Posts by Nematode 222 publicly visible posts • joined 15 May 2018
I use DDG for everything, including technical. Yes, occasionally it won't find something and I will try Google, successfully, but also unsuccessfully. Google may be finding more relevant search results for you as of course it is profiling you. If you and I entered the exact same query in Google, it will probably give us two different sets of results. That is both useful and scary.
I think as corporate capture continues to take over The World And Their Governments, the capitalist model which Microshaft and others use (i.e. Send Us Your Money) is only likely to get worse, so hoping W12 will be a 98 or 7 or 10 is probably futile. Which js why open source Linux has to be the way of the future for all discerning peeps. Even Apple is screwing up royally with its AI that tells you the BBC have said people have died who haven't.
Google is rubbish and has been since it tried to second guess what it thinks you want to see, using cookies, IP address, your account, yadda yadda, to build a picture of you "because it can give you better results according to your preferences" (read: profile you as a potential customer). Such that the same query by two different people yields different results. Means you can't apply your own logic to refining a search.
DuckDuckGo has been our go to for a while now, not perfect but has been pretty good so far, though how long that continues I wait to see. Using an AI based search simply yields what one might call the "accepted wisdom" on a subject, which for many searchers is exactly what they are trying to avoid.
I still have nightmares about backups that won't backup and/or restore, 36 years after working for a DCS vendor whose proprietary system ran on MTOS. When the (frequent) need to upgrade a client site arose, we often found the pre-upgrade backup failing, or the pre-upgrade restore test failing. We never did find out why but I've been anti-tape ever since.
We only went to VF as they had a 3G plug-in box that talked down the broadband line, called "Suresignal". We (still) have no signal here in ruralsville and this was too early for wifi calling.
They got Suresignal badly wrong too, as the capacitors blew and often spectacularly, lucky no-one's house burned down. They refused to recall them. We ended up getting two replacements before they withdrew it (3G being old hat) and we withdrew our account - to Three.
(Incoming downvotes no doubt...)
Shurely with Win 10 about to hit the bottom of the midden, and W11 unliked or uninstallable, a key requirement (I nearly said marketing requirement, and that's probably true) should be to roll out a distro and desktop that becomes much more standardised and newby-friendly. And also key, one that is stable enough and with a growing user base of Ordinary People that apps developers start porting their apps to Linux.
I would dearly love to move to a Linux and kiss Microshaft goodbye, but at the last count I have 15 important (to me) apps that have no Linux version nor Linux equivalent (and I and SWMBO already use Tbird, FF and GIMP with the occasional document rescue via LibreOffice). The other option of running WINE is notoriously iffy, and perhaps another thing to get fixed (or even built in?!) in Linuxland.
Pleeeeease, Linux Community, focus on building users and simplicity, easy support and Fixing Things, and not continuing to put them off with a zillion options which are great for experts but not for ordinary peeps looking to escape the Microshaft net. And preferably before I die (probably not far off now).
Then there was the time I was on the PEBKAC end of it, being a non-IT engineer at the time. We had separate DOS boxes with monster CRT monitors on top but still also used conventional filing methods a.k.a. Lever Arch Files. I was sat at my desk and lifted a lever arch file across from one side of the desk to the other and managed to clout the monitor with a corner of the (very heavy) file. The screen instantly went blank. With full adrenaline on board I managed to panic only a little, being convinced I had done some serious damage, before calling IT support. Chappie came up to my desk, took one look, thumbed the brightness control (which was under the monitor's front edge), and voila, all sorted. Doh.
Probably faster than 8.5 seconds.
Re refusal to pay invoices, I learned early on in my contracting/consultancy career that refusal to pay invoices for failure to provide "the goods" sometimes has nothing to do with whether you executed the service properly, on time, etc., and everything to do with the client's often miseducated view of what he thought you did. One such client refused to pay for what to me was a spurious reason. Fortunately I had kept an email proving the opposite to their view. Still took about 4 months to get paid.
"A person took voluntary redundancy and retired many years ago, so received tax exempt large sums, and HMRC then changed their tax code claiming that they expected the person to earn more than £100k that year."
That's just the way the (stupid) PAYE / coding system works. When I was still working via my ltd co, we used to pay dividends in March based on the year's figures, leaving suitable working capital for gaps in work, for example. The receipt of a lump sum in March was always treated by HMRC as if it were to be a regular monthly income, and shortly after I would get an absolutely stupid re-coding. The accountant would always easily sort it out.
Anyone who believes a smart meter is for anyone's benefit than that of some commercial entity needs a reality check.
Not one of the "benefits" is of any interest to me, I can read my meter and do sums, but then yes, ok, I am unfairly benefiting from An Education. I'm also definitely not opening myself up to surge pricing.
And Martin Lewis went public the other day with what we all know anecdotally, that a huge proportion of them don't work or are broken.
Yes, there are some lucky folk who get lower charges when the supplier tells you to use more juice to help balance the system, but I also know people who have been promised these savings and never seen any.
/ludditemode
Pardon me for being thick, (or maybe not?), but how is a PC able to run a "proper" AI service, when I hear a lot about how the AI LLMs operate in humongous data centres needing vast quantities of e-juice?
No, an honest question which I'd be interested to hear about from those who know what's what. TIA
"once again, they haven't thought it through from the point of view of the end user"
When have M$ EVER done that?!
They still think an operating system is what people drool over. FFS it's just an opsys, the definition of which is that it shouldn't get in the way of what the user really needs to do.
Never mind tea, this recalls a DCS installation in a UK gas terminal years ago. I got a call on a Saturday morning saying the client was complaining that the printer was going nuts. No chance to ask what it was printing, just get on the plane we've booked you.
Arrived on site, printer saying every few seconds that the slug catcher boot level was low-low, not it's not, yes it is...
They'd not long restarted the plant and incoming sealine was ramping up, but the purchase spec hadn't told us the level was sometimes volatile. Added a quick something-order filter, printer quietened, back on the plane, swearing.
This is why hybrids are worth considering, and the sales figures show the public is catching on. For those who can't afford two cars, a PHEV allows electric short journeys and conventional long journeys. They weigh a hell of a lot less and the manufacturing CO2 is only a little above an ICV. The resale value risk is reduced, the secondhand buy risk is reduced, and if you do have to replace the batteries it won't completely ruin you.
At what point does one change? When Linux stops being a Distrofest, fixing problems can be done without needing a terminal window and SUDO..., and when apps which people want are provided on linux. I have 15 apps which don't have a Linux version (and are unlkely ever to), don't have a browser interface and for which there is no Linux equivalent.
"Teach critical thinking in schools."
Yes, I think much of the potential to correct the big bad world is in the actions of individuals. Legislation may still be required, but the examples of legislation prpovign to be counter-productive are legion.
Funnily enough, the critical thinking idea has already attracted some interest from various folk including LabGov, see https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/bridget-phillipson-labour-association-of-school-and-college-leaders-liverpool-b2509882.html Of course The Farrago sees this as a threat (GeeBeebies warning) https://www.gbnews.com/news/labour-party-children-spot-extremist-content-nigel-farage-warning
"There _is_ a Windows [Thunderbird] version but it's not yet end-user ready"
Um, what, like the one I've been running since about version 5? I'm finding v115 is ok, some minor bugs, and 128 is now out and allegedly stable, but I'm doing the usual , let others find the bugs if I don't need the upgrade
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