Posts by bombastic bob

Apollo 11 @ 50: The long shadow of the flag

Re: The most expensive dick swinging contest in history

"Europe learned to sail properly by watching the Polynesians do it"

Well maybe not *ENTIRELY* but 'm sure that the Polynesians had perfected many of the tiny details. Outrigger canoes tend to have high stability and like a catamaran can handle crosswinds well. As such, you can tack at 90 degrees and not capsize. Tall ships designed for trade winds can't really do that without a really deep keel and as such you wouldn't be able to go into port with it.

But maybe as much as 2000 years prior to that, there were triangular sailed craft, clear evidence of which apparently dates back to the 1st century BC (according to 'teh intarwebs'). This was alluded to in the movie 'Ben Hur' as the Roman ships had square sails, and after Ben Hur rescues the captain, the captain asks him what shape the ship's sails are that he sees, and he said something like "It's a square sail. It's a Roman ship".

So anyone using a triangular sail would be doing so because of its advantage when tacking. But you can't make a TALL ship that way, not without making it a catamaran or outrigger. It's just different application of different ways of getting the job done. Fast downwind (tall ship with square sails) or fast tacking (catamaran or outrigger with triangular sails).

so what does this have to do with moon exploration? Not a whole lot, really. Except it's probably worth pointing out that people have GOOD IDEAS ALL OF THE TIME, and when you get them together on a single project, you can do some REALLY COOL SCHTUFF... like go to the moon!

Re: The most expensive dick swinging contest in history

"Which of those things is more realistic? Are people really still this thick?"

a) the first one (doing something hard and succeeding) is more correct. it was done with guts, guile, and innovation. The tech that came ouf of this program, such as integrated circuits and freeze-dried food, was pretty much a leap forward spawned by that innovation. We could've had an extra decade or two in there before everyone had a personal computer, as one example.

b) As for 'are people really still this thick', apparently so, Mr. Pot. Just take a look in this mirror and you'll see what I mean.

/me does a rendition of the ending of a 'Private SNAFU' cartoon, when our main character sees himself in a mirror as the back end of a horse, and they play this specific snarky music segment as a kind of leitmotif. I think it's supposed to go 'S... N A, F, U'

Re: The moon orbits the Sun

"Earth and Moon are really a double planet"

Like Pluto?

"Fortunately the Command Module was orbiting the Moon"

they couldn't trust a robot to do it. So it's like "the bus driver" never gets to go on the tour. But that's his job. And if I had the opportunity to be "the bus driver" on a Lunar mission, I'd probably take it. yeah you didn't get the glory of actually STANDING and WALKING on the moon, but you get to GO THERE and BE IMPORTANT as "the bus driver".

A lot of people forget about Mike Collins who spent all of his 'alone time' taking photos and doing other sciency things.

Re: Ranger etc. missions

I remember Surveyor. I though it was pretty cool that Apollo XII went to visit the thing, see how it had been doing all of those years. A relative of mine designed one of the sensors on the thing, and I was really interested in space stuff at the time. EVERYONE was. It was a good time in that regard, being interested in ACCOMPLISHMENT. Compare that to now. Yeah.

NASA did great things in many ways because it had support. In part that requires leadership that believes in such things (like JFK). "OK we did that... but NOW what?" The 'now what' wasn't clear enough, or thought to be important enough, and the implications are now obvious.

Rust in peace: Memory bugs in C and C++ code cause security issues so Microsoft is considering alternatives once again

Re: Who writes Rust?

apparently not a lot of people, since it's WAY down the list (#33) on the latest TIOBE index.

https://tiobe.com/tiobe-index/

There's your proof, right there.

Noted, the "next big wave of Android development" Kotlin is even LOWER, way down there at #43. Well it's in the "top 100" making it SLIGHTLY relevant. And that's what I think of RUST, too: SLIGHTLY relevant.

Worth pointing out, COBOL and FORTRAN are at 27 and 29, respectively.

Re: Trigger alert!

hoax? (damn)

"require everybody to use"

That sort of thing is for a SHOP STANDARD, and *NOT* for a bunch of *EGGHEADS* to "decide for us" (because they're SO much SMARTER) and then CRAM IT DOWN OUR THROATS like that.

This is the wrong kind of thinking.

