* Posts by The BigYin

3080 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Mar 2008

IE9 - the big questions and Microsoft's half answers

The BigYin
Flame

Interesting Tactic

They will support enough HTML5 to crow about how much they work hard for standards. But not enough to actually do anything. Cue web devs/designers tearing their remaining hair out trying to get stuff to work in IE9 like it does in Opera, Firefox, Safari, Chrome... A bit like IE6 really (which we'll *STILL* have to support anyway...)

MS will slowly steer people towards Silverlight as it is more "feature rich" and "cross-platform", thus locking companies ever more into the MS world and preventing competition.

Embrace.

Extend (...perhaps Evade or Exchange in this case?)

Extinguish.

We have been here before. We should remember our history (actually, our present. I'm looking at you, IE6).

Either they get with the program and support the standards in their entirety (c'mon, if ickle Opera can do it, surely it's not beyond the might of MS; hell, they could even just use some FOSS modules) or it is all just PR bullshit.

Apple's Mac - the ghostbuster's choice

The BigYin
FAIL

There is no proof...

...and we should not leap to some complex and fantastical conclusion when something more prosaic (and as yet, unknown) may be lurking. Waking dreams, weather phenomenon, etc. The universe is strange enough without inventing more crap.

As for the price gibe....you did see the ":oP" didn't you?

The BigYin
Thumb Up

3 times the price?

Not really. When I looked at them I'd say they were (give or take) about right, but the tag appears to be about 1.5 times the cost of a similar Windows laptop (it will vary from OEM to OEM). You have to consider the build quality (which I am told is good) and thus discount all the low-end makers (e.g. Dell), then you have to consider the nVidia graphics card and other hardware spec (and discount entry-level machines) and finally consider the after sales support (which I am told is good).

So maybe you do appear to pay "over the odds", but you get what you pay for to a large extent I think.

I didn't by a Mac in the end...I decided I didn't need a laptop after all.

The BigYin

FFS

There are no ghosts, spirits, phantasms, aliens*, alien spacecraft*, no alien abductions or any of that crap. It's all in their head.

Unexplained != Trans-dimensional Beings from the Dark Beyond (or whatever)

I guess if you are deluded enough to believe in that crap, you are deluded enough to pay through the nose for a basic laptop. :oP

*Well, not here anyway

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 embraces - yes - HTML5

The BigYin
Unhappy

Why Ogg?

H.264 is an open standard and there is hardware acceleration available for it. Using Ogg would be a retrograde step.

Sure, you have to bend of and take it up the wrong 'un from the Patent Pixies; but is that so bad?

Hmm...why yes....it is.

The BigYin

Not a pass

You do understand that 100/100 is not a pass, don't you?

If you don't understand that, i suggest you go and read how ACID3 actually works.

The BigYin

Summary:

"When IE9 lands in a year or so, it will have the features similar to those that current browsers have already had for about a year".

i.e. "IE9 will be two years behind the curve"

Nice.

ID cards have three databases, says minister

The BigYin

Evil plan

Everyone name their home "DROP TABLE ?;" and variations there upon.

That'll learn 'em.

The BigYin

It's all just a local check anyway

You can't refer back to the main db in cases like this. Can you imagine the infrastructure? *GLOBALLY*? And you'd need wireless+portable, with a response time in seconds. So most readers will simply use a local check, trusting the card.

WTF is the point in the card then?

My (slightly tin-foil-hat) opinion is: social control.

The BigYin
Flame

FFS

'Hillier said that the "9/11 had put the cast on the ID card" about terrorism'

Hello, Hillier you chump. This is reality calling. The 9/11 terrorist travelled on THEIR OWN PRIMARY ID (passports). If the USA had had ID cards then they would have still gone ahead as, despite making no attempt to hide who they were, the were not stopped by the security services.

So how the bloody hell will ID cards help? The security services couldn't even track those guys by their passports numbers! FFS!

Argh!

Britons - rise up and overthrow these threats to our nation!

Microsoft pushes temporary security fix to IE laggards

The BigYin

Ubuntu

That's how they do it. In theory at least.

Historian warns against copyright-fight heavy hitting

The BigYin

Appeal to Common Practice

"As a point of democratic principle, how can something that most of us do be illegal?"

Your argument is an example of "Appeal to Common Practice" and therefore fallacious.

I am not disagreeing that copyright laws and the punishments are a crock of shit that favour the BPI/RIAA over the artist/consumer, but you need to construct a better argument to stand a chance.

How about "The proposals entrench a business model that is slowly becoming out of date and creates artificial barriers to trade. This stifles innovation, the economy and start-up business to the benefit of the incumbent players and reduces the ability of workers within the industry ("artists") to earn a fair wage, expect for a few big-names. It should not be up to the state to protect someone's business model (or protect them from their poor business choices) except in absolute extremis where the stability of the state itself is affected. The state should ensure that its populace are served by businesses that work for that populace and provide them the services they want, rather than assist business to work against the wishes of the populace."

i.e.

1 - Get rid of DVD region-locking (regions are fine, languages and all, just no locking please).

2 - Allow me to format shift for my own use (not legal in the UK).

3 - Allow free trade (grey imports etc, this will reduce price-fixing).

I am sure you can think of more.

Shuttleworth heir opens up on Ubuntu biz

The BigYin

For us, maybe

For normal users, no way. And there is the after-sales support to consider.

You need to be able to go the the Dell (say) website, select the machine, choose the OS, spec it and then buy. This just isn't happening and until it does Linux will stay in it's sub-1% niche.

