Posts by Will Godfrey

The open source community is nasty and that's just the docs

Strange

I reside in a very tiny corner of the FOSS world, but still don't recognise any of this here.

'My PC needs to lose weight' says user with FAT filesystem

Pah! lightweights!

You've seen nothing if you've not been a 1960s TV service engineer doing (typically) 14 house calls a day. You can't un-see what I've seen, nor un-smell what I smelt.

Toyota's entertaining the idea of Linux in cars

Eggs

Basket

'nuff sed?

Tech industry thumps Trump's rump over decision to leave Paris climate agreement

Fingers in ears?

He would not listen,

He's not listening still.

Perhaps he never will.

UK surveillance law raises concerns security researchers could be 'deputised' by the state

Alice in Wonderland

So let me see if I've got this right.

Honest researchers trying to improve security and protect ordinary people from criminals will be silenced if they happen to stumble on vulnerabilities that the spooks are also using (I don't believe for one minute the spooks will be first to discover).

However, criminals using such vulnerabilities will now be actively protected by spooks not wanting these made public.

Therefore, I can only conclude that we now have a criminal government.

Lexmark patent racket busted by Supremes

Lexmark, are they still a thing?

I got the message very many years ago, and avoided them like the plague ever since. I also quickly moved on to laser printers - far more economic when only occasionally printing. Generally I've stuck to HP. Quality seems good, and at work we only recently finally pensioned of a Laserjet5M colour printer.

India sets June 5 as the day it will join the heavy-lift rocket club

Re: What ARE you guys smoking?

Yes, I immediately noticed that, only my first thought was they were jointing it because it was previously broken.

Raspberry Pi foundation merges with CoderDojo Foundation

Hmmm

Just seems rather odd to me. Could do with more details.

BA's 'global IT system failure' was due to 'power surge'

Re: I have to agree

I don't.

The Beeb is a well funded 24hr 365 day service. El Reg is not.

Init freedom declared as systemd-free Devuan hits stable 1.0.0 status

Like it in principle

I'll be trying this on an older 32bit single core machine first, and see how it goes from there. Not much else that's 'modern' runs on it effectively so it should be a good test.

UK ministers to push anti-encryption laws after election

A Puzzle

What are they really after? I don't believe that they are so stupid as to expect this to fly. Even Joe (really thick) Public is beginning to see the problem here, and also that almost all of these attackers were apparently already under suspicion.

At the risk of tinfoil hattery, I can't help thinking there some other agenda this is masking.

Google wants to track your phone and credit card through meatspace

Thanks for the reminder guys.

I've had some of my throwaway addresses for too long, so I've just deleted them all and set up new ones :)

MP3 'died' and nobody noticed: Key patents expire on golden oldie tech

I use Lame VBR

Best of both worlds, and so far I've not come across a player that doesn't handle it.

DeX Station: Samsung's Windows-killer is ready for prime time

I've still got (and use) an original Casio fx31 calculator. Does that count?

Sophos waters down 'NHS is totally protected' by us boast

NHS can't move some systems.

Bespoke code for imaging equipment etc. sometimes requires XP. Getting updates for modern OSs is either eye-wateringly expensive, or impossible. Funding to replace the entire kit is unicorn territory.

Uber may face criminal charges over alleged stolen self-driving tech

Don't be so sure

Given that their track record seems so similar to a member of the current US government, it wouldn't surprise me if they were given 'to big to fail' status.

Dyson celebrates 'shock' EU Court win over flawed energy tests

Re: Is this the same Dyson who has no time for the EU ?

What?

A totally flawed 'test' seriously misrepresents his product, and you call that 'petty'.

He would be remiss if he didn't take every means available to protect the company's reputation

Industrial plant robots frequently connected to the 'net without authentication

This isn't new

So why has it taken so long for anyone to draw attention it?

Unpaid tech contractor: 'I have to support my family. I have no money for medicines'

Sad Times

Those with no sympathy had better start whistling. They could be in for a shock. Some time ago I read about a guy who through no fault of his own went from a comfortable well-funded lifestyle to homeless and penniless in a matter of weeks - sorry, I can't remember the source, but it struck a chord with a much older event.

Never disparage those fallen on hard times, no matter what you *think* is the reason.

In the late 1950s when I was a child we used to go camping in the New Forest whenever we had the chance (it was perfectly OK in those days). We got to see a tramp quite a lot, who seemed remarkably well spoken. Dad was highly suspicious at first, but the guy never asked for anything, and gratefully accepted a cup of tea, and maybe a bun from mum - who eventually got him talking.

Rather a shock for dad, was that this guy had been in Burma at the same time during the war as he was, only when he was demobbed and went home, it wasn't there. The whole area had been flattened, and he'd also lost his entire family.

Apparently he just walked away, and never stopped walking.

P.S: for the doubters. This isn't made up. I was about 9 and remember it very clearly.

Red Hat wraps AWS in OpenShift containers for easy consumption

Odd that

I keep seeing 'openshift' without the 'f'

What's a 'good' quarter at AMD these days? Chucking $73m on a fire

Fingers crossed

I think we really need AMD to thrive. It's the only way to keep Intel somewhere near honest.

Another career suicide as reporter leaves The Register for broadcaster

Re: Move #1...

How about guest articles from the ex-vultures?

It'd be interesting to see if their reg-ness has amplified or declined.

Beer of course :)

Who?

Just kidding.

Good luck... you might need it :o

Linux Mint-using terror nerd awaits sentence for training Islamic State

Re: Trump had better hurry up and ban Mint

Phew! It's a good job my favourites are mint Imperials

M6 crowned crappiest motorway for 4G signal

No. When I'm driving there's mostly no-one sat in the navigator's seat.

Try to sell stuff through Facebook Marketplace and get locked out for 72 hours – nice one, Zuck

Want a photo?

This couldn't possibly be abused, could it?

Don't stop me! Why Microsoft's inevitable browser irrelevance isn't

It won't be seeing my computer

I couldn't run it if I wanted to, but I don't want to anyway... for the same reason I won't run Chrome. I don't want to give either MS or Goog a free ride into all my internet activity.

A very Canadian approach: How net neutrality rules reflect a country's true nature

Temperature?

Generally, it seems the further North you go, the more reasonable people get.

Beer, cos that's pretty reasonable too.

PC sales are up across Europe. You read that right. PC sales are up

PC dead?

Odd that. Just last week the people I (occasionally) work for got a couple of new desktop computers.

Later this year, I'll almost certainly be buying a new Ryzen based one - once it has had a bit more of a shake-down.

Must be just another blip I guess.

Peer pressure, not money, lures youngsters into cybercrime – report

Re: Game modding?

But of course! It has the potential to make a dent in the profits of the mega-corps, so is clearly anti-sheeple social

systemd-free Devuan Linux hits version 1.0.0

Good news

I've been watching this from the sidelines, and have become increasingly concerned about the virus called systemd.

I've got a spare machine I can clear out so I'll give this a try ASAP.

Mastercard launches card that replaces PIN with fingerprint sensor

No card is secure

All of them do the checks locally, then simply tell the bank "OK all good here."

To get real checks would require all the data concerning the transaction being sent to the bank where a proper examination could be done.

It's not going to happen though. It would require decent bandwidth comms, and would make the bank responsible for errors.

Fixing your oven can cook your computer

You start by getting some constantan wire and wrapping it round a ceramic rod...

Why Firefox? Because not everybody is a web designer, silly

Need more variety, not less

I use one browser for banking, and only banking. Another for on-line purchases and yet another for general casual browsing.

I never run any two at the same time. it's only a small thing but makes me feel a bit safer.

30,000 London gun owners hit by Met Police 'data breach'

Re: FFS

Aren't you also supposed to store the firearms and ammunition separately?

'Nobody's got to use the internet,' argues idiot congressman in row over ISP privacy rules

In other news

Morons are complaining they don't like being associated with US senators.

Alert: Using a web ad blocker may identify you – to advertisers

Not going there

I don't even want them to know that I don't want them to know

Troll it your way: Burger King ad tries to hijack Google Home gadgets

Re: Old News

It actually started in 1989.

How old did you say you were?

Euro Patent Office reforms hit another stumbling block: Reality

Erm

What makes you think He'll relinquish his position in 2018. The way he's re-writing the the organisations remit, I wouldn't be surprised if the necessary 'hooks' were already in place to ensure permanent control.

Boss swore by 'For Dummies' book about an OS his org didn't run

It rather depends on who makes the first move.

Systems-on-a-chip are a huge, unaudited attack surface, says Project Zero's Wi‑Fi attack man

What a surprise

PCIe the easy one. Who would have imagined DMA could ever be a problem.

Subpostmasters prepare to fight Post Office over wrongful theft and false accounting accusations

No Surprise - Unfortunately

It's interesting that the Post Office, The Royal Mail and BT all come from the same original stock, and all seem to have exactly the same attitude to their customers victims.

Overcharge customers, underpay the serfs. Who else but Uber (allegedly)

Needs one of these ->

It seems Uber started at the bottom and worked it's way down from there.

Friends, we have a real treat for you. A roundup of this week's stunning enterprise storage news

Re: Ransomware?

Ha! So it wasn't just me then

Murdoch will get EU green light for full Sky takeover – reports

Re: I do try

Have one of these as well as an upvote ->

He'll never get there

Looks like he's after the the universe, but the heavens already have a boss.

Printer blown to bits by compressed air

Dangerous

There seems to be remarkably little regulation over the use of compressed air. There have been countless cases of people being seriously injured (and even killed) by airlines being abused by idiots.

'Evidence of Chinese spying' uncovered on eve of Trump-Xi summit

Yawn

Is the Pope a Catholic?

Do bears poo in the woods?

Do TLAs spy?

Is anyone surprised?

US border cops must get warrants to search citizens' gadgets – draft bipartisan law emerges

Won't make any difference to me

Some years ago, an American friend told me not to try and visit again.

His words were something like. "I know you can't keep your mouth shut when faced with extreme bullshit, and I don't want to visit you in prison".

Startup remotely 'bricks' grumpy bloke's IoT car garage door – then hits reverse gear

Extremely good news!

Although a tiny, tiny step forward, at least one person now understands the dangers of IoT