How about _THIS_ instead: SHOP STANDARDS that are developed by PROPER MANAGERS who do REGULAR CODE REVIEWS and DELEGATE RESPONSIBILITY to SENIOR PEOPLE to make sure this happens CONSISTENTLY throughout the applications.

works for me. This is 'Captain Obvious' territory.

Re: you can't write a pre-emptively multi-tasking OS for the 8086

actually you can write a pre-emptively multi-tasking OS for just about ANY processor, but in some cases (68k was one of them) you had to jump through some odd hoops to make your program relocatable to any block of memory [which is really what you need to happen if you don't have virtual memory management].

The old PDP-11's had the ability to have multiple users, in some cases without memory management hardware [which would virtualize your memory space]. One particular package 'MU Basic' (MU stood for Multi User) managed that well enough, maybe 4 simultaneous users running BASIC on a system with only 32k words (64k bytes) of RAM on it. You didn't get much for each user, but it worked, it was mutli-user, pre-emptive, etc..

Not as good as 286 or later Intel CPU with the built-in virtualized memory capability (selectors vs segments, for example, which make memory relocatable, and also 386+ with page tables) but it COULD be done. And 68k's had to use "pseudo segments" that were used by Apple's OS for quite a while, as I understand it to make their code relocatable. Similarly on the Palm devices (which used a 68k) you had something similar to that.

Anyway... just sayin', you CAN write a pre-emptively multi-tasking OS for the 8086. I just wouldn't WANT to.

Re: The problem is Windows (actually MS-DOS) - not the language(s)

"the first version of OS/2 was for the 286"

I had a chance to work with that. It actually multi-tasked very well, with _everything_ running in protected mode on a 286 machine (a PS/2 of course). You could format a diskette while compiling things in another window, as one example. I actually did it. I was impressed. Windows 3.0 released in less than a year after that experience, and I recall that you needed 386 'enchanted' mode to do the same thing with windows. But still, it too had that feature, which was a step in the right direction. And now we are here.

javascript - stupidest choice EVAR for writing anything but simple web thingies in. Even THEN, it's so HORRIBLY ABUSED in web pages already.

nefficient, interpretive lingo, garbage collection memory management, piggy bass-ackwards "object" (read: stupidity) oriented as in "ooh look we have OBJECTS! Let's USE them!" without thought as to what that implies or results in... and so on.

If you have memory problems, the SAME KINDS of memory problems popping up ALL OF THE TIME, that means two specific things in a large organization with many developers:

a) LACK of PROPER STANDARDS

b) LACK of PROPER MANAGEMENT.

To fix the REAL problem, you need PROPER STANDARDS. We begin with how to handle memory allocation and object life.

1. reference counting - when someone hands you an object, increase its ref count immediately, then lower it when you're done

2. ALWAYS NULL OUT POINTERS AFTER YOU DE-REF THEM [this makes any use-after-free condition that MIGHT be added 5 years from now sh9ow up almost immediately in testing)

3. NEVER free memory in one function that was allocated in a different one, outside of the context of object reference counts.

4. NEVER touch the internals of one object (or function) with anything OTHER than that object

5. ALWAYS PERFORM SIZE CHECKING ON WRITE OPERATIONS TO BUFFERS (and don't get the size wrong)

other things like 'guard pages' around memory blocks [which would throw page faults if you exceed boundaries] can also help in debug code, but production code at LEAST needs to do what I just said, and probably a whole lot more.

If you enforce PROPER STANDARDS (like those) the "bite you in the ass later" memory problems should pretty much go away. You know, like maybe LINUX???

Replacing EFFICIENT with BULLCRAP, though... THAT is NO solution!

Re: Hummmmm

"it looks like its time for me to hit the books and look into rust."

Don't be in too big of a hurry to jump on Micro-shaft's "new bandwagon" - keep in mind that after nearly 2 decades, C-pound only has around 5% or 6% on the TIOBE index, unlike the Java, C, and C++ is was _SUPPOSED_ to supplant...

/me checks - make that ~4.4%

https://tiobe.com/tiobe-index/

(If you plan on jumping on ANY bandwagons, monitor THAT page and see what's trending)

RUST not even in the top 20. Neither is Kotlin, I might add...