Ford preps anti-hacking tech for in-car WiFi

The BigYin

This is coming to the EU...

...and it's called "ISA" (Intelligent Speed Adaptation), it used to be called EVSC (External Vehicular Speed Control). The idea is that it will become impossible to break the speed limit. The car will only let you run up to the limit, no more. You will also be tracked (the car has to know where you are to figure out the limit).

Of course, this would lead to a fall in all that lovely revenue from speeding fines, so may only go ahead in some watered-down form. What is also proposed is for the police to be able to issue a signal and your vehicle would automatically shut-off. Nice.

It is also married to lane charging and other forms of state observation/taxation.

And you can thank your freedom-hating Labour voters for it!

Obey the machine, citizen!

Mozilla gives passive-aggressive missive to pre-Firefox 3.6 hold-outs

The BigYin

Always the problem with Ubuntu

If you stick with the default repros, you'll be on 3.5.8 until Canonical update them.

I've not bothered to look and see if Mozilla provide a repo for Firefox. I have added repos for other software where Canonical don't keep up-to-date (but then I have to personally accept the risk of things not quite working).

Sarah Palin to testify in email hack trial

The BigYin

Agreed

Why isn't she in the dock?

Steve Jobs Flash rant put to the test

The BigYin

One other problem with Flash...

...is the DRM. Just look at the iPlayer. There's a few "third party" apps (even ones the BBC supported and promoted!) that respected the rules about how the content could be streamed/stored and they cannot be used any more because of the RTMP bullshit in Flash.

This would be easy to get around, but illegal due to the DMCA bullshit (and similar bullshit laws in Europe).

This is, basically, caused by Flash IMHO (well, more correctly, Adobe and the BBCtards). And it's all bullshit.

It's the same crap that has foisted DVD regions on use, allowed Sony-BMG to think it was "OK" to install a root-kit and so on.

A second problem with Flash is that it is not truly cross-platform. Flash on Linux sucks ass. Really. I will agree that Linux is a (very) niche market, but if you are lording yourself about as a "standard" you'd better bloody well work across ALL platforms (and that also includes simialr performance across ALL browsers).

This neatly segways into the third problem with Flash. Obviously Adobe can't do all the above, they are a bottleneck. Flash is not open, no one else can help them. There are projects that try to ape Flash (e.g. Gnash) and they have one hell of a time. If Flash was open, the individual OS/browser teams could make sure it works correctly on their platform. No bottleneck.

This would also solve problems one and two at a stroke and the world would be a happy place.

Maybe.

BBC might pay for Tory broadband promises

The BigYin

Because...

...this is the UK and the MPs want to help their friends in big business shift all that 100Mbit/s kit they have lying around, as well as recover the costs of the fab. pplants. In return, the MPs can expect sponsorships, junkets, directorships and help getting that peerage.

In the UK an MP will do what is right for them and that's it; not what is right for the country or their constituents. They are corrupt to the core - just look at the recent expenses fiasco. Scum the lot of them.

Home Sec says 17m ID cards in circulation by 2017

The BigYin

Mandatory

Once you need an ID card for insurance, bank account, NHS, benefits, and police random stop (where not having an ID card is taken as 'suspicious') there will be a stampede of applications.

The ID cards are coming.

You will obey the machine.

Patent attack hits Apple, RIM, AT&T, Moto...

The BigYin

Urf

Whilst the outlawing of Word amused me greatly, all this patent faff in the USA is really beyond a joke. There should be some clause whereby if a firm is not actively using a patent (i.e. in the R&D/manufacture of mobile phones in this case) then the patent expires within a few years.

I realise there are problems with the above, but it would stop all these parasitic lawyers hoovering up patents and suing every Tom, Dick and Harriet.

Government spends £11k on ID card 'branding'

The BigYin

Why advertise?

There's no need to advertise the ID card as it will be compulsory.

Either have an ID card, or foget about having a job, bank account, health care, insurance, driving license or being free to walk down the street (no ID card will be 'suspicious').

Thus advertising the ID card would be like advertising breathing.

Pointless.

Tablet maker threatens, then robs Apple

The BigYin
WTF?

Linux? WTF?

Who mentioned Linux? Your prejudices are showing through.

But, if people don't want Linux they'd best get rid of all those Tivos then.

And most other PVRs...

And most set-top boxes...

And PS3s...

And..and...and...

But I wasn't necessarily talking about Linux (other kernels are available...).

I did not "care" if my washing machine had a pre-soak cycle when I was looking. Really, it was not part of my buying decision. I would "care" though if it could not clean my clothes. I did not know in advance that a pre-soak cycle might have been important (luckily the one I bought has one, but anyway...).

So you are right, general consumers will not "care" in advance about multi-tasking, USB, tethering, video out etc. Right up until the point where it does not do something they expect and then they will "care" mightily.

Oh, and thank you for the ad hominem. it;'s nice to see that the powers of reasoned debate on El Reg are still in the gutter. You do realise the irony in calling me a "socially inept nerd" whilst slinging said insult; don't you?

The BigYin

Bloody septics

No sense of humour, any of them!

:oP

The BigYin

P88 FTW!

It is more feature rich and less locked down that the Apple iFad at the hardware level (USB etc).

It can run a full, multi-tasking OS.

I know which one I would seriously consider, and it wouldn't be the iFad.

Microsoft rejiggers EU browser ballot after complaints

The BigYin

Whilst I agree...

...Apple are not in a monopoly position on desktop PCs. MS are.

There is a stronger case to call Apple a monopoly in the Smartphone/Portