Posts by The BigYin
2838 posts • joined Tuesday 25th March 2008 12:38 GMT
Page:
That was y thought exaclty
The only person in a position to decide what is critical is the user (be they an end-user of a sys admin). No one else. Often my PC site here 'idling' but as far as I am concerned Samba is a critical app as I am sat in front of the box watching a movie off the HDD.
If it chose then to reboot (which it wouldn't, but if it did) I'd be one pissed off geek.
Err...
...you mean enact repositories like in the GNU/Linux world, but do a really bad job of it?
Join the dark side, we have fishies. Err....cookies.
@AC at 05:21
Windows shares all drives by default. I have just checked my Win7Pro install and I can indeedy see C$ and D$ as shares. Fair enough, you need to know a password for an admin account (or of a local user who is admin). But the fact remains - all your content is on the network for anyone to (potentially) see.
Compare that to other operating systems that actually implement security.
Translation
"MS lawyers have not managed to get the patents approved for mechanisms that are used on other operating systems to ensure that the OS and applications are updated in a coherent manner. Once the patents are approved, we will sue the F/OSS operating systems into oblivion and then have a big PR campaign about the new paradigm we will have 'invented'".
It doesn't
Linux has no centralised way of updating software, nor can it ever have one. GNU and it's ilk do provide such systems - "package managers" (apt-get, pacman etc.). Even these have limitations though. One must either have originally installed the software from the package managers, or installed it from some kind of approved package (e.g. ".deb") so that the package manager knows about it. If you are using software that you have just downloaded as a TAR or something, then it will not get updated unless you do it yourself. This is why GNU/Linux users are urged to use repositories rather than download random crap off the Interwebs like Windows users are. Repositories and their downloads are also often signed to prove that they are legit and thus not malware (it's not perfect though, nothing is).
However the package manager finds out about what you have installed, it will periodically check the version currently installed against the version in the repository. If the version in the repository is newer, that fact is remembered and at some point the user will be asked if they wish to download and install (or some job will update the system or whatever).
Once the download happens, things update and no reboot is required due to the way the file systems work. When an updated program closes, the next time it starts it will be running the new version. The only time you need to reboot is if Linux itself (the kernel) or an in-use module (e.g. graphics) gets updated. And even then you only need to update if you want to use the new version right now. Bar one message at the end and perhaps an icon changing, there is no nagging.
The actual details of the above will vary slightly from distribution to distribution, but the general ideas remain the same.
Posted in NEWSFLASH: Chips cheaper than disks
@Tomato42
Windows? Oh, in that case you're looking at around 20GB minimum before you even add applications.
Looking at the system I have here, the full OS install is about 500gb, 482gb-ish of which is my personal files (settings, media, virtual images). The actual OS portions is only 18gb and of that 9gb-ish is games related executables etc. So that's about 9gb for actual applications and important stuff.
Just because Windows doesn't do a decent job of separating executable/configuration/data files doesn't mean that every OS is like that. :)
Simple
Turn the rads in the bedrooms down/off?
Or look at increasing the insulation between the floor?
Or close a few doors?
Hard to say without knowing the layout of the house.
Dammit!
I've just have the bloody plastering done. Damn you to heck! :)
I had some polystyrene-backed boarding used as was told that they did not qualify for any relief. Hey ho, at least my bills will be lower. I was aware of Areogel but the contractor had never heard of it and I struggled to find any products - now I know which names to use I might be able to find them the next time the plaster falls off.
Posted in NEWSFLASH: Chips cheaper than disks
Well....maybe
75Gb is about ten times what one needs for a full OS with applications.
All the rest is logs/swap/datafiles and they can go on to a RAID array.
Thus one can get the speed of SSDs for the binaries (which will change little) and the reliability of an HDD for other files (which can change a lot).
Of course, the actual balance will depend on the individual use case.
Posted in Diaspora co-founder dies at 22
This is a real shame
He was part of a talented and dynamic team that "inspired" Google+.
(That is my opinion, yer honour)
Exactly
And why would Israel even have to do it - they'll just get the Yanks to blow Iran to hell.
Posted in Why your tech CV sucks
Indeed
But who didn't get the interview offer, you or them?
This is why it's your problem.
Not that I agree with the situation...
Posted in Why your tech CV sucks
Top investment bank, eh?
I know COBOL, JCL and am not 65 years old which means I'll be around for quite a while. Let's face it, you still use COBOL and training people is expensive. The old COBOL engineers are dying and there is not a lot of young-blood around, is there?
Send me your company's annual statements for the past decade and I'll see if you are good enough to employ me.
I could put any number of other TLAs and buzzword into my CV and pass quite a few other check-lists. And you know what? It's pointless. Totally and utterly pointless.
For a tech company (e.g. a software house) it's worthwhile, but a bank? Get real. Most actual dev work will be off-shored/outsourced to an actual tech company, your tech work will be applications or infrastructure support. Any decent dev can learn any high-level language well enough to do applications support. The big trick is is finding one who can learn the problem domain, work with others, think fast, follow procedures, define procedures, unit test, document, mentor, train and do all those other things that do not have buzzwords and do not feature in your pathetic little check list.
Also, when I say I do not what a job in region X or I only want a job in region Y; I really do mean I DO NOT what a job in region X or ONLY a job in region Y so stop fucking calling me about shit that is in X or not in Y!!!
Umm...
...the Android kernel may share some ideas with Linux, but the rest of it (i.e. the stuff you directly use) has nothing whatsoever to do with Linux. That credit goes to GNU (and quite a few others), the world would be nowhere without the GNU C Compiler.
Sorry if this seems pedantic, and I have nothing against Linux or Torvalds, but credit where it is due please.
If the apps were open source...
...there'd be less need for the teams to re-invent the wheel.
Your company's worth is in the business process and rules that the programs follow (which should get loaded from config files) not in the code you write.
Umm...
...the brown is caused by pigmentation, the same as the skin generates to protect itself. So wouldn't brown eyes be more resistant to sun damage? And isn't this why blue eyes are more prevalent in the Northern (and I guess Southern) latitudes? There being less harsh light there? Ok, so in the very extreme North/South there is snow glare to deal with as well.
I guess this procedure might help the David Bowies of the world...but really...get a grip people.
So...
...all data on missing smartphones and laptops will be open?
Oh I forgot - it would cost too much.
I would say...
...it depends greatly on the game. Also, if kids spend hours in front of the tube we'll end up with an army of obese creatives suffering from myopia, weak bones and poor social skills.
All things in moderation. Unless it's chocolate - pile it on! :-)
@Jedit
"is because it's the police officers who should determine who is and is not a criminal"
I think you'll find it's the courts that do that. Officer can only determine who is a suspect or is to be accused of a crime. It may seem pedantic, but I think the differences between suspect/accused and criminal are being increasingly watered down and eroded. innocent until proven guilty, remember?
At least, that's how it used to be.
@AC - 18:15
Depends on the crime. Legislation only bans one from working with kids if the crime is in some way related to harming children. Would you expect a convicted speeder to be banned from working with children? No, of course not. And remember, speeding *IS* a criminal offence.
His employers may simply have taken the view that he's brought them into disrepute or otherwise set a bad example.
They were...
...not so much now,
Weren't whne I posted
Amazon (to name one) had reasonable prices.
Now? Take that reasonable price and multiply it by silly.
Hmmm
Where are these prices coming from? I can buy a 2TB drive for £78 without much trouble. A 1TB is about £55. Prices are slightly higher, but not double.
@Nick
Err...this account is in no way as critical as my gas meter, so a reasonable password is good enough. For a gas meter I would expect it to be using signed keys protected by passwords and physical access being required to update the keys (which will be amusing as most gas meters are external to the property).
And even if that were done, I rather doubt the majority of the pubic are educated enough to use such a system properly.
I the ads...
...did not flash, pop over/under or otherwise distract from the content, I wouldn't block them so hard. Advertisers and ignorant content providers have made this problem. If they play nice, it will go away.
Umm...
...surely they have tracking software installed? PreyProject seems good (I've mucked about with it a bit). Unfortunately they don't offer support for RIM, they probably could if the government punted them a few notes.
Or maybe RIM offer this service already. Dunno.
Either way, unless they were mugged the civil servants should be made to pay for a replacement.
@Nick
"Also it would be possible to allow the consumer to configure their smart meter"
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! Do you really want your meters web accessible? Really? No way in hell, buster. There is no way I would trust them to have enough security to make things safe.
"to switch between alternative generating sources (i.e. renewable, nuclear, coal, gas) according to the relative spot price of each source rather "
Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
It's an ironic post! Oh, that's a good one Nick!
They want me to have a smart meter...
...OK. Show me the source code.
I want unlimited indemnity from the meter being hacked and reporting false reading.
I also want unlimited insurance from utility should the smart meter cause any problems with my own equipment (depends on how it is networked).
The utility also must pay 100% of the costs of installing any cabling needed to the house.
Until such times, go and meter a darkened orifice.
@Rolf
This - in spades.
The calculators are generally trivial. And like any good maths teacher will tell you "If you do not show your working, you may have arrived that the answer by fluke."
I do not expect to get a 100% accurate answer, but I want to see the working. I want to know that it's in the ball-park. I do not what to have 10 sales-drones at my door (I can bet they will not be qualified engineers) as I have been bothered by too many target-focused, pushy, arse-wipes in the past.
The data is out there, but it is a PITA to find and the government does not make it clear.
For those stating that the return is circa 8 years, I think you are being woefully optimistic. It's a shame that the data is so hard to come by and the information hard to trust; because roofs are wasted area and turning them into generators is a good idea.
Oh great
Another MEP with zero understanding of science or basing decisions on hard evidence.
They'll fit right in.
So...
...will Canonical have to pay a feu to MS, or will MS go after the OEMs?
Canonical does not have the funds that Google has, so there is a good chance that MS could hit them with patent lawsuits.
I did not install panels
I have a perfect southerly facing roof and the funds available. There's a few reasons that need to be addressed before I would consider installing:
1) What information that is available is crap. More understandable data is needed on panel cost, performance, installation fees, maintenance, mean-time-to-failure etc.
2) The ROI is over 15-25 years. So unless you are staying put for that time, you'd be an idiot to install. Unless...
3) Do panels add to a home's value? Who gets the feed-in tariff after sale? Again, this information is not available.
4) Current panels are not efficient enough and there is no information on the dust-to-dust impact of the panels (i.e. do they make-up for the eco cost of their own manufacture?)
5) It is basically impossible from the easily-digested information how much power one can generate, and calculate the ROI. It can be done, but it's a PITA
6) Getting prices is nigh-on impossible
7) Have I mentioned how hard it is to get clear information?
8) Like "peter 45" I do not trust the government to keep-up the FIT, so the panels must be able to pay for themselves within a reasonable period. From what I can tell, if you do some basic energy saving (i.e. unplug stuff, good insulation) they simply won't. I define a "reasonable period" as 5 years or less.
9) The tech is not new (almost every house in Germany has solar collectors/cells) so why are they so expensive over here?
10) Getting clear information is hard. I think I've mentioned this.
@AC
Who's talking open source? I never mentioned it.
The fact is that, even without looking at other source and "copying it", programmers come up with the same answers time and time again. These got given the trendy name of "Patterns" a while back and various people coined it in providing consultancy, frameworks, libraries, tutorials etc and nary a patent in sight. This is how it should be.
Can you imagine the Internet or the World Wide Web if ARPA, Sir Berners-Lee etc had patented all their ideas, rather than throwing them out there to be improved upon? You can't, and that's because it probably wouldn't exist.
"You linked two networks? PAY YOUR LICENSE FEE!"
"You used a hyperlink? That will be $0.01 per link as a fee, please. PAY UP OR BE SUED!"
There are dating sights graphical suites and a whole host of other software that is patented when they are nothing more than a jumped-up mathematical operations (usually a matrix transform of some kind). This is a patent on pure maths - can you see how monumentally DUMB that is?
Then we have patents infecting other things such as standards. If OO/LO wish to compete with MS, they need to support the "Office Open XML" standard; which they cannot do without breaching MS's patents. This means no one bar MS can fully implement an ISO standard without breaching patents or MSs covenant [not] to sue. Can you see how STUPID that is?
Patents are the wrong tool for protecting software. Just as a hammer is the wrong tool for stirring tea.
So...
...the get 4 years. OK. Rioting and public disorder are bad.
So are ABH, GBH and abuse of a public office.
I would go as far to say that, depending on the public office, the abuse of it is as bad as rioting or public disorder.
When then are we not seeing MPs serving 4 year terms for expenses fraud? All they get is a quick slap on the wrist and made to promise not to get caught again...err...not to repeat.
One rule for them, another rule for us.
Translation
"The UKIPO will now be as useless and counter-productive as the USPTO".
Seriously people - NO SOFTWARE PATENTS!
Copyright and trademark laws are pretty much all one needs.
Software patents are just far too dangerous as all they do is stifle innovation by allowing the majors to bully (or sue into bankruptcy) smaller developers. They do NOTHING to help the IT industry. All they do is help lawyers and one only has to look at the recent headline about Samsung/Apple to guess at the millions being wasted in patent suits and technology stagnates as a result.
@laird
To add to Richard 81's question, have you considered that the UK simply makes sure it has evidence of an actual crime before extraditing?
I am sure out military security is equally as bad, but the kind of holes that McKinnon found have been there since the 80s! If 25+ years is not long enough to secure your system, then you deserved to be hacked!
Read "The Cuckoo's Egg" by Clifford Stoll and see just how little has changed.
To the spelling/grammer fascists
Have you considered the possibility that that OP's first language is *not* English?
Their English is a damned sight better than my Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, Urdu or anything else for that matter.
Or ever considered that they suffer from Dyslexia? Not all browsers have spell-checkers to help (not that they may be much help to someone with severe dyslexia).
Or any one of umpteen other possibilities that could be impairing them.
No, guess you didn't. If you feel you must correct someone, then at least be polite about it.
In short: grow up.
The problem is...
...people who don't know any better will swallow the marketing that "Secure Boot" is great and not realise there is a problem. These are the very same people who buy a whole new PC just to get a new OS, rather then trying a different OS or a few key upgrades.
These people are the vast majority and for that reason, it's up to use who (in this one case) happen to know better to defend their freedoms for them.
Think...
A vendor can sell the same hardware twice. Kerr-ching!
A "consumer" board with the ability to update/disable UEFI missing and a "pro" version with them present.
Beyond that the two boards are identical (bar one jumper or something) and they can charge a massive premium for the "pro".
Also, if not providing the feature saves 0.01p, then that feature will no be provided as the monopoly player doesn't need it and will be rather happy to know that the feature is missing.
Time to alert the EU?
If PCs start shipping with no way to update the keys or disable Secure Boot (I'm thinking physical jumper or something would be the way to go, harder to attack) then it is time to call in the EU and have MS hammered once again for abusing its market position.
That MS are using OEMs as puppets to further entrench their OS as the only player in the market is pretty disgusting. But then they have form for sock-puppeting to get what they want: ISO - I am looking at you.
It already pisses me off that I have to pay £30 over the odds for a PC because of the way MS force manufacturers to include Windows and allows OEMs to no longer honour refund requests.
Oh and before someone brings up Apple (and no, I don't own one) let me just point out one thing - Apple are not a monopoly in the PC market.
I don't think they are opposed...
...to Secure Boot (or similar) per se, I think they are opposed to the danger of the ability to update UEFI or disable Secure Boot being missing and the fact that OEMs will ship with only the Windows 8 key pre-loaded.
Not only does this add to the problems caused by the MS Tax, but it also means MS/vendors can force users to have to upgrade their machines by simply changing the keys needed.
Posted in Dell signals Windows 8 fondleslab range
Curious
I always thought the Streak was a bit under-powered.
When Dell released Ubuntu systems, they too where knobbled.
It's almost as if they want to make non-Windows OS appear bad.
That can't be right, surely?
Walled Gardens...
...can piss right off.
This this kind of shit that pushes people towards the "pirate" sites because it becomes so hard to get at the content, even content one has paid to view.
It is cretinous in the extreme that various "pirate" sites provide a better service than the official ones. Hey, distributors/content-producers! There is ONE world, ONE Internet, ONE world-wide web so there should be ONE license. By all means do deals with different providers but let them, without restriction, distribute to who the hell they like for a fee (if any) they like. Different "stations" will still exist based on quality, price, language etc. and you will kill "piracy" almost overnight by giving the people what they want and are often quite willing to pay for.
I pay my TV license, my cable is all paid for, I pay for my movies. Friggin' let me watch them you bastards! Let me stream the content I have bought and paid for over my network, I only have one set of eyes but am often not in the same room as the goggle-box; you utter, utter cock-heads!
(Sorry for swears, but it is so frustrating I think it is justified)
And that is the problem
You want to watch US ESPN (for me, sometimes I'd like Hulu).
You are willing to pay.
Can you get it? No.
But, oh look, there's this other place that seems to meet your demand.
Curious. Isn't that simply another example for the Free Market in effect?
Why can't the providers...
...simply host the content themselves and let any connected device consume?
Sure, they may need a deal with a CDN or two and they may charge you, but I have no issue with that.
I know it's all about licensing, and that is kinda my point. The old world model is dead.
@theodore
1) Power: I doubt they can tell which device or purpose the leccy is being used for. They might be able to get Amps vs Volts, but that's just UPD vs TCP vs whatever.
2) Water is bundled in with council tax normally (although I realise this is not universal). But again they cant really tell what I'm using the water for. They know the amount, but that is all.
3) Gas: The is just supply/demand. I have no issue with that. If they charged me more for heating than eating, I'd get annoyed (unless I had multiple supplies for some reason).
But whether or not my examples are the best is really beside the point. Neither of these companies are *spying* in order to artificially inflate prices. I'm sure they'd love to, but that is no reason to let ISPs get away with it.
(FWIW: I don't count reading the header to routing to be "spying". I'm thinking DPI etc.)
Two things
1) My passwords are all in an encrypted file and I have oft wondered about how to do the release of the key upon my demise
2) If it is on someone else's box, it's no longer yours. By all mean use Flickr etc to publicise, but keep the masters at home.
3) Do not rely on crap like iTunes, Kindle etc. Buy the media (or get a DRM free version). It never occurred to me that these on-line services had yet another angle by which they can screw you over.
Why inspect at all?
The power company does not charge me more for the juice to my lights as opposed to my fridge.
The water company does not charge me more for watering the garden as opposed to having a shower.
The gas company does not...you get the idea.
Data is data, charge me for what I use. If (say) UDP costs more than TCP, then charge me more for data on that protocol. Infrastructure can't take the load? Up your prices, the market will correct the load for you.
There is no need to routinely spy on my traffic.
@Danny 14
Outlook is a bloated sack of shit.
Unfortunately you are right - there is no real alternative. I'm using Thunderbird just now and whilst it's OK (and does some things Outlook could only dream of) it's just not as good.