Re: Eh?

"That's strange because as I remember C and C++ are the major languages for other operating systems which have far fewer security problems than Windows."

Y E S Y E S Y E S ! ! !

Re: Eh?

"the problem with c and c++ is they make these kinds of error really easy to make."

W R O N G ! ! ! ! !

When you know what you're doing, C and C++ are probably the BEST possible programming languages to use, which is why they've been around since the 1970's.

So, it's worth the "performance hit" - that's an excuse that Micro-shaft has been using since Windows Vista.

NO EXCUSE I say. Let them DiE ON THE VINE with that kind of WRONG thinking.

I knew the moment they referred to other-than-C/C++ as "modern" that it was just another page out of Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority", where THE WHIZ KIDS have come along, and it's THEIR TURN NOW, and so they must ABANDON that which is tried/true/reliable for the PREVIOUS TWO GENERATIONS, because *THEY* must *ASSERT* *THEIR* *IMPORTANCE* and *THROW* *ALL* *OF* *THAT* *AWAY* because THEY know best, THEY are smarter, THEY are younger, THEY are IN CHARGE, and it's THEIR TURN NOW.

Expected+predictable FAIL to follow.

(at least they're not using JAVASCRIPT like NodeJS or similar for anything IMPORTANT like maybe their DEVELOPMENT TOOLS... No, wait...)

Re: Eh?

I shall comment on this by using a metaphor (of sorts): Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority"

SpaceX reveals chain of events that caused the unplanned disassembly of Crew Dragon capsule

Re: The reaction.... was simply not expected

well the titanium part was in a HELIUM system, and the nitrogen-based oxidizer ended up in there. I expect that the helium system works very well for HELIUM, not explosive liquids like NTO.

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

apparently a small amount of NO is often mixed with the NTO to limit stress corrosion of titanium (it's in the article).

So the real problem is HOW the *FEEL* did the NTO get into the helium system in the FIRST place?

(worth pointing out, titanium is chemically and physically a LOT like aluminum but a lot of people probably do not know this)

Anyway, that much is probably obvious. Captain Obvious definitely thinks so.

Bad news: Earth is not going to be walloped by asteroid 2006 QV89. Good news: Boffins have lost sight of it, so all hope is not yet lost

Good Luck?

Damn... and here I was going to give it THE FINGER as it crashed onto my head.

no more "end of the world" party I guess.

50 years ago today Apollo 11 slipped the surly bonds of Earth to put peeps on the Moon

Re: To mark the event...

back in the 60's there were tons of really good quality plastic model kits during the space program. I had a nice one of the gemini capsule, and another that had the apollo command module and detachable LEM. As I recall you could build the LEM with the legs extended or folded (your choice).

not sure if you can get that sort of thing any more..

keep in mind that the flight computer was heading the LEM towards a dangerous landing spot, and Armstrong had to switch to manual mode, which is why Buzz had to read off the numbers like that. Armstrong was too busy trying NOT to crash, and was running out of fuel. I think they had less than 10 seconds' of fuel left on landing. Sorta like ending the final boss battle with only one health point left... (and no spare healing items).

yeah nobody ever did THAT, right? FFXIII-III was particularly difficult in that regard (well you DID have to defeat GOD after all...). I guess another way to put it is that when your life is TRULY on the line, and you TRULY ALMOST DIED in the process, the sense of accomplishment is even GREATER.

Re: I watched them take off

"Hard to understand a civilisation that achieved this and then went 'yawnsville' shortly after"

I can go on for HOURS as to why, but I think a recent politician summed it up when he suggested that we'd get "tired of winning all of the time".

But there's also a sinister side to this: politicians have the power of the purse, and buying rockets and astronauts achieving heroic accomplishments doesn't get THEM re-elected... [but lying and manipulating people into spending 10 times as much per year and GOING INTO DEBT with _WORTHLESS_ SOCIAL PROGRAMS _DOES_ get them re-elected, and that's what we get INSTEAD of a space programl]

avoiding the rest of what I want to say. I think everyone can fill in the blanks by now.

Instead I'll say WELL DONE, SIR! to The Astronauts of the Apollo Space Program, the engineers who designed and built the rockets, and the science fiction authors that often inspired them.

Re: Back when men were men...

not so much SAFETY being secondary... more like overcautiousness.

In other words, they weren't playing "CYA my job is on the line" or "we can't succeed yet, we want MORE FUNDING". It was FAR more goal oriented, and the people generally supported the space program.

Unlike now, where WAY too many people fail to see the value in buying rockets and doing cool heroic stuff.

Firefox 68 arrives with darker dark mode, redesigned extensions dashboard

Re: "the test is borked, or (more likely) this is challenging for many web designers"

"It's easy, just don't use light grey text on a white background."

or BRIGHT BLUE on BLINDING WHITE or any _OTHER_ uber-low-contrast HARD ON THE EYES combination of colors... [proving that web "developers" have an overall intelligence deficiency]

and why is FF still *ALL* *2D* *FLATTY* ??? hasn't someone GOTTEN A CLUE yet on that?

YouTube mystery ban on hacking videos has content creators puzzled

the new "lack of" standard in on-line content:

a) if *We Feel*, it gets a ban [even if it's just one activist moderator]

b) it's OUR server, so shut up

c) you post your content at the whim of our service. We're big enough to just say it to your face.

d) we can change the agreement, any time, for any length of time, whenever we *FEEL*

e) we make the rules, we enforce the rules, we *ARE* the rules

etc.

"for the children" of course

Mmm, instant Java: Visual Studio Code 1.36 brings tasty updates – unless you run 32-bit Linux

strangely enough, the "dead arch" makes sense in too many cases:

a) very low end priced portable computers [lets say with Atom processors on them and limited RAM], sorta like 'netbooks' even. Usually those are ARM-based, but not always

b) embedded boards. often useful to do development on them directly if you can plug in a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Some are still x86 arch (but most, like RPi, seem to be ARM based these days)

c) >15 year old (aka ancient) computers being recycled for new purposes. I've got a few of these laying about that can easily run an old version of Linux [and in some cases, do, and some have XP on them].

Some time ago I brought a 17 year old laptop on site for contract work because I needed a Linux box, and they didn't have one (yet), to do embedded kinds of stuff with an RPi. I got MORE WORK done on that old thing, with 512M RAM and a 20G hard drive in it, than I could have on a BRAND NEW WIN-10-NIC box with the usual hardware load.

32-bit is NOT DEAD, just not all that popular right now, in places where people have plenty of money to spend on new stuff. But amazingly enough, with the developer tools that _I_ use, that 17 year old Toshiba laptop worked EXTREMELY WELL for the purpose that I needed it for. I could not run Firefox on it (with a responsive user interface, anyway), but I could do just about everything else I needed to do with it.

not so amazing, really, when you consider that Linux was designed for old klunky hardware, that it does NOT require the latest hardware and GIGABYTES of RAM and TERABYTES of DISK "just to load".

"If you're running 32bit Linux on your development machines at this point you're doing something wrong."

*cough* Raspberry Pi *cough* still runs 32-bit Linux

And 32-bit Linux works pretty well IN A VM

And 32-bit Linux is actually *slightly* *faster* if you're not running some PIGGY THING that WASTES RAM BY ITS VERY EXISTENCE [like maybe IntelliJ or chromium or anything written by Micro-shaft].

Or the worst: If it has NodeJS in it. Like "guess what" does!

If you have less than 4G of RAM, it's smarter to run 32-bit than 64-bit. And last I checked a LOT of things run really well on a system with less than 4G RAM, _INCLUDING_ developer tools. No need to spend $$$$ on bleeding edge hardware when "what you already have" can easily do the job... for those of us with budgets, who's mommy and daddy aren't paying for it, and when money is better spent elsewhere.

Re: Want to connect to Raspberry Pi via SSH and edit files in [a GUI editor]

"Isn't the X11 protocol in the middle of being replaced by Wayland"

yeah SOME ARROGANT LInux people *FELT* this would happen, and yet it has NOT, and the OBVIOUS deficiency of NOT being able to support "remote GUI" is keeping Wayland off of MANY desktops!

Poettering *FELT* as if systemd was better. A _LOT_ of people became ANGRY at the "mandated change", and some WONDERFUL DEVS forked Debian into Devuan [which is what I use for Linux] so we could keep SysV init on Linux.

The Gnome 3 devs *FELT* as if their feature creep was BETTER, and a *LOT* of people (including Linus himself) became ANGRY and some WONDERFUL DEVS forked gnome 2 into Mate so we could KEEP OUR DESKTOP AS-IS without the unnecessary and unwanted FEATURE CREEP (which was more like 'take away what we like and replace it with something we do not').

And a LOT of us STILL USE WINDOWS 7 because the FEATURE CREEP of 8-10 is NOT wanted, either.

SO I'd say *NO* - Wayland is *NOT* going to replace X11. Not NOW, not ANY TIME SOON. It's not even really ready for 'prime time' in and of itself...

Arrogant developers and their SHOVING FEATURE CREEP INTO OUR BODY ORIFICES... and TAKING AWAY WHAT WE WANT TO KEEP just to get security updates and fixes... THAT needs to STOP.

US Cyber Command warns that the Outlook is not so good - Iranians hitting email flaw

Re: Now where is the patch for.....

maybe at some point, perhaps the near future, people will realize the INsecurity of using 'Virus Outbreak' aka 'MS Outlook' for e-mail...

Or even LESS likely, Micro-shaft produces something WITHOUT exploitable security craters built in.

'Virus Outbreak' has been one of the WORST applications for SECURITY CRATERS, *EVAR*. Why are people still using this steaming pile of excrement, again?

Amazon: Carbon emissions from our Australian bit barns aren't for public viewing

Re: Any laws being broken?

"Damn, they are so brainwashed"

so says Mr. Pott about Mr. Kettle

Re: Any laws being broken?

thanks Mr. Gumby, we appreciate your candor

Re: It's obvious

secret underground world-domination complexes. heh.

thinking of that, I just got done buying a bunch of stuff from Amazon... cheapest way to build a new computer, buying individual parts, use "el cheapo freebie" shipping. E-bay just didn't have what I wanted.

Re: Any laws being broken?

"Any scientist who conclusively and correctly proved climate change was not related to greenhouse gases would have their career made for life."

unless their studies and published results were DELIBERATELY SILENCED to keep them in obscurity...

Re: Any laws being broken?

"if you 'splode a star"

very true - (according to modern theories) nearly all of the elements above hydrogen were created by stellar fusion combined by novae and explosions and whatnot.

Re: Any laws being broken?

"Heat causes carbon dioxide???. My years of study in chemistry and my degree in geology calls shenanigans on your strange view of the world."

You missed a little detail in your "years of study", regarding two things: a) the equilibrium reaction of carbonates in water as affected by temperature, and b) the solubility of gas in water based on temperature and pressure.

('b' is something I knew a lot about while operating nuclear reactors for the U.S. Navy; to avoid gas buildup inside the reactor vessel, gas levels were kept below the point where they'd come out of solution, and an operation known as 'de-gas' would be conducted when the levels got too high, to get rid of the excess gas)

In case you forgot, the solubility of gas in water, at standard atmospheric pressure, maxes out at around 1 C and drops to a minimum at around 60C. When you watch tap water boil, if it ever does (for a watched pot never boils, ha ha ha) you can see bubbles form long before the water reaches the boiling point, at around 60C, because all of the dissolved gas comes out of solution. To further prove that point, ice cubes often form in the fridge [without an ice maker] such that the gasses come out of solution during the freezing process, and you'll see "cloudy ice" because of it [the ice must freeze solid for this to happen though]. Needless to say, there's a variability of gas solubility between 1C and 60C, with the curve "generally going down".

Conclusion: raise water temperature, CO2 solubility is low, combined with a shift in the equilibrium of carbonates AND the solubility of carbonates precipitated on the ocean floor, lake beds, etc.. The end result is that as temperature INCREASES, so will the measured CO2 levels increase. And THAT is the mechanism, explained using basic chemistry and physical properties of water.

You can also see this in a can of soda: as it warms up, it goes FLAT.

Re: Any laws being broken?

@DJO - you responded with "Idiot" as the very first word in your post. Is an ad hominem attack your main debate strategy? Might as well quote Chevy Chase when he'd do the fake-debate with Jane Curtain on Saturday Night Live back in the 70's - it usually began with something like "Jane, you ignorant slut..."

(so typical of the left to resort so quickly to ad hominem attacks and emotional manipulation, for they have no truth on their side)

Re: Any laws being broken?

"I suggest you look up the Dunning Kruger effect and consider how it might apply to you."

I suggest you study the science yourself and not just believe the propaganda being excreted by those so called "climate scientists". CO2 infrared absorption spectrum. black body radiation. compare all that to the effect water has on temperatures and 'greenhouse effect'. It's a good start.

The main difference between what I am saying and what you are saying: You made an ad-hominem attack. I merely point to the science.

Re: Not really sure...

my fan club!

Re: Not really sure...

"Yes, he is a leftie. They don't want to pay taxes. They just want you to pay taxes."

good summary

Re: Not really sure...

CO2 only absorbs black-body IR radiation that corresponds to temperatures below -50F and above about 140F, and so can NOT be a greenhouse gas of any significance. CO2 is released from water as it warms, the way a soda goes flat as it warms up, which results in elevated measured levels as water gets warmer. The CO2 itself is an indicator of temperature, NOT a cause of it. That's pretty much a summary.

Re: Any laws being broken?

more laws ... yeah THAT'll fix it! [*NOT*]

we don't need MORE LAWS. we need to EXPOSE the LIES, and let everyone see the TRUTH for once, instead of a bunch of cooked "facts" and limited information and *WRONG* *CONCLUSIONS*. aka 'fake news'.

Re: Not really sure...

it's _REALLY_ all about the HYPOCRISY of the LEFT.

1) Jeff Bezos and other lefties are all about the PERCEPTION of "caring about the environment". They'll gladly SADDLE THEIR COMPETITION with unnecessary "green energy" requirements, and even BUY POLITICIANS to FORCE AN ENTIRE STATE (Cali-Fornicate-You) to DO THE SAME.

2) Then, when MOST companies are set with RIDICULOUS LIMITATIONS AND COSTS over a COMPLETE FORNICATING HOAX (the entire idea about man-made CO2 causing catastrophic and possibly irreversible climate change, something that ONLY AN UNEDUCATED _MORON_ WOULD ACTUALLY BELIEVE*), you LOCATE YOUR DATA CENTERS ELSEWHERE. In this case, Australia.

3) and THEN, when it comes time for THE TRUTH, you *HIDE* it like "nothing to see here move along".

Does THIS sound about right? I think it _DOES_ !!!

And with THIS kind of FORNICATING BOVINE SEWAGE, we end up with Amazon's market dominance for AWS _IN_ _PERPETUITY_, an INCREASE in the gap between 'rich' and 'poor', and LEFTY POLITICS DOMINATING EVERYWHERE to _MAINTAIN_ all that.

* if people would stop FEELING for 5 minutes and actually LISTEN TO REASON, I could *EASILY* disprove the entire CO2-global-climate-bullcrap thing with a can of soda and the CO2 infrared absorption spectrum and a handful of other relevant scientific facts...

Microsoft has Windows 1.0 retrogasm: Remember when Windows ran in kilobytes, not gigabytes?

Re: "Why Windows 1.0?"

that was the whole point of comparing windows 1.0 to windows 10 - even without the decimal, it's STILL all 2D FLATSO in Win-10-nic, just like it was in Windows 1.0, but the difference is that BACK THEN it's all they really had RAM and video performance to handle... whereas _now_ it's COMPLETELY POINTLESS to make things all FLUGLY like that...

exept that a bunch of "whiz kids" around 2015-sh *FELT* it was better then CRAMMED IT ALL UP OUR ASSES whether we WANT it or not. It's the same basic ARROGANT crowd that excreted systemd, gnome 3, Australis, ":The Ribbon", and "The Metro". it was like suddenly we woke up and it ALL CHANGED and we were being FORCED to ACCEPT IT.

Re: "Windows 1 was indeed sorry"

Windows 3.0 (and later) was VERY "fit for purpose", if you ran it on a 386 or better (even 386 SX).

The irritating "program manager" was workable. The 'file manager' was usable. but the BEST part was the virtual x86 DOS windows, where you could actually MULTITASK MS-DOS APPLICATIONS.

