Posts by anthonyhegedus

Europe plots escape hatch from the enshittification of search

It's a lot more reliable and quicker than googling. And it really does save time. Just like with googling, you need to discard the wrong answers. So you need to have some subject matter knowledge or you'll get nowhere.

However it is getting better [AI]. I find more and more that it can save a considerable amount of time doing what I'd call "drudgery" on the internet. Or, it saves time proofreading a document not just for grammar errors but for inconsistencies.

AI is a genuinely useful tool that overall is a good thing. And no, I didn't write or check this post with AI. My grammar checker is suggesting that I remove the word "really" from the second sentence and that I put a comma after However in the second paragraph. I will ignore it.

I think we need to rethink what a search engine is for. At least a quarter of my "searches" are actually questions that I use an AI for instead. The rest - it's a nuisance getting decent results. I don't want adverts most of the time. But the Google AI responses are for the most part useless.

I'm seeing Bing's results about as good as Google's now. Not because it's getting better (it isn't), but because Google is getting worse.

Microsoft facing multibillion legal claim over how it sells software

Re: Insidious

I'd love to do that with our customers. But they want a cloud sync solution and they want office apps. People don't like libreoffice for some reason and I know it's not fully compatible with MS 365 Office. People like Outlook, even New Outlook compared to Thunderbird. IMAP email is fiddly to set up. Microsoft Exchange isn't.

I would love to move over to Linux for at least some of the companies we support but it really doesn't look possible.

We've tried a couple with Apple Macs. One user outright hated it because it was different from everyone else in the office. Another die-hard mac user ("I have only ever used macs") couldn't cope when we replaced his 15-year old Macbook with a new one, because it "was different" and "not how my old mac was".

We have other users who use macs and are OK but it's limited in scope and we all know macs are very expensive up-front. I use one and love it.

And then there's apps like Sage, Bluebeam, autocad, Visio, Project, Adobe stuff - yes there are alternatives but nobody's got time to learn something completely new.

Insidious

Everything about MS's pricing and selling strategies is insidious and predatory. Take for example the hotly debated topic of MS forcing a microsoft login onto each new computer. In a small business scenario, it basically means it forces every user to have their own (paid-for) microsoft 365 login to their own computer. Got a shared computer (very common in small businesses)? You can't easily have just one generic login (because of 2fa) to the computer. Yes, you can do it, but the way the system is designed makes it easier to just buy an extra licence.

Boffins warn that AI paper mills are swamping science with garbage studies

Why?

I'm struggling to see a reason for this? Why do people direct their AI's to produce junk papers in the first place?

Those authors should be blocked. Or am I being too simplistic here?

A new Lazarus arises – for the fourth time – for Pascal programming fans

I cut my programming teeth in Pascal. My first job involved turbo pascal. Happy times.

Microsoft moved the goalposts once. Will Windows 12 bring another shift?

If Microsoft really cared about their users' security, they'd improve the rest of their shitty software intead of concentrate on this TPM.

defective shite

It's a wonder anything from Microsoft works at all. Are they really moving people onto Windows 11 to "protect" them? Have they suddenly "realised" that Windows 10 is defective and insecure? Come on... that's nonsense. They're trying to force new standards, as part of something we aren't aware of yet. New standards that Microsoft will be at the forefront of. All they're interested in is getting a bigger slice of the market in which to peddle their defective shite.

By making an OS that'll only run on (relatively) modern hardware, it'll force people to buy newer hardware. Some people will buy their AI-capable hardware, more than would otherwise have bought it anyway. That's all they need: an uptick in the number of people buying computers capable of more than 40 TOPS (the minimum for a copilot-ready PC). Of course, the hardware manufacturers will be happy, but more to the point, there'll be more hardware out there that can run Microsoft's AI stuff. And that's an opportunity to sell it more.

If MS had let people carry on with Windows 10, there wouldn't be a small increase in the sales of AI-ready hardware. It's pure greed. They want to artificially boost the market in their favour, even at the cost of consigning perfectly serviceable computers to the rubbish-heap.

The right thing to do would have been to have some corporate responsibility and keep windows 10 machines relevant until they're just too old. But not content with the way things have been for the last 30 years - gradual improvements leading to a hardware/software race, they're trying to game the market in their favour.

Top sci-fi convention gets an earful from authors after using AI to screen panelists

Easy to say, not so easy in real life. Something a feminist might say could be interpreted by a trans person as transphobia. Something a trans person could say could be interpreted as misogyny.

I'm afraid that saying "that's transphobia", where transphobia is defined as anything I say is transphobia, is not a helpful way of doing things. There is debate precisely because of this world view. There are even people who say that it's not up for debate. It clearly is.

This is where it all gets a little 1984. For example, one person's "transphobia" can be another person's "legitimate views". Where do you draw the line? And getting AI to decide just further pushes the dystopian nightmare.

"We're making up some subjective rules and getting a computer to judge you based on them".

Trump promises protection for TikTok, for which he has a ‘warm spot in my heart’

Re: Ignorant estate agent made president, result for everything is what you'd expect

The man* is a despot. He just hasn't got his absolute power yet. He's working on it by systematically dismantling anything that was good about the USA. He's inching forward with his plans and with each week, it seems to normalise the activities of the week before, if only by being more outlandish, irresponsible and stupid.

During the 'Meet the Press' interview, when questioned about costs increasing for businesses, he said that costs will decrease for the car industry, saving billions of dollars, and something about needing cars more than whatever it is you carry babies around in.

It's deranged behaviour. Out of the norm, and yet it is becoming the new norm.

He said that the next 100 days will see even more change, and now that he doesn't have to keep a rein on that elongated muskrat, he's going to have more time to devote to fucking up a once great country.

*the term 'man' is used in its loosest possible sense here

Microsoft to preload Word minutes after boot

Here we go again

Microsoft adding something nobody asked for... again!

We support hundreds of computers and slow loading of Word isn't something we've ever been told about. Whilst it certainly used to be the case with older computers running Windows XP and sporting a spinning rust hard drive, I wouldn't have thought it's top priority here.

But then they have a history of trying to "boost" things with pre-loading rather than actually making the code efficient. Like Windows "fast start" that changed the utility of turning-it-off-and-on-again forever.

And I'm pretty sure usage of Word has decreased in recent years anyway.

So yes, well done Microsoft, you've failed to read the room... again!

UK's smaller broadband operators face tough road ahead, consolidation possible

Re: Smaller networks don't really help themselves

Many openreach-using ISPs run off to India once they've scammed a user. Such as that tinpot BT who sign you up to a year contract just for calling them.

I've had nothing but good experience from altnets. They're more reliable, provide better routers and are generally cheaper.

And you may not need symettric but a) some people do and b) why the hell don't BT sell it for a normal amount of money? We KNOW it's possible to do it…

Re: Smaller networks don't really help themselves

BT don't offer symettric service - unlike almost all the altnets - unless you pay stupid money for it.

Openwretch

They used to play tricks like deliberately not fixing LLU connections, or deliberately breaking other connections, to make BT look better. Or in one case I recall years ago, a customer's broadband wasn't working - it wasn't BT - and after literally months or it not being fixed properly, the engineer suggested going to BT. Lo and behold, BT got them broadband within 2 weeks.

Even now, Openwretch still can't keep their hands off plugging BT. When we (a reseller of various wholesale broadband services) get a broadband connection put in by Openreach, they occasionally ask the customer where the "BT Hub" is, or even in one case leave one behind. Then we have to tell the customer it's not BT.

But, as I always end up saying, this consolidation that's inevitably going to happen is just part of the Enshittification of Everything. At the moment, altnets can move fast, and aren't bogged down in as much bureaucracy as the likes of BT, Virgin etc. That just won't last. It'll become awful.

Thunderbird joins Firefox on the monthly treadmill

Re: Exchange

I know, and I know it can't be necessarily free, but it's critical if you need it, and I don't trust these third party addons to keep being updated.

Exchange

When is thunderbird going to include Exchange/ compatibility? I know there’s a paid-for client but there have been paid-for clients before that have come and gone. So many people use Microsoft 365 and so many people hate outlook. Especially as MS seems to be simultaneously pushing the buggy “new outlook” and nobbling the old Outlook.

OpenAI pulls plug on ChatGPT smarmbot that praised user for ditching psychiatric meds

It’s encouraging to see OpenAI react quickly, but the fact that the model affirmed something as serious as stopping schizophrenia meds is pretty alarming. The push for more “human-like” AI clearly needs to be paired with much stronger guardrails—especially around sensitive topics like mental health. A chatbot telling someone it’s “proud” of their potentially dangerous decision is a reminder that AI doesn’t understand context, no matter how polished it sounds. We need less charm, more caution.

30 percent of some Microsoft code now written by AI - especially the new stuff

Can the code be any more unreliable than it is now with AI?

