* Posts by TVU

1023 publicly visible posts • joined 31 Mar 2016

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Oracle extends 19c database support to 2032, making it 'longest strategic release'

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Oracle extends 19c database support to 2032, making it 'longest strategic release'

I don't giving a flying fox if the database support is increased to 2064 because you can bet that at some stage licence compliance officers and checks will be set upon you to get get more $$$ for Larry (and that won't be a happy time).

GNOME 48 beta is another nail in X11's coffin

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Re: No Thanks

For me, X11 just works fine so I am not interested in any supposed mythical (and dubious) upgrades.

Looks like paywalls are coming soon to a subreddit near you

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Frankly, I think it is an insane proposal that will backfire with, for example, Reddit members creating equivalent subreddits on the same topics as the paywalled ones. In addition, many administrators of subreddits that are compulsorily paywalled might very well resign en masse.

tl;dr This proposal really, really sucks.

CentOS Connect conference announces return of Firefox

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Re: Competition is out there

The unfortunate loss of old CentOS was due to the IBM-owned Red Hat trying to coercively monetise CentOS but all it has done is produce competitive offshoots. It is a bit of an own goal there.

Agent P waxes lyrical about 14 years of systemd

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Re: I'm a hater.

To this day, I still do not understand why on earth the 2014 Debian conference adopted SystemD. Just what were they thinking of?

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Re: two corrections:

Well, like a tumour, there has been a malignant takeover growth of other functions.

Remember it'll cost ya to keep the lights on for Windows 10

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Re: Getting the popcorn

I hope that corporations can force a change in Microsoft policy so that longer term Win 10 maintenance charges are reduced particularly since Win 11 is just a wholly unnecessary and unwanted change and inconvenience.

Why users still couldn't care less about Windows 11

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Re: There is no reason for Windows 11

Tbh, what they should have done is continued with Windows 10 as a rolling release with necessary updates because Win 11 is just a pointless show pony change. Business and home users would probably be content with a rolling release model like that.

Humans brought the heat. Earth says we pay the price

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It's all very well having yet another predictive report but what we really need right now is practical strategies to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels (switching to low carbon energy generation systems would help there) and the implementation of methods such as cloud seeding to produce more reflective cumulus clouds, the deployment of olivine grains to effectively convert CO2 to carbonates, etc.

Mega city council's Oracle finance fix faces further delays

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I asked Sentient Sloth about the wisdom of using an Oracle based system and this was his response:

https://tenor.com/en-GB/view/how-about-no-sloth-gif-11922211

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Re: Honesty with shareholders?

As with the Edinburgh University fiasco, Oracle's performance leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully, these two cases will serve as a warning to others.

Indeed, one consulting company used the Edinburgh University experience as a case study in ERP project failure.

Windows 11 stages a comeback – still miles behind older sibling

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Re: Not really

Yes, it is quite clear from those statistics that very many Windows users aren't at all convinced about the need for the pointless Windows 11 that will in many cases will need new equipment to run on. The antivirus companies will benefit as they will almost certainly offer virus cover for Windows 10 users for some years ahead.

This is what I detest about Microsoft (whoever leads it) - pointless change for it's own sake that inconveniences their home users and business customers. We saw it in the move from Win 7 to the hideous Win 8 and we are seeing exactly the same thing in the move from Win 10 to the worthless Win 11.

Windows 10's demise nears, but Linux is forever

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Re: I agree with the majority of the article...

The best photo stitcher for Linux I know is Autopano Giga and it is excellent. It was discontinued by GoPro after they took over the great French company that was Kolor. It is still out there on the internet and the only other competent photo stitcher I know of is PTGui.

European Space Agency picks Thales Alenia Space to build lunar lander

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European Space Agency picks Thales Alenia Space to build lunar lander

I definitely want this mission to succeed and I expect that it will return some pretty interesting science results.

And now something fun for a change: Building blocks of life in Bennu asteroid samples

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If you have a space telescope that is double the diameter of the current James Webb Space Telescope that gives 4x the light gathering power then that should really start to pick up life bearing oxygen-water worlds even if they are just at the microbial stage of evolutionary development.

Only 1 in 10 Oracle Java users want to stay with Big Red

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Re: Americans and [our] money

This is a case where anticompetitive Oracle should not have been permitted to acquire Sun Microsystems in the first place (same applies to the Red Hat and VMware takeovers).

White House asks millions of govt workers if they would be so kind as to fork right off

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White House asks millions of govt workers if they would be so kind as to fork right off

That's all very well but those sacked employees are also voters who can also potentially deprive Trump of a majority in the lower House of Representatives and possibly in the Senate as well in the 2026 midterm elections.

I should add that Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are practically Democrats plus Mitch McConnell is in his final Senate term so he doesn't care any more and so he has already voted against Trump nominees.

South Carolina's abandoned nuclear reactors positioned to fuel the AI datacenter boom

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One of the interesting things is that the big data companies want nuclear power stations and not fossil fuel plants so the CO2 emissions from Trump's "Drill, baby, drill!" policy will be lessened.

British Museum says ex-contractor 'shut down' IT systems, wreaked havoc

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"The freelancer gained entry to an unauthorized area late last week to wreak havoc, the Metropolitan Police confirmed"

I would not be at all surprised if that phenomenon is more widespread than is reported with institutions and companies not wanting any publicity or reputational damage arising from a former empolyee's acts of vengeance.

Trump hits undo on Biden AI safety order, EV mandate, emissions standards, and more

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" it's about the twisted environmentalists who want to cover the world in solar panels and windmills and increasing the cost of, well, everything"

^ That is a medieval outdated attitude not least because uncontrolled climate change also comes with its own massive costs as we can from what's happened in states like California and Florida.

SpaceX launches 2 lunar landers on path to the Moon

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I certainly didn't intend it that way either - I just want to see the lunar photos and get the lunar regolith geological composition results, etc.

We certainly got some surprises from the Apollo missions, such as astronaut and geologist Harrison Schmitt discovering the orange soil during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 that comprised tiny orange glass beads that had been ejected in a volcanic eruption. No one had predicted that beforehand.

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Well, I would like to see two successful lunar landings followed by subsequent data sets and photos.

SpaceX and Blue Origin both face FAA mishap probes

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It appears that one of the three main engines on the upper stage failed leading to the rocket going off course and tumbling around so initiating the Autonomous Flight Termination System. In any event, I wish both Blue Origin and SpaceX well with their future rocket launches.

While I remember, the Times has reported that SaxaVord SpacePort's first UK launch will take place later on this year on the Shetland island of Unst.

NASA's lunar Roomba set to suck up Moon dirt for study

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Re: If it works as designed...

That reminds me that I really don't like the inaccurate term 'vacuum cleaner' when they are just suction cleaners so I just refer to them informally as hoovers.

Bonus points are availble to the contributer who can reveal the numpty who first decided to call them 'vacuum cleaners'. (I have no idea who it was)

Japan's wooden satellite exits International Space Station

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Well, at least it will burn up well when it eventually reenters the Earth's atmosphere.

First launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket slated for January 10

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Blue Origin has named the date for the first launch of its New Glenn rocket – January 10

I hope that this first launch is successful because competition avoids being wholly dependent on one operator such as SpaceX.

Google's 10-year Chromebook lifeline leaves old laptops headed for silicon cemetery

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Re: Pick one, Google.

"Built in obsolescence of three years"

...which is both unforgivable and irresponsible when we are supposed to be taking care of the planet these days.

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Something like FydeOS or possibly Chrome OS Flex might help there. I certainly disapproved of Google being allowed to proceed with the highly anticompetitive buyout of Neverware and their CloudReady OS which was suitable for putting on Chromebooks.

Amazon worker – struck and shot in New Orleans terror attack – initially denied time off

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Re: Wrong type of leave…

It is unfortunate though that it took press and TV interest for this worker to be treated with care and respect but that should have been done from the outset by Amazon without any prompting.

With 10 months of support remaining, Windows 10 still dominates

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Re: Enshittification...

Yes, and Microsoft's own Windows 11 customers are now the new quality (or not as in this case) assurance testers whether they like it or not.

A New Year's gift from Microsoft: Surprise, your scanners don't work

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A New Year's gift from Microsoft: Surprise, your scanners don't work

This is what happens when you sack all your quality control staff (happened back in 2014).

The New Year's gift from Microsoft should be that they are now hiring quality assurance staff.

US Army soldier who allegedly stole Trump's AT&T call logs arrested

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Re: Reddington?!?

Reddington unfortunately sounds like nice Paddington's evil twin.

Blue Origin inches closer to the first New Glenn flight

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It is good that there is competition between Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, Arianespace and SpaceX and so I hope that the New Glenn has a successful first launch whenever that is.

Microsoft adds another problem to the Windows 11 24H2 naughty list

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Ongoing and new multiple bugs is what happens when the great majority of Microsoft quality assurance testers get sacked and we are living with that legacy now (they were fired a decade or so if IIRC).

Technical issue briefly grounds American Airlines flights across US

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Well, if the "vendor technology" involved certain Oracle products going SNAFU then blame might be justified in this instance.

Parker Solar Probe set for blisteringly hot date with the Sun on Christmas Eve

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Re: Nine solar radii -- just wow!

It is indeed incredible and we will almost certainly get more new and interesting data about our planet's home star. While the Parker probe does have radiation hardened components, it will be interesting to see if any damage has ocurred from this close encounter.

Microsoft investigating 365 Office activation gremlin

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Microsoft investigating 365 Office activation gremlin

...which is why many customers still prefer to have MS Office actually installed on their own computer hard drive/SSD.

Rocks from Chinese Moon mission suggest Luna's history needs revision

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Indeed, and the key word there is "from other sources". I think a better article wording would have been something like "higher residual magnetic field" and we see exactly the same phenomenon on Mars where the planetary magnetic field also died but where the current residual crustal magnetic strength does vary from place to place as we can see in the chart below:

https://cdn.sci.esa.int/documents/33745/35367/1567214327688-135896main_pnas_102_42_connerney_fig1_625w.jpg

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The Moon certainly had an active past and we can see that in the prescence of volcanic cinder cones on the near side of the Moon as identified by various lunar probes.

As with Mars, the cooling and solidifying of the liquid inner layers and core could have led to the reduction and end of the magnetic field.

Xfce 4.20 is out: Wayland support lands, but some pieces are still missing

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Re: Still?

"This is not yet implemented in Wayland."

Indeed, and it reminds me of a very relevent comment from another forum:

"You failed to read the fine print at the bottom of all the wayland promises over the past 12 years:

"It will improve your performance. Next year. Or the year after that. Or maybe the year after that. If you have the right hardware. And the right desktop. On certain tasks with certain apps. Maybe. Depends on the alignment of the stars and the moon, and if Jupiter is in the 2nd house"."

Europe's largest city council: Oracle ERP allocated £2B in transactions to wrong year

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"Europe's largest city council: Oracle ERP allocated £2B in transactions to wrong year"

Oracle, the "gift" that keeps on g̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ taking.

Open source orgs strengthen alliance against patent trolls

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'The Linux Foundation and the CNCF on Monday announced an expansion of a 2019 partnership with patent defense firm Unified Patents'

That is excellent news and it is about time that something like this happened to deter these opportunistic patent troll parasites.

Open source maintainers underpaid, swamped by security, going gray

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"Open source maintainers underpaid, swamped by security, and going gray"

In the case of open source Linux software, I would like to see the Linux Foundation contribute financially in some way, eg through a grants system (just look at all their wealthy backers).

Japan to put a small red Swedish house on the Moon

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It can be really funny when anglophones try to pronounce Scandinavian words, eg Norrköping pronounced like Norcopping instead of Norshurping.

Oracle urged again to give up JavaScript trademark

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I expect that the Oracle will squat on the JavaScript trademark for two reasons:

1. Just in case they can squeeze out some $$$ at some time in the future;

2. To deliberately spite everyone else (because they can).

Of course the Internet Archive’s digital lending broke the law, appeals court says

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"the lawsuit may never have been filed if the IA hadn't pulled that stunt in 2020 and riled up the publishers further"

Unfortunately, that decision was like a red rag to a bull and the publishers appeared to have conveniently looked the other way when it was only one on one lending. Sadly, there's now no way of going back to that previous situation.

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Re: Contradiction in terminis

I guess the only thing that they can do now is hold ebooks that are completely out of copyright such as the Project Gutenberg ones.

Quite a few countries have a more liberal life + 50 years limit and if the Internet Archive wanted to hold ebooks that are hosted in one of those jurisdictions. That said, there are some sites that still seem to be a copyright free for all (Hi, Scribd).

NASA's VIPER rover might still reach the lunar surface after all

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Well, I wish Intuitive Machines well in their venture in salvaging this lunar rover mission and the USA ought not to fall behind competitor states such as China when it comes to lunar exploration.

UK Royal Mint mining PCBs for precious metals in e-waste recovery effort

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Re: news?

I guess because metal recycling is still at a relatively low level. I would like to see much more precious and rare earth element recycling not least because it would decrease dependence on states like China.

IBM Canada can't duck channel exec's systematic age discrimination claim

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Re: Ahh, IBM...

Yes, these days it's becoming more and more like Larry's Oracle which is now a law firm with an egregious IT unit attached to it.

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