Posts by Jacmac

HP printer software turns up uninvited on Windows systems

This did happen to me, I'm running Windows 11. I didn't understand why it popped up on me, I've had an HP printer for years but it is not directly attached. To be honest, it only makes me nervous because it popped up suddenly for no apparent reason, which is triggering in this age of security risk managment.

5G mast set aflame in leafy Liverpool district, half an hour's walk from Penny Lane

What are these modern day Luddites on about?

5G is going to kill people? Do they honestly believe that?

This'll make you feel old: Uni compsci favourite Pascal hits the big five-oh this year

Started to learn Pascal in 1983 in High School.

In the first AP Computer Science class offered in my area, we studied Pascal, data structures, and fundamentals. We compiled on a single South West Tech computer, we didn't even have Turbo Pascal yet. I remember pointers and addressing being a huge mystery, it took weeks to really understand what was going on. Eventually we worked on linked lists, double linked lists, binary trees, etc. Before relational databases were a thing, even years after in college, it was all about storing and maintaining data records. A far cry from today. Kids today are probably learning C++ a few years after they are born.

US cable subscribers are still being 'ripped off' by creeping price increases – and this lot has had enough

Re: Forced bundles

Haven't run into that myself. My wife used to switch between the two major providers every 2-3 years if one wouldn't give a big discount at the end of a contract. Eventually, we just decided to get Internet only and watch a lot of Netflix. Our bill was $150 -200 a month for years, now it's been less than $100 and that's with Netflix. I'd say that the major drawback is that we no longer ever watch local TV, so we really don't know what is going on in our area from day to day. Also, commercials are always new to us if we are visiting someone with cable and see any.

Embrace and kill? AppGet dev claims Microsoft reeled him in with talk of help and a job – then released remarkably similar package manager

Re: Microsoft jus' gonna be Microsoft

Good movie, but I still think Triumph of the Nerds is the best thing anyone can watch to see the true history of '75-'95. It's great insight into both Gates and Jobs; and a lot of other important figures of the time like Kildall and the people running the IBM PC development.

Re: Standard Microsoft

I remember this, as I recall, Stac won part and lost part. Microsoft had counter sued them for some infringement, but it was minor. In the end Microsoft agreed to buy a portion of Stac for $40 million and paid out another $40 million in royalties. Stac went through gyrations before eventually selling off what it had left and closing up around 2000-2002. They were based out of Carlsbad not far from where I live, so it was big local news back then. I think the prevalence of hard disk capacities getting large and cheap is ultimately what killed them