It's all part of the enshittification of everything

China is using AI to sharpen every link in its attack chain, FBI warns

And so it begins

Using AIs to basically wage war against each other is how countries will operate. All with the capability to affect infrastructure far more effectively than missiles etc. But at some point, the warmongering nations will wonder why it's not killing enough. But don't worry, AI will have a solution to that, I'm sure.

I don't think this is going to end well whatever happens.

After leaving citizens on hold for 798 years, UK tax authority has £1B for CRM upgrade

Who let Fujitsu back in? has a relative or friend in Fujitsu?

eh?

Sorry what did I misunderstand here? They cut the number of phone lines in order to push people online, as a way of helping fix the problem with people waiting too long? Wouldn't a first step have been to start to train more staff?

808 lines of BBC BASIC and a dream: Arm architecture turns 40

Such an obvious design, and one that today powers the majority of actual devices in the world.

I remember learning about RISC in 1985 at uni, and thinking "this is clever" but having absolutely no idea of course of what was to come.

Nationwide power outages knock Spain, Portugal offline

Brilliant humour, sir.

Microsoft pitches pay-to-patch reboot reduction subscription for Windows Server 2025

New low

The preview is just a few months, Microsoft products typically need 360 months testing to prove themselves.

It's a new low to charge people for something that should be part of the OS they paid for, and that as we know, is just an exercise it getting users to beta test their shite.

Elon Musk's X revenues in the UK crashed in 2023, down 66%

Re: MIL saw one with Martin Lewis

What absolute numpty downvired that comment?!

Re: My ads are from phishers

I got one on FB with a fake Richard Branson telling people to invest in this guaranteed money-making scheme. I reported it and got back a message that they didn't take it down, much like the 10 or so I've also reported in the last month. These massive social media companies just don't care. And what can the ASA do? What can Trading Standards do? Probably fuck-all. The social media companies make so much money from it that only the threat of, er, I don't know, tariffs or something, may work.

Seriously, this is going to be a massive problem now that they're emboldened with a "make america great again and sod the consquences" attitude.

Google goes cold on Europe: Stops making smart thermostats for continental conditions

If Microsoft is in charge of making largely annoying software, then Google is in charge of making stuff that they give up on after a few years.

Lesson: Don't buy any google hardware.

Actually, buy hardware that's easy to change in/out, easy to change the battery (if any) and has the backing of someone in our own country.

Windows isn't an OS, it's a bad habit that wants to become an addiction

My company supports a number of small businesses and they all use windows with a very small handful of exceptions. They all need apps which only run on Windows (like Sage or Autocad), or facilities which only run in Windows (like Sharepoint or Onedrive) or have a need to keep using MS Office because let's face it, LibreOffice can't always cope with the formatting. Also, they may be using hardware like a specialist plasma cutter, or a large format printer for which there are only drivers in Windows.

I would love to be able to switch these customers over to Linux but it's just too daunting a task with little possibility of success. We could save our customers hundreds in licensing. However, they'll still need cloud storage services, which may end up costing as much as the MS licensing did in the first place. And WE still need to make a profit.

MS have us and our customers in a headlock.

Microsoft mystery folder fix might need a fix of its own

It really is a case of "the emperor's new clothes". Been that way since Win95, which wasn't a proper OS. Everyone seems to love Windows XP, but it was a total virus-magnet. At least they've made a lot of progress with that since then but I think they've not only lost control of the MASSIVE code-base, but I think they've lost control of the feature set.

It's a war between functionality and ease of use of the one hand and make as much money as possible from these stupid cunts on the other.

Re: Quality control - yes we’ve heard of it

You mean thank %deity%

You're welcome

Micro$oft

Re: Quality control - yes we’ve heard of it

This is probably true of “home” users - both tech-savvy (because they know how to protect themselves somewhat) and non-techy (because they just don’t know). But in business, particularly small businesses, where a security breach could mean bankruptcy, many business owners will want to err on the side of caution. Larger organisations will certainly not want to take the risk, at least not with very careful consideration.

Small business owners don't want to be bothered with technical risk if they can avoid it.

But in any case, if we follow Microsoft's line, that would be to replace all non-upgradeable computers this October. They are encouraging this absolute waste, through greed. They could decide to keep support for all Windows 10 installations, but they don't want that work eating into their bottom line.

If they just waited 5 to 10 more years, those computers would naturally expire anyway.

