Posts by bombastic bob

GNU means GNU's Not U: Stallman insists he's still Chief GNUisance while 18 maintainers want him out as leader

if you replace the squeaky wheel it comes back and SUES YOU

you'll get more upvotes because upvoting is still somewhat anonymous.

the downvotes are probably just howler monkeys with no sense of humor

Re: empowering users?

"GNU is actually a set of restrictions that are necessary for open computing to survive."

I'd say that was true about GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1, at least in its intent. v3 morphed it into something else...

I have to wonder if RMS was a BIG part of the direction shift that brought us some of the things many of us now *HATE*, like GPLv3, Gnome 3, the 2D FLATTY [Australis especially], and other major irritations. Maybe even SYSTEMD (ok that was Poettering but still)

If so, GOOD RIDDANCE. I dislike RMS's politics anyway. What he said online that caused the "snowflake storm" is irrelevant as far as I am concerned.

Online deepfakes double in just nine months, scaring politicians – and fooling the rest of us

Re: Deepfakes are not a problem now

at some point people will no longer trust anything they hear or see.

That is NOT necessarily a BAD thing...

Here we go again: US govt tells Facebook to kill end-to-end encryption for the sake of the children

what's to stop using existing tech like ssh, private VOiP, Tor, and VPN?

(what it says in the topic)

there are so many existing protocols capable of end-end encryption that it's pathetic to even TRY and stop it.

If FB installs a back door, then "an app for that" _WILL_ happen because someone like me will write it. Then Faece-Bitch won't be able to insert themselves and monetize your conversation, so they have a vested interest in NOT having back doors.

besides, there IS ALREADY a vacuum for a decent PRIVATE end-end encrypted peer-peer application. All it needs is a protocol (like torrent trackers have) to find the peers, along with some dedicated servers to connect the ends. Then the rest is peer-peer including the encryption, no 'man in the middle'.

If done properly there won't be a record of any of it, other than the IP addresses of people identifying themselves to the service.

Re: Forget the kiddies

"If however the bullying followed me home and was essentially 24/7 then I doubt I would be here now."

this is why parents need to teach their kids HOW TO FIGHT THE BULLIES and stand up to them and kick their sorry asses into silence and/or submission.

This reminds me of that "bully video" of the kid being harassed in an Australian school. Finally he was sick of it and he picked up the harassing kid (who was much smaller than him) and head-slammed him into the ground. All of the usual whiny socialists complained. I thought it was *PERFECT* and a *SOLID* example of how you deal with bullying.

And the thing is, when you're an adult, the bullying doesn't stop... it just changes form. So when you learn to FIGHT BACK and *WIN* as a kid, it's a life lesson for SUCCESS.

Re: Forget the kiddies

"Kids get used all of the time in battle cries to embrace some sort of intrusion"

The face of a child on a poster representing the erosion of your freedom, yeah.

Recent example of this kind of manipulation attempt: Greta. I'll leave that topic alone other than a dishonorable mention, and also a mention of the historical fact that Goebbels also used images of children in his Nazi propaganda.

icon, because, sarcasm again.

Re: Baby got back door

really "for the children" is just a (yet another) method by which PEOPLE ARE MANIPULATED BY THE PUPPETEERS.

icon, because, sarcasm

Re: I wonder how Facebook is going to implement the encryption

most likely the clients will do the encryption, as well as "send home to mama" all of the things you type in so they can target you with ads and sell your data based on your 'chat'. But of course that 'send home to mama' data will be encrypted, too...

Re: So we are to believe that once they have the necessary backdoors in place

back doors are only "NECESSARY" when police are *LAZY*

Oh, yeah, that whole "individual rights" and "illegal search/seizure" thing just GETS IN *THEIR* WAY, after all...

</sarcasm>

icon, because, more sarcasm

Re: "Outside the digital world, none of us would accept the proposition that"

private IRC server with SSL might do it, located outside of the USA where subpoenas get laughed at

Re: "Outside the digital world, none of us would accept the proposition that"

well said!

More people (particularly those in gummint) need to connect the dots on that point.

/me offers a cluebat for that purpose

PostgreSQL puts the pedal to the metal with some smart indexing tweaks in version 12

"PostgreSQL is great"

Absolutely!

From what I have seen it is _the_ most standards-compliant DBMS out there, more compliant than MySQL or Maria from what I can tell (both still have issues with embedded quote marks in strings last I checked, having to escape them etc. - it would break too much code if they ever fixed it, probably)

In any case I got used to using psql to fix things for this one project. "No B.S."

It'll be nice to see if PG ever has the back-end features needed to take on Oracle in the same markets.

If you really can't let go of Windows 7, Microsoft will keep things secure for another three years

Re: Win 7

"M$ forced Windows 10 down everyone's throat."

I would've used "CRAMMED" and a different end to the digestive tract

Re: Given the cost of a Windows 10 Pro license...

agreed, but here's a better idea: just practice "safe surfing" and avoid the security problem altogether.

a) don't surf the web using a microsoft browser. If possible, don't use a microsoft OS, either.

b) don't open (aka 'double-click or in any way activate) anything downloaded from the internet. Open the program that views it and use 'file open' directly.

c) NEVER view e-mail as html. This includes WEB MAIL.

d) don't preview attachments inline - *EVER*

e) use NOSCRIPT or some other script-blocking tool on everything that isn't EXPLICITLY trusted.

and so on.

I still use XP for some things [like 3D printing]. that little box is just fine for that. It came with XP, and that's the way it is. Other former XP boxen became Linux boxen. One laptop got 7 on it. There is *NO* *NEED* *TO* *DOWNGRADE* *TO* *WIN-10-NIC* !!!

Microsoft has made an Android phone. Repeat, Microsoft has made an Android phone. A dual-screen foldable mobe not due until late 2020

Re: burning about $10bn+ of shareholder value (???)

"Bugger the customers ..."

Unfortunately it seems you are correct

This won't end well. Microsoft's AI boffins unleash a bot that can generate fake comments for news articles

Re: If you could try *not* breaking the Internet

when you consider the activist trolls, it might as well be bots anyway.

'Teh Intarwebs' will survive so long as gummints don't try to LEGISLATE it. Something about free people exercising their freedom, actually BEING free, not restricted on phrasing, linguistics, expressiveness, or use of words that make snowflakes cry, etc. Some places STILL DO exist without moderation, and USENET is one of those. And most of the time the mods aren't brown-shirt fascists. Some are, over on Fa[e]ceb[itch,ook] and Tw[a,i]tter, but that's another topic.

And who said someone ELSE didn't already have a "fake news" bot - or a room full of paid activists, same thing - gumming up the works and trolling everyone/everything on Tw[i,a]tter and Fa[e]ceb[ook,itch].

The mod firing squad: Stack Exchange embroiled in 'he said, she said, they said' row

Re: Is this just an English thing ?

well, you can still get it right, go back, and edit it all, using 'he' for singular unspecified sex of the subject, and 'him' for singular unspecified sex of the object. Use of 'they' or 'them' for the singular case is just WRONG.

Re: Is this just an English thing ?

"For job descriptions"

Why can't we all just accept the fact that a Mailman can be a woman, as could a Fireman, Policeman, Congressman, or Maintenance Man. If a lady shows up, nobody's surprised.

The way it's been in the Navy, unless it got changed for some STUPID reason, is that all officers are referred to as 'Sir' or 'Mister' within the right context. Havingt to know what sex-term to use is against good order and discipline. "Mr Fielding is officer of the deck" - well Lt Fielding happens to be a lady, let's say, but nobody's going to care about that, as they're trying to drive a ship, stay on course, and not run into things.

And that's how it SHOULD be.

Re: no one has been able to invent new pronouns that sound natural as drop-in replacements

OK - you have a good idea.

Let's INVENT SOME PRONOUNS!

I suppose El Reg commenters might have some really good suggestions.

In the mean time we could just use 'semprini' for all non-sex-specific cases...

(most o the things I'm thinking of are profane and have more than one syllable, with a profane term followed by 'face' 'head' 'brain' or has 'ass in it somewhere')

Re: Is this just an English thing ?

"referring to a person by their profession"

plurality mismatch detected.

'a person' 'their profession' - correct grammar would be 'people' 'their profession' or 'a person' 'his profession', regardless of it triggering some overly-sensitive-ready-to-be-triggered-snowflake-type that INSISTS there's something wrong with the lingo AND! WE! MUST! ALL! CHANGE! to bend to his whim...

grammar nazi icon, because. it's relevant, really. "singular they". EW.

(heh)

Re: Is this just an English thing ?

"For a language which doesn't really use genders, it's amusing that they're causing so much hot air."

A language without 'genders' yeah ('gender' being a linguistics term, having NOTHING to do with chromosomes or sex). And that's probably why there are way too many attempts to INSERT such things into the language...

No, this is all about FEELINGS. It's about adult-children raised with safe spaces, participation trophies, being driven to/from school every day [read: chauffer parents], and then told "it's ok" if they say 1+1=3 because you don't want to HURT THEIR FEELINGS for BEING WRONG.

I'll now make reference to the "when I was their age" tirade and not do it.

Point is, these *WHINERS* need a *CLUE* *BAT* instead of society CODDLING THEM and ENABLING THEM to be ASSHATS about PRONOUNS.

Feelings are IRRELEVANT. They need to SUCK IT UP and realize that the world really does *NOT* revolve around their SELF ESTEEM. If they get triggered: *TOO* *BAD*.

Landmark US net neutrality decision reveals that both sides won and lost out

"None of this will be corrected until the WH administration is gone and Pai is fired."

*FACEPALM*

You mean, none of this will be corrected until we have CONSERVATIVE MAJORITIES in BOTH houses and Trump is in his 2nd term...

Truly there are more important things than THIS. "Net Neutrality" isn't what it claims to be, in the same way Socialism isn't "fairness" or "social justice" nor does it lift up the status of those on the bottom [it actually LOWERS the standards of everyone ABOVE the bottom].

But until November of 2020, and possibly beyond, the Demo[n,c][R,r]ats will be busy playing the "Impeach" shell game, and getting absolutely NOTHING done... well, that's not always BAD, if nothing gets done, but it certainly wont clarify the FCCs authority and issues regarding states and communications and internet and stuff like that.

In a way it's like a weird compromise, what the judge did. Con-Grab needs to finish the job and do it RIGHT this time.

Visual Studio for Mac: A bunch of new features but Xcode and VS Code are tough competition

"Both of them."

good one

C-pound and '.Not' on a Mac. *shudder*

You've got (Ginni's) mail! Judge orders IBM to cough up CEO, execs' internal memos in age-discrim legal battle

Re: It's not over till we say it's over

benefit of the doubt here: sometimes a "discovery process" means "fishing expedition" and unreasonable requests should ALWAYS be objected to. Then again, maybe they ARE hiding something...

Re: The irony is if they were firing based on age discrimination.

NOT hiring people over "an age", or laying them off because (primarily) of their age, is strictly illegal. Of course we knew that already.

(any other "age-related" "experience-related" wage arguments probably already made; Capt. Obvious things so)

But with THAT being said, perhaps it would be better for older employees (who typically earn more for 'being there' longer) to consider voluntary pay cuts in lieu of being laid off? At least it gives you some time to look for new work without having to be UNEMPLOYED...

Personally (on the management side) I'd rather tie wages directly to PRODUCTIVITY, whenever that's possible. If that is the case, just be honest with people who's wage-to-productivity ratio isn't so hot... (and THAT becomes the criteria for layoffs).

Then you're not AGE discriminating at all, as the wage-to-producttivity ratio it becomes a truly fair measurement of your worth at the company.

/me is an old guy, and I try to be THE most productive employee on site (or off site, same idea), whenever possible, as a contractor. It's a matter of PRIDE, if nothing else.

Microsoft: Dynamics 365 to hook up online, physical retail... 'cos we love tracking so much we want it offline too

Re: "alert staff of long queues at checkouts"

well, it's hard to get qualified people working at minimum wage. it used to be easier, when min wage was LOWER, because you could hire high school students and AFFORD TO TAKE A RISK. Nowadays, a bad hire might cost WAY too much, and entry level wages are basically TOO HIGH.

kinda sucks for retailers...

/me points out that high school students don't need a "living wage" - they need employers WILLING TO TAKE A RISK ON HIRING THEM.

Re: "alert staff of long queues at checkouts"

"It must work - when did you ever see long queue at a checkout in a Microsoft store?"

good one!

Chef roasted for tech contract with family-separating US immigration, forks up attempt to quash protest

"So you agree with someone refusing to make a cake for a LGBT marriage because of his or her beliefs and they deem it wrong? "

*sigh* - you played THAT emotional hand-grenade. Nice. Job. *NOT*

I say "go elsewhere" and get the cake done by a bakery and decoration artist who's not an idiot, and let the idiot do what he wants.

Re: this kind of thing

if you're careful you can set up pip to fix versions in stone for everything. This does not always build well on different platforms, though. I did this a bit with an older DJango setup I had been maintaining [not writing, more like re-writing to use LESS PYTHON and C language utilities to improve performance by a factor of 10 or more, but I digress] but I agree, languages like Python and apparently Ruby have this kind of "dependency Hell" built into them, and the trend would be to have 'bleeding edge' enough that you can't easily just go back to what it was before... and when a single developer decides to play SJW and deny you access to his source, you're FSCK'd. Unless you do snapshots and archives, which apparently the 'Chef' guy did.

Re: Not in my name, and not with my help.

"To be clear, we don't care if anyone else uses it, we care that we can use it."

eh, ok I'll give ya THAT in a scenario that I've had from time to time...

a) you wrote something cool, REALLY cool, and you want to be ABLE to use it again

b) you copypasta that thing into $customer project and give them a written license to use it without GPL etc. even though you posted it online as GPL code beforehand [even 5 minutes beforehand]

c) you can THEN use it again and again not having to re-write the 'cool thing' and everybody wins and you don't EVAR get sued for using "their code" in "that customer's project" (even though it was yours, proving it in court is EXPENSIVE and a PAIN IN THE ASS).

So yeah, in a way, you're right. On THAT point.

But I always see it as showing off my work, too. "Want an example of my work? Go to my public git rep site". That sort of thing. And it's also convenient off-site backup to use github, gitlab, sourceforge, whatever.

that aside from the other obvious benefits of open source, contributing code to public projects that help your own customers use your products/services as well as you and everyone else, and so everyone benefits to some extent and YOU make money.

Re: What you describe is convenience, not sense

"When a release is approved, it should be rebuilt with all the libraries pulled and stored locally, and that binary shipped"

And archived as such. see icon

Re: Flaming idiot, social justice warrior and political hack

"Sneaking into the country and not applying for admission would be illegal. That is not what is happening though."

actually, it IS happening.

Legit asylum claims require a hearing, and with Trump's new rules, they stay IN MEXICO waiting for it, maybe even for a couple of years. Otherwise, "just letting them in" lets them DISAPPEAR into the USA. Most do NOT show up for their hearings and something like 90% of them are denied asylum claims when they do.

"Asylum" is just one of those "key words and tricky phrases" these people are taught to say when they arrive (or are caught). Trump's rule changes are attempting to close this loophole, such as requiring asylum seekers to a) go to a port of entry, and b) remain in Mexico until their hearing. That and "the wall" should keep the sneak-ins out, but that's why we NEED the wall, because they ARE "sneaking in". And liberal interpretations allow them to SCAM the United States by saying those "key words and tricky phrases" so they can DISAPPEAR into the country, never to be seen again by law enforcement.

And that bit about "mistreating and abusing" these criminals is JUST a bunch of LIBERAL NONSENSE. I happen to live close enough to the border to see mountains in Mexico on a clear day (it's about a half hour drive to the border). So yeah, what goes on at the border is LOCAL news around here.

Liberal overly tolerant policies are qute literally acting like a MAGNET for caravans of illegals from Central America to cross Mexico just to sneak into the USA. Along the way they get RAPED, ROBBED, BEATEN, SCAMMED, EXPLOITED, and so on, even KILLED, and the caravans are run by MEMBERS OF THE DRUG CARTELS. Liberal policies are CAUSING these people to be ABUSED by giving them FALSE HOPES.

THAT should be considered too, ya know...

Re: @Bronek Flaming idiot, social justice warrior and political hack

"People in desperation trying to escape persecution and poverty are still people."

Criminals breaking the law are still criminals, even if putting them in prison would "separate them from their children". My heart bleeds for NO one.

yeah he is like *GOD* withholding the RAIN from the SINNERS...

(not even GOD does *THAT* - makes ya wonder)

icon for comedy

"feelies" - ugh. I *FEEL* with my FINGERS, and THINK with my BRAIN.

Feelings don't belong in business, nor in open source, nor in ANYTHING that people "not you" rely on for their success. Serious developers WILL realize this at some point. Otherwise, the entire system can be HELD HOSTAGE by some SJW, or even a TERRORIST, just like now.

It's time to re-think this whole dependency tree deployment thing.

"the modern way"

So are a _LOT_ of things. Not necessarily "the BETTER way", particularly obvious right NOW.

I'm especially NOT happy with the idea that someone upstream can change something that immediately has an effect on something I'm supposed to support. If I don't push the button and approve EVERY change that goes into the update, I won't do it. Simple.

And the "one ASSHAT" case, which has happend a couple of times now, seems to be a VERY good reason to NEVER rely on this kind of deployment, EVAR.

fail icon for the "modern" deployment method, not the quote nor the comment from where it came.

(I can think of several OTHER 'modern' things, from the 2D FLATTY to ADS in Windows OS to UWP and ".Not" in general. WOW, how "modern" they are!)

Flaming idiot, social justice warrior and political hack

"what's the point of pulling it from a repository?"

because he's a FLAMING MORON?

"Oh look, LAW ENFORCEMENT is using somethign I wrote, and I am a FLAMING IDIOT and SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR so I am going to ACT LIKE AN ASSHAT and remove something that's probably been COPIED A BOZILLIAN TIMES and could EASILY BE RETRIEVED BY VIEWING THE HISTORY IN THE REPO..."

Number 1: It's a LAW ENFORCEMENT OPERATION at the border. You know, THE COPS. if you don't like the laws, BLAME THE PEOPLE WHO WROTE THEM (Congress, over the last 20 years or so).

(I bet if I illegally tried to enter the EU, or the UK, I'd be treated to a JAIL CELL. When MOBS of foreigners show up at our doorstep, we can't just "let them in", ya know, and then THEY EXPECT TO BE FED AND CLOTHED AND HOUSED AND TREATED FOR WHATEVER FORNICATING DISEASES THEY HAVE, and OH LOOK I JUST HAD A BABY and now he's A CITIZEN OF YOUR COUNTRY and NOW I CAN STAY AND GET WELFARE MONEY - 3 card monty and shell game, and we're a bunch of PATSIES)

Number 2: If you put it out there as OPEN SOURCE, you're GIVING IT AWAY. when you GIVE something, and you try to CONTROL HOW IT IS USED, it's NOT A GIFT ANY MORE. You are CHARGING RENT.

Number 3: I am _SO_ _SICK_ of FLAMING ASSHATS doing things like this.

Number 4: Don't rely on other people's repos for your appliation's distribution. HOST IT YOURSELF.

We've seen this happen before, with some pointless trivial utility in NodeJS, a year or so ago...

Call-center scammer loses $9m appeal in stunning moment of poetic justice

Re: I believe the word all y'all are looking for is ...

I was actually thinking "schadenfreude"

Re: Federal Prison

the sad part, his legal fees could have EXCEEDED that had he gone through a trial... which would have been BETTER justice.

Re: Congratulations! You've been pardoned! We're connecting you to an operator now...

"I hope his jail cell has a phone that only takes incoming calls."

And *ALWAYS* at an INCONVENIENT time!

Oh, you're on the CRAPPER? *ring* *ring* "Your mi-cro-soft com-pu-tor has a vi-rus and needs our help. Please press 1 now to speak with a tech-ni-cian"

I'll sing the words...

"Oh my heart it bleeds for you...."

getting caught

people who get caught are ALWAYS sorry... sorry they GOT CAUGHT

Re: The thick twat

pleading guilty = "mercy of the court". no appeal, but typically not as bad as after going through a trial. $9 million was probably being *kind*. $900 million is more like what a jury would award after a full blown trial...

German ministry hellbent on taking back control of 'digital sovereignty', cutting dependency on Microsoft

Re: Uncontrollable costs?

the biggest cost is in the SWITCHING. Some time ago didn't a German government institution switch BACK TO MICROSHAFT _FROM_ Linux??

now it's BACK AGAIN. AGAIN.

And THAT is where the "uncontrollable costs" will be - re-re-training, re-re-procurement, hiring new consultants, kicking upstairs or laying off old ones, yotta yotta.

I hope they stick with a good commercial LInux solution, maybe a GERMAN company?

I'm thinking Suse Linux.

HP printer small print says kit phones home data on whatever you print – and then some

Re: Why? Why? and thrice Why?

"Why does every company who makes stuff think that it is just perfectly fine to snoop on us 24/7?"

ARROGANCE, mostly. And CLUELESSNESS.

years ago "they" used to do whatever they *FELT* to autoexec.bat, config.sys, windows.ini, etc. and a LOT of people complained. HARD. Did not stop "them". Eventually when windows '9x released it became possible to do that stuff with the registry and it sorta stopped.

NOW everyone is on the "big data" bandwagon, because everyone ELSE appears to be on it. Predictable results, anger, and frustration.

Re: Trustworthy?

" just leave the default gateway blank or set to 127.0.0.1..."

this might work if you only route on the same subnet as the printer, but in some cases [read: large network with multiple subnets and/or VPNs] you still need a gateway to route 'other than the subnet' packets to.

But then my suggestion was to use a gateway and subnet that are "special" to the printer, in effect isolating it from the rest of the network, and firewalling everything through the gateway you gave it

Re: Trustworthy?

If you know the printer's IP address, and you can control your subnets, you can set up a firewalled gateway for the printer that prevents it from routing to ANY destination address outside of the subnet.

Example: your network is 192.168.0.0/24 with a gateway of 192.168.0.1

The gateway also knows how to route to 192.168.129.0/24 where the printers are

The printers all get a gateway of 192.168.129.1 which is an alias for 192.168.1

You THEN add a firewall rule for 192.168.129.1 that rejects ANY packet that's not being sent to 192.168.0.0/24. You ALSO block all multi-cast traffic attempting to leave the LAN.

(All of the other multicast traffic should remain within the LAN anyway, but just in case, put a rule in there)

This should LOCK DOWN any printer hardware attempting to phone home. As for the printer drivers themselves, you COULD host them as shares on a Linux machine and print via HTTP to the Linux box...

(that way windows and phone users could still print, would NOT need a "special app", and would NOT be phoning things home on behalf of the printer)

Re: CUPS

If PPD "gets removed" then I will PERSONALLY drive a FORK into it...

ALL of my printers have required PPD files. And I *REFUSE* to use *ANYTHING* resembling UPnP including that apple 'IPP' thing on FreeBSD or Linux.

Fortunately, open source can be FORKED, even if I have to do it MYSELF.

Re: HPLIP

If the WINDOWS and PHONE software+drivers is where the slurpage is happening, then I think those of us using CUPS and the HPLIP drivers are in the clear... for now.

HOWEVER...

I suppose I'll eventually need to put the printer on a firewalled subnet then. I would set its primary gateway to something that can't route to anything outside of the LAN.

And if THAT doesn't work, I'll be looking for something that's equally well support for Linux and FreeBSD as HP has been, because IF I HAVE TO WRITE THE PRINTER DRIVERS MYSELF AND PUBLISH THEM, then I'll do JUST THAT, and they can TAKE THEIR SLURP and CRAM IT UP THEIR INKWELLS.

The HP printer I have is an older 'all in one' which never really worked properly out of the box, but I can "get it to work" by talking nice to it and offering it flowers on occasion. Their quality had obviously gone downhill and not just a little downhill. The top paper feeder for the scanner/fax stopped working shortly after I bought it, but as I didn't do multi-page FAXs I ignored it. However it fails to feed paper a LOT, unless I "bend it a certain way" and things of that nature. If the paper stack is too tall, or too small, feed errors are common...

Couple that with DATA SLURPAGE and "brand loyalty" just circled the drain and wend *slurp* - back at ya!