* Posts by mebh

7 publicly visible posts • joined 8 May 2020

Microsoft investigating 365 Office activation gremlin

mebh

You wrote

"Next year, Microsoft will start switching Microsoft 365 Enterprise users to the new-look Outlook (with an option to switch back)..."

But linked article says April 2026, which is not quite yet next year...

Keyboard robbers steal 171K customers' data from AnnieMac mortgage house

mebh

"among"

Do they get points for honesty?

"... among AnnieMac's highest priorities..." (emphasis mine)

Cards Against Humanity campaigns to encourage voting, expose personal data abuse

mebh

Re: "We formed a Super PAC and bought the personal voting records of EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN..."

It is often written this way - "...personal voting records of every American citizen..." and what is actually meant is the record of whether you did or did not vote in X election. WHO or WHAT you voted for is, still, not public information, and while I can't speak to every state or jurisdiction, in most cases the way the vote is recorded makes it practically impossible for even an insider to determine WHO or WHAT you voted for.

And actually all they are probably able to determine is "did the person check in at their polling place for X election", as in most cases you could go check in and then "vote" a blank ballot, making no choices at all.

It's really frustrating that this is described as your "voting record" as it feeds the (incorrect!) idea that your actual voting choices are recorded along with your name somewhere.

I'm not sure why the record of whether you checked in at the polling place is considered public info, but it generally is.

How to tell an AI bot wrote that scammy-looking tax email: No spelling mistakes

mebh

"The IRS doesn't initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information."

from https://www.irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/report-phishing

I guess they will make phone calls...

After ten years, the Google vs Oracle API copyright mega-battle finally hit the Supreme Court – and we listened in

mebh

Status quo?

I'm wondering about your repeated statement that Oracle's position is the status quo. I have seen others argue the opposite - that re-implementation of APIs is common and was understood to be legit for decades. Why do y'all consider Oracle's position the status quo?

Trump bans Feds from contracting H-1B workers and makes telehealth the new normal

mebh

Really a ban?

I skimmed the Executive Order on H-1B - it's all about "reporting on recent practices" and "recommending changes", does anyone else actually see the "ban" promised in the headline?

The point of containers is they aren't VMs, yet Microsoft licenses SQL Server in containers as if they were VMs

mebh

Note this part:

...the Physical or Virtual Cores available to that container are considered to be Hardware Threads...

Luckily this is one area where Microsoft is kinder than Oracle - you don't have to license the underlying host.