Two things stand out to me:

1. If they're keeping the LTSC version updated anyway, is it really that much more work (if any) just to keep regular Windows 10 installations updated too? I mean they're writing the software, aren't they?

2. Their insistence that computers can be upgraded is disingenuous at best. Even the message from the readiness tool says that your computer is not compatible with Windows 11 *at the moment*. That sort of implies that it's possible to upgrade the hardware. In most cases, this is impractical. Sure, just upgrade the CPU in your old laptop, easy! Yes, some can be upgraded of course.

The facts of the matter are that they will be prepping the updates anyway, and they're really pushing for people to get a new computer (and making it feel like it's their decision, because it's just too much hassle to upgrade the hardware). It's bullying basically.

The article is about Microsoft's ineptitude in fixing bugs. My point is that they have the resources to make a damn good quality control system. But that's never been at the heart of what they do, has it?

Quality control - yes we’ve heard of it

Instead of using resources in areas like advertising, advertising, advertising and tracking, perhaps they could invest some money in quality control at Microsoft. While they’re at it, perhaps they could a tually do some consumer research and find out what people need from a modern OS.

This is just abuse. They have the money, they just want more of it. They created this monster, and because of their policies, we have ridiculous situations like hundreds of millions computers going to landfill this year.

It’s happening on their watch. It’s protectionism by any other name.

As ChatGPT scores B- in engineering, professors scramble to update courses

Re: Calculators

This is what I fear. Humans simply regurgitate facts and data learnt over their lives too. But AI simulates that, and in some cases so well that it's not easily distinguishable. Without creative minds, yes, we will stagnate

Calculators

We were always told "you won't always have a calculator with you" and in a sense that's correct. Sometimes you won't have a phone or calculator and being able to understand how to make calculations on paper is a very important skill for that reason alone, and also because it teaches you how things like mathematics work. We still need scientists and mathematicians who know how it all works.

Now with AI, we could say the same thing, except whilst calculators liberated us from having to manually do calculations or use log tables, AI "liberates" us from thinking. What's the point in taking hours to think something through when an AI can do it in minutes or seconds, and come up with a "good enough" answer?

And therein lies the problem. "Good enough" will be good enough. People will lose their ability to do critical thinking and reasoning. Already people are getting worse at navigating because of satnavs in cars. We are in real danger of losing some of our cognitive abilities, through disuse.

I must say, I use AI, but I use it with caution. I still read things through, despite the temptation to copy and paste. And it does save me time. I can see the reasoning powers of AI getting better month by month and it's kind of getting scarily good sometimes.

But I do fear that this will gradually erode our cognitive abilities. And we've all read and seen enough scifi to know the way that goes...

Re: But when deeper thought was required, ChatGPT fared poorly.

Still, it doesn't think - it *simulates* thinking artificially. Do with that what you will.

When Microsoft made the Windows as a Service pivot

Gently?

No, Windows is not "gently" pushing people to use their services. They're steamrollering things onto people. Like forcing people to set up a Microsoft account for no reason other than for tracking. It doesn't give you a better experience, it tries to upsell things to you.

Microsoft has never been about making any experience better. They have all this telemetry, and what do they do? Make the file explorer ever more complex. Change the location of things like the "sign out" button. That sort of thing. Nothing *useful*. EVER.

And then there's all the nagging when you dare download Chrome. It's pathetic and sooner or later, they'll be forced to stop this nonsense.

UN says Asian scam call center epidemic expanding globally amid political heat

The psychology of scamming is fascinating. Individuals who have themselves been trafficked/scammed/kidnapped use their own skills to convince other people to part with their money seemingly with such ease. At some point, there'll be a tipping point where the number of savvy enough people to avoid scams is so high that it isn't worth the bother. At least that's one scenario.

The trouble with that is that the criminals devise ever more sophisticated scams, using ever more sophisticated technology. It's going to get to the point where you can only trust what you directly see and hear, and sooner or later, even that might be in doubt.

The true crunch will come when all this leads to more enshittification of everything. It'll get harder and harder to do the things we used to have to do "the long way round" anyway. AI will require more and more energy in both making the scams and defending people against scams, which will drive up prices of those things that are being protected.

I don't see this ending well.

Re: Hmm... China again

Many of the people being scammed are in fact Chinese. Criminal gangs are trying to recruit chinese-speaking people for this very reason.

ICE enlists Palantir to develop all-seeing 'ImmigrationOS' eye to speed up deportations

IBM Tabulator

IBM sold tabulator equipment to the Germans in the 1930s. Imagine what the Nazis of 1933 could have done with the technology of today. Oh wait, we don't have to.

Bank of England flirts with offline digital dosh

And cash - that can never be destroyed. And you'd need something a bit more techy than a magnetron. Like a small fire. Or perhaps just nicking it.

It's still more secure than old-hat cash. I for one would prefer it. Awaiting downvotes by old fuddy-duddies who can't accept change. Pun intended

Uncle Sam kills funding for CVE program. Yes, that CVE program

What happened to the old adage of "let's do a study into the effects of getting rid of x"? No, they just cut it. Because that's how Trump runs his businesses. And we all know how "successful" they are.

And we mustn't forget that businesses aren't democracies. But that's OK because he isn't worried about that.

Re: When wet dreams become reality.

I think he meant the USSA

Microsoft OneDrive file sync apps for Windows, Mac broken for 10 months

Fucks sake

Onedrive/sharepoint sync is already unreliable. I’ve got one customer who had to stop using it because it just kept failing to sync.

Even now, there are always sync errors. Multiple people editing the same file doesn’t always work. It’s just, as usual, typical Microsoft.

Windows 11 stops freaking out over wallpaper customization

Software Not Ready

Why can't they release a software build when it's completely ready, rather than piecemeal to those computers not running certain software?

This makes it appear as if they don't really have any way of testing this software without using the general public as beta-testers! And I think that's the heart of the matter: they have not only lost control over their code base; they have actually lost control of their feature set!

They've been introducing features and changes with zero thought for the end-user experience, and it's getting worse.

For example, we couldn't allow 24H2 to install for a few of our customers because it broke access to their old-ish servers and NAS boxes. Another example is end-users who use Sage having their Outlook "upgraded" to New Outlook without their permission, but New Outlook doesn't work with Sage.

I'm sick of it!

Microsoft total recalls Recall totally to Copilot+ PCs

What's the point of this?

OK, I can see *some* possible uses for this, maybe. But none of them are worth the security risk of these snapshots having been taken and saved locally in Windows. We know how shitty Windows is with security and reliability. This is just asking for trouble.

Microsoft lists seven habits of highly effective Windows 11 users

This reminds me of when Bill Gates said that everyone is going to want a computer screen on the fridge, and went on to say that it's the centre of the family, it's where everyone congregates, and the future is in interactive displays on the fridge etc etc. What a load of old bollocks! No, it's not, and it never was, except in Bill Gates' and his mates' kitchens maybe.

I can't remember when this was, maybe more than 20 years ago, but it's that attitude: we are telling you how you operate and we want to make a UI design to suit that perception, whether or not it's right.

This is what they're doing now. No thought as to whether a feature is useful or not. Just give us what YOU want MS, and we'll suck it up like mindless idiots!!

MS being MS. Again.

Tip 1: No, the start menu isn't my own, it's Microsoft's. They've been pushing their ever-more useless start menus onto us for well over a decade now. And it's full of pointless news articles, links to software you don't have, and isn't what users asked for, which is just small icons somewhere to click on, that we choose

Tip 2: snap layouts. Well blow me, something cheap or free software has been able to do for us for quite a while. Who cares?

Tip 3: So what? Who uses this?

Tip 4: Widgets! Everyone hates it. Why does it come up by hovering - nay passing by for a millisecond - that useless bit of weather info at the bottom? I know you can change it but it's SO annoying when you're trying to work. And it's full of clickbait headlines and adverts. Yeah, a real step forward.

Tip 5: Focus mode? No idea. Focus mode is just copying phone features

Tip 6: Windows Hello. A glorified login screen which really is annoying. It breaks, and nobody understands what those little icons are (Is that PIN? Is that Password? Why do I have a PIN?).

Tip 7: Dark mode: wow.

These marketing people are really scraping the barrel. These are not special features. These are just background things that may or may not help Microsoft. This company has never in its history employed an actual focus group - or at least that's what it looks like. They've never done research into what real people want. They only foist these "features" onto us to improve their bottom line. When was the last time that they added a feature that actually makes things easier and quicker, based on what people actually want?

And it's only going to get worse.

Trump doubles down, vows to make Chinese imports even more expensive for Americans

Re: I bet

What Genocide are you talking about? Why did Joe Biden do it but not Donald Trump? I don't have an argument to make because I've just seen heavily loaded verbiage from you, with no real content, context or frame of reference.