microsoft manages it"

loaded question. First, the desktop is *NOT* over. Looking at sales figures is not representative of the total number of people using desktop or notebook machines (it's like a derivative, not an integral, with more factors thrown in to make the maths impossible to derive). Second, many of us who PREFER non-windows computers STILL have to use them on occasion because the software we purchased was written FOR windows and won't work on anything else. Let's say accounting, certain games, multimedia production, and things like that. Pretty much everything ELSE I do, and that's a huge 'everything else', is done on Linux or FreeBSD (work-related specifically).

And I don't own a smart phone. The dumb one is fine, and I don't use it very much. And I don't need a slab. The economy has limited my discretionary budget anyway and I have other things I'd rather spend cash on. New computers aren't "new, shiny" enough these days.

And I think that sums it up for a LOT of us, and it also explains the market.

the vast majority of phones and slabs run 'Droid and iOS. Micro-shaft LOST that potential market, before they even tried to get into it. Funny, how Micro-shaft STILL wants to shove a phone OS down our throats (or into various OTHER orifices), on desktop and notebook machines.

Re: The other columns

"Analytics.gov give Microsoft 100% of the desktop market."

that seems kind of, "odd", to me. or 'rigged'. I guess Obaka and Mrs. Clinton have received sufficient payoffs in the form of campaign contributions and contributions to things like "The Clinton Foundation" in order to play favorites in the analytics?

Re: "This doesn't mean the nagware is working:"

"Desktop sales fall because there is no real need to replace anything under five years old "

that's right.

For over 10 years "Moore's Law" has stopped contributing to "next year's model" being 50% faster/better. This is the primary 'thing' driving the so-called decline of desktop and notebook computers [it's a 'sales decline' and *NOT* a 'usage decline'].

Micro-shaft has made it clear that they're not interested in improving their own product's performance [not really], to contribute to any PERCEPTION of 'better' by installing a particular version of windows.

So people stick with what they have. LOUSY economy, plus no perceived improvement in "new", means *NO* *SALE*. [I've been saying this for MONTHS].

And we all know that Micro-shaft's version of "New, shiny" was Windows "Ape" (8.0). That got them an increase in windows 7 sales, maybe.

Tech titans demand free speech law to head off President Trump

Re: Wow

faceb[itch]ook and tw[a,i]tter "Don't sound like fearless campaigners for freedom to me."

me either. not after FB's somewhat admission recently of filtering the 'trending' news according to their politics.

This whole proposed legislation sounds like anti-Trump FUD to me. If you actually LISTEN to what Trump says, he's much more of a libertarian than ANY of the other candidates.

And libertarians don't want to crush freedom of speech.

Windows 7, Server 2008 'Convenience' update is anything but – it breaks VMware networking

I'm not updating Winders until after 8/1

well, it's not surprising that their lack of proper testing and staff (read: end-users are the new Q.A. testers) had to backfire at some point.

Consolidate updates into one rollup (not a service pack): ok I guess (except it probably has KB3035583 and a few others in it)

Break people's computers with this difficult-to-rollback-part-of-it update: priceless.

well, for Micro-shaft, it's priceless. Now they can say "SEE you need to upgrade to Win-10-nic"

Re: I am not surprised at anything MS do anymore

"clearly the law is on their side."

read: "bought and paid for"

Cisco warns IPv6 ping-of-death vuln is everyone's problem

ICMPv6 types 133 through 137

Looks like blocking ICMPv6 types 133 through 137 on the public tunnel is one way to "fix" this. My firewall rules have been updated.

So far it hasn't seemed to affect my ability to access anything via IPv6. I'll know soon enough I guess.

protocol described (briefly) here:

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

US computer-science classes churn out cut-n-paste slackers – and yes, that's a bad thing

Re: IBM vs. Microsoft way of thinking...

copy/pasta isn't programming. you can learn technique and algorithms with BASIC. But of course 'C' is probably the best language to learn to REALLY program on because of stuctures. Pascal has its equivalent. But a lot of "modern" (quotes for emphasis) languages lack even simple structures. They focus too much on "object-oriented" to the neglect of other, more important features.

Also the 'object oriented' trend is BASS ACKWARDS. You don't need "Multiverse.universe.galaxy.solar_system.planet.continent.country.province.county.city.street.house.individual" to describe a person. THAT, and the HORRIBLY inefficient infrastructure to support "all that collectiveness". Yuck.

XAML, ".Not", C-pound, and in many respects Java, all reflect this bass-ackwards kind of thinking. And I wouldn't call them "Modern". I'd pick another word that reminds people of an unfavorable genetic mutation.

Maybe *THAT* is the core of the problem? The 'bass ackwards' trend and "bad thinking" associated with these so-called "Modern" languages?

Teaching FORTRAN COBOL BASIC and ASSEMBLER might be worth doing, JUST to get people familiar with PROPER technique. C and shell scripting come next, and *THEN* "other things" like Python, Perl, etc.

But my curriculum wouldn't be a sales platform for Microsoft's "new, shiny" so there ya go.

Re: Been that way fror a long time in the US of A

at least COBOL programmers would understand the fundamentals better than those who've only seen XAML or ".Not" or C-pound or any other "Microsoft new,shiny" they're hawking at the moment...

'Windows 10 nagware: You can't click X. Make a date OR ELSE'

Re: I can understand not waning to support multiple OS

"Stop, you should wait to install Office 2016. We'll have to remove the following if you continue: Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013 - en-us. This product doesn't work with Office 2016 right now. We're working on a solution. [Install Anyway] [I'll wait]"

I'm thinking of 2 terms. one involves a cluster. the other involves a circle.

Re: There is a few inches in that shaft left I see.

"No lubricants?"

curari-tipped wrought iron fence and no lubricant.

Norks' parade rocket fails to fly, again

Re: Rocket scientist attrition rate

"I wonder if they'll get a successful test before all the techs who might conceivably pull it off are banged up or executed "

no worries, Kim Jong "fatass" aka "Cartman" will save the day, because "Dearest Leader" is the wisest, most brilliant example of human achievement on the planet...

"Any suggestions for the programming language(s) they use?"

probably C-pound with '.Not' on a pirated copy of Win-10-nic

EU bureaucrats claim credit for making 'illegal online hate speech' even more illegal

Re: The problem....

I'm offended by Facebook's very existence. Will they shut themselves down?

Compatibility before purity: Microsoft tweaks .NET Core again

and the size of its system libraries will increase

title = quote from the article.

YES. That is the nature of Microsoft's bloatware known as ".Not" (aka '.Net').

It's why I avoided doing anything with 'mono' whenever possible, back in the day when it was relevant. But in one case I was 'ordered' to do so by my boss at the time, who was a total C-pound and '.Net' fan, and wrote a C-pound GUI application to be used on Linux to test the system we were working on (yeah, it 'worked'). He also like Windows Vista over XP. And most of us were Linux+embedded people, doing kernel drivers. [he also thought that putting a linux VM on a Windows server box to run 'case sensitive' source control was a BETTER idea than dedicating a Linux machine for that same purpose]

Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform? It's an uphill battle, warns key partner

Re: Maybe Microsoft will do the right thing eventually

"And decouple UWP from the store."

I doubt THAT would help. The UWP concept, "dumbing things down for the lowest common denominator" so that your crippled application runs on ANYTHING, just plain stinks. NOBODY wants a DUMBED DOWN application. PERCEPTION is EVERYTHING.

When "Ape" (windows 8) released, those 'Ape' machines COLLECTED DUST when you could buy an equivalent 7 machine instead. That's because it was PERCEIVED to be *WORSE* . But Microsoft didn't learn from their past mistakes. They "sent more trains" to the TRAIN WRECK. Now they've got Win-10-nic as their "solution". HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

UWP - *THAT* will fix it. Riiight. I code for Win32 on windows systems. I don't need that crappy ".Not" monolithic dead-man on the back of my applications, I static link all libraries (including runtime), for reliability among every OTHER reason [don't need some 3rd party CRapplication breaking mine, since I'll be the one getting the midnight phone call to fix it], and just about everything ELSE Microsoft has been getting developers to buy into, then switching gears (again) and abandoning, I've just looked at and said "what, the, @#$%???".

If you look on TIOBE, Java [a very cross-platform language] seems to be leading the pack. In 2nd place, C. If you combine C and C++, it's roughly equal to Java. then at 5 or 6% is "C-pound", with ".Net" garbage at ~10% total. That means 90% of development is _NOT_ ".Net". If _THAT_ is the case, why is Microsoft so big on their "new, shiny" UWP?? I'd say it's *THE* *STORE*.

So no de-coupling them at any time in the future.

Microsoft wants to fling money at startups. Don't all rush at once

I'd get them to invest in MY company, but...

I'd get them to invest in MY company, but... the kinds of things I work on wouldn't be in their _perceived_ best interest. And I'd hate to have the ones pulling the purse strings directing me to do things WRONG. Having the $ would be nice, especially NOW. I could probably use it to turn things profitable for them in the long haul, while paying my rent and having some left over to buy things.

But having them breathe down my neck and do what THEY perceive as "the future" ('play' to get paid in other words) would just get in the way. Past Performance Predicting Piss Poor Products in their case. *sigh*.

$10bn Oracle v Google copyright jury verdict: Google wins, Java APIs in Android are Fair Use

Re: The saga goes on

"And the case has been extensive and the verdict unanimous, highly unlikely that the appeals will be successful."

In a SANE world, this is true. HOWEVER, never underestimate the ability of activist judges (appointed by activist members of gummint, no doubt) to TWIST the laws to their own agenda, and side favorably with someone that NEVER! DESERVES! THE! RULING! for whatever sick, twisted, and demented justification they rectally extrapolate. It's even happened in the U.S. Supreme Court, within the last few years, allowing "certain legislation" to move forward, even when it's *BLATANTLY* unconstitutional (and bad for the country).

Yes, I'm very cynical about our legal system, when it comes to TORT law. It needs an *ENEMA*.

The Windows Phone story: From hope to dusty abandonware

Re: "Universal" anything is always a disaster...

"But people keep chasing the holy grail..."

will they get arrested for being 'too silly' at the end?

Windows user “experience” on both PC and mobile has become awful.

(a quote from the article in the topic line)

THIS is _ABSOLUTELY_ the case! Win-10-nic is the DIRECT result of trying to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear (as pointed out in the article) that resulted from Sinofsky's "abortion" known as the Windows 8 'tile' look. Microsoft (for some reason) went in with BOTH FEET on that, and it's stunk ever since.

Nevermind that W7 was successful... "no we have to do something *NEW*". And they're busy forcing us to "UP"grade AWAY from 'successful' to CRAP, because that way they can continue to sell us CRAP in the future: we'll be accustomed to it.

(I think their reasons for jumping in like that were based on lip-licking prospects of puffing up the patent portfolio, and litigating any competition out of existence, but that's just a theory. In any case, THAT failed and we will NEVER know unless it's part of a bankruptcy)

And now, my concluding remark: WILL! MICROSOFT! ABANDON! 2D! FLUGLY! AND! UNIVERSAL! NOW! THAT! WINPHONE! HAS! DIED!???

because... there's NO reason to continue forward in that direction, with the obvious cliff looming ahead. But I bet they'll do it ANYWAY.

US nuke arsenal runs on 1970s IBM 'puter waving 8-inch floppies

TIme to emulate old hardware on RPi with simh

well, an emulation package for all that old hardware already exists, capable of running on an RPi last I checked, as long as we can get some disk images.

Then, migrate the disk images to some USB 'ramstick' drives, program the RPi to boot up into a console that looks like the old system, make some custom boards to emulate any specialty hardware, put USB hubs and plug in anything else you might want, and VOILA!

well, not instantaneous, but pretty good nonetheless, and a LOT cheaper to maintain.

Re: Programming skills .NE. programming languages

"It's not that difficult to learn a new programming language. Even easier to learn an old one."

unless your only exposure to coding is C-pound, ".Not", and maybe Node.js, in which case REAL coding will probably confuse you.

Re: Some Department of Commerce weather alert systems use Fortran

in the 90's I worked in an IT department maintaining a FORTRAN-based database system (ASK/MANMAN and related) that was the company's database on an HP minicomputer. This was actually a very popular product at the time. It also ran on VAX. Not sure if it's still around, but it wouldn't surprise me as it worked pretty well for large corporations and timeshare minicomputer systems.

it's amazing what you can do with a common block and an EQUIVALENCE statement

Hillary Clinton broke law with private email server – top US govt watchdog

Re: Rules are for little people

the arrogance of power is made evident, once again.

I guess that contribution from tin-horn dictators to the Clinton Foundation will be drying up soon. Time for Mrs. Clinton to get a REAL job [even if it's the laundry in the prison facility].

Microsoft won't back down from Windows 10 nagware 'trick'

don't run windows update until august 1

I'll just make sure KB3035583 is NOT installed on any windows 7 computer (or development VM), put windows update into "completely manual" mode, and NOT! RUN! UPDATE! until after August 1.

If that means NOT surfing the web from that particular windows computer or VM, so be it. Besides, I do my web surfing from Linux and FreeBSD, and practice "safe surfing", disabling flash, running noscript, etc.. And I *NEVER* go online using a login with 'admin' privileges. EVAR.

So thanks, Microsoft, for making windows update *UNUSABLE* for the next couple of months or so, and I hope you *KEEP* *YOUR* *PROMISE* to *NOT* "upgrade" (read: screw up) any of my computers after August 1.

Don't forget, the Windows 7 EULA *NEVER* gave Microsoft permission to FORCE! UPGRADES! (or updates for that matter).

Pepper robot acts like real teenager, gets job at Pizza Hut

Re: Is anyone else thinking "Get on the cart, toadies" ?

"you are going to need systems that can read peoples feelings and respond to them."

why bother, when average humans aren't very likely to give a crap and respond accordingly.

"You want it... WHEN?" "Have it YOUR way?" "I'll get to you as soon as I'm not busy."

yeah, never seen THAT happen...

[Us Americans are probably as good at queuing as our British counterparts, with the obligatory 'Hitchhiker' reference of course, and know well the frustration of the average un-caring teller]

Re: Dentist near my office has one

you know, dentists often treat people who have swollen faces, numbness from the painkiller you were just injected with, or the inability to move part of your face because of "why you are at the dentist".

I wonder how the robot reads 'facial expressions' when YOUR! FACE! DOES! NOT! WORK! PROPERLY!!! That and still drooling and droopy-faced because of the new filling...