* Posts by stronk

10 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Mar 2018

Tech support world record? 8.5 seconds from seeing to fixing

stronk

The all in one iMac design has a lot to answer for. My school in the 90s only had Macs (with the honourable exception of an ancient BBC microcomputer in the library) and upgraded them all to the first all-in-one CRT monitor + integrated computer iMacs (brightly coloured plastic like a Dyson vacuum, with an inexplicable large handle on the top, as if people were regularly moving them around). I think 90% of students at that school left believing that a monitor and a computer are the same thing.

Brit reseller given 2022 court date for £270m Microsoft SaaS licence sueball's first hearing

stronk

Seems a reasonable case, but...

I'm writing from 10 years in the future (it's much the same, except the toasters are sentient).

This case is just wrapping up and sadly ValueLicensing lost because Microsoft managed to show that they had lots of other reasons to move to SaaS models and that this on the whole benefited customers. The courts agreed, though due to some solid legal gymnastics from Microsoft, evidence from actual customers of the SaaS product was not required.

NASA Administrator upends the scorn bucket on Elon Musk's Starship spurtings

stronk

Re: He'd better hurry - Virgin Galactic only a year away from launch!

Judging by the look of the Falcon 9 boosters that are being reused, they are likely to go for the rugged worn-in look. I think if I were sitting on top of a rocket, I'd probably prefer it to have had some test runs than be new and shiny with lots of new parts.

SpaceX didn't move sat out of impending smash doom because it 'didn't see ESA's messages'

stronk

My word, what a genius idea!

But why stop there? If it's portable then eventually everyone will have this personal communicator technology. We can build in all sorts of little extra tools. Why not glue a camera to the back? Looking around for a bottle opener? No problem! Before long, they will be fantastically useful for spies and keeping cheeky revolutionary types in check.

And I'm just spitballing here, but why don't we make the power source double as an incendiary device, so that when the time comes for the computers to take over, every human in the world has a nice little fire starter on their person. That'd save a lot of time and hassle exterminating them one by one.

Once the computers are calling the shots, the satellite collision problem will be well in-hand. Problem solved!

stronk

'Space junk'

Amusingly, at least one part of the BBC is referring to SpaceX's satellites as 'space junk'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/49566370

Half of all Windows 10 users thought: BSOD it, let's get the latest build

stronk

Re: "reflects perhaps misplaced confidence"

Absolutely.

We launched our new free product in stores by requiring everyone going into the store to take one before they were allowed in. And for those who told us to **** off, we broke into their houses later on and replaced their existing functioning products with our 'better' version. We've got amazing market share now! Must be because we have a great new product.

Fleeing Facebook app users realise what they agreed to in apps years ago – total slurpage

stronk

Re: Most people do not care

Most people care, but don't care enough to do what is necessary: delete their Facebook account and remove all data.

The reason they don't care enough? I may speak only for myself, but to me Facebook provides services that are irreplaceable. Fundamentally, it's a near-monopoly on users that makes it impossible not to have a Facebook account and still be able to - for example - be efficiently invited to a friend's party, or see your family's holiday photos, or keep up loose contact with distant friends. You lose something tangible with real consequences if you remove yourself from Facebook. There is no paid Facebook option where they don't exploit your data. There's no real alternative to Facebook because nothing has the critical mass of users that Facebook does.

I haven't deleted my profile because once every few weeks it enables me to do and see things that I would live a more lonely life without.

One option that should be on the table for regulators: make online social interaction a standardised commoditised function, like email. If I don't mind my data being slurped, I use Gmail. It's 'free', in that my data is recorded and used by Google for profit. If I minded this, I could avoid Gmail and use a paid service from a company with a different business model.

Let's go live now to Magic Leap and... Ah, still making millions from made-up tech

stronk

Re: @Mr. K

Interestingly, there are companies that sell condensers for exactly that use, at a reasonable scale and apparently profitably. It's an expensive way to obtain water, but there are some niche uses where it's more expensive to bring your own than to grab it from the air. Desalination is another example: stupidly expensive, but if you've got the money and energy to burn and you don't want to move somewhere wetter, then go for it. With Magic Leap: AR is clearly possible. The question is whether they are able to make it practical and profitable.

The warning signs are usually as pointed out in the article. Doesn't look great for Magic Leap, but from outside you can't see enough to tell absolutely for certain until either they succeed or fail.

One assumes that their current investors are not morons and have been asking the same basic questions as The Register, with their own engineers and business strategists in tow prior to investing. I don't really care, because... I'm not an investor. If they haven't bothered, then more fool them. The Register seems to be so frothy about the whole thing because they find the founder very irritating (I have sympathy there).

I'm sure the technology works, because you can't fake a perceptual experience in the same way you can fake a condenser or a solar grid or a medical testing machine. The question is whether it works flawlessly yet, and if they can get it all into a reasonably priced practical package. Even then they aren't home free, as people need to have a good reason to shell out for this, which means compelling exclusive functions and content from day 1. History is littered with beautiful tech that died because it had no obvious purpose.

Hip hop-eration: Hopless Franken-beer will bring you hoppiness

stronk

Re: Nomenclature

Dude, you need to open up Wikipedia.

Microsoft says 'majority' of Windows 10 use will be 'streamlined S mode'

stronk

Re: Games, anyone?

I don't know, you might be surprised if you actually ask 'the average Joe'. I spend a lot of time helping out colleagues with IT questions because frankly the IT department make such a song and dance about simple stuff that it's easier to ask me. Over the years, I'd estimate 30% of people I've asked have said something like "I don't have a problem with the new Windows" (sometimes 7, but mostly 8 or 10). 70% have said variations on "God, it's *terrible*! I hate [long list of things they hate about it]". These aren't techies, they are normal users just trying to get work done. They don't need any encouragement to complain. 100% of MacOS users have been satisfied. And no average Joe I've ever met uses Linux.

If the average Joes knew how to switch or if their IT department decided to give it a go, then provided the replacement OS addressed their issues with Windows and didn't introduce loads of other issues, it sounds like they'd be fine.

'Love it to bits' is just completely off the mark in my experience. It's only used because it is the monopoly in a system where cross-compatibility is more important than user experience. MS could install sewage smell generators as mandatory hardware for their next OS version and turn every 5th window upside down and 98% of people would still use Windows. They hug themselves and do high fives whenever they release new 'features' like the one being discussed which just make everything dumber and harder to use for more purposes. I think they really must fail to understand how low people's opinion is of them and their updates. Or they know and don't care because it's all about maximising revenue.