But as we all know Micro-shaft FORGOT the lessons of Windows 3.0 which was patterned after the updates that made OS/2 1.2 "way cool" - the UI had 3D SKEUOMORPHIC ELEMENTS, buttons that looked like buttons, and not FLATSO colored squares on a FLAT background.

You know, like Windows "Ape" (8.x) and Win-10-nic (10) do. FLATTY McFLATFACE.

Why the *FEEL* did Micro-shaft go BACK to THE FLAT? Windows 3.0 sales EXPLODED because of the 3D SKEUOMORPHIC appearance!!! That, and Solitaire. It wasn't MS Word or Excel that sold it. it was THE 3D SKEUOMORPHIC that sold it!!!

And the programs were efficient, loaded pretty fast and ran pretty well on that ancient hardware, with LOWER RAM REQUIREMENTS and SMALLER DISK SPACE REQUIREMENTS etc. etc.

/me facepalms how things have ended up

and yet, with 1000 times the computing power in 2019, as compare to 1985, we have:

a) flat-looking UI again [MS forgot the lessons of Windows 3.0]

b) limited UI color choices (as opposed to UNLIMITED, like XP)

c) piggy CRapps that run as if they 're on an 8Mhz 8086 with 512kb RAM (I blame UWP, ".Not", C-Pound, and so-called "object oriented" design that's more like "look, look, look!, this language has OBJECTS in it!!!")

Unfortunately, MS's standard development practices "pig up" the applications (with feature creep and pure laziness and spyware) to match the new capability of the systems upon which they are run... and demand MORE, MORE, MORE!

Trump: Huawei ban will be lifted!
US Commerce Dept.: Yeah, about that…

Re: US economic dominance --

"is fading. Trump's trade wars make it fade faster."

so says your opinion without any evidence. And yet, the U.S. economy has been steadily growing since Trump signed the first executive order... and to some extent, right after the election in anticipation of same.

No matter how you try to obfuscate the truth, state opinions as if they were facts, and blame Trump for it, you can't deny that his policies are WORKING.

Wages are up. Unemployment is down. And the thing that matters the MOST for international agreements, that BOTH SIDES benefit from it [not just a one-sided bend-over-and-expose-my-anus "agreement" like what one-world-order politicians dealt out since Bush I), then you end up with where we're headed right now...

U.S. economic dominance comes from one thing: Freedom. Free thinking, Free markets, and the freedom to COMPETE properly. Get GUMMINT out of the way, and KEEP IT OUT OF THE WAY. THAT will get you ECONOMIC DOMINANCE.

So if you want such a thing in UK, then GET THE SOCIALISM OUT OF THE WAY. And do the "Brexit".

When a job returns to "an exchange of work for money at the market rate", and is no longer "a right" or "a demand" or something worse [basic income being ONE example], then people actually WORK HARDER and get MORE done in LESS time because, if they do NOT, they are REPLACED by those who WILL.

And that is a GOOD thing.

I'd buy stuff that said "made in Canada".

Someone that I know works at the Canadian/U.S. Border (Customs agent). Apparently a LOT of lumber crosses the border there.

/me sings the Monty Python 'Lumberjack' song since I'm thinking of it now

actually there's this one Canadian company that makes circuit boards, and they're one of the fastest I've seen at doing prototypes for designs. FedEx results back in 5 working days from when I submit the designs. I've submitted them electronically on a Sunday (evening) and received boards on Thursday. It's pretty cool.

Re: By now, everybody knows not to rely on US technology

if you can manage to make a 'droid compatible phone OS and ship it out of Finland or some other country that has a lot of competent software engineers that understand cell phones, go for it.

I'd love to see competition there.

ReactOS 'a ripoff of the Windows Research Kernel', claims Microsoft kernel engineer

"Switching to W10 is often not an option"

so many ways to fix that for ya. I'd go for removing 'often'. 2nd, s/often/usually/

but worth saying nonetheless

I've used most of those things and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY DISAGREE WITH YOU.

Not "anyone". Maybe SOME people (you included). but not "anyone".

and what does OS/360 have to do with NETWORKING? it didn't exist back then.

Re: Copyright law has an xception for interinoperability

wouldn't that be 'interoperability' or is that just the US'ian way of saying it?

Re: Why now?

"What have ReactOS done recently to upset them?"

yes, I'd like to know that as well. my first instinct was a lot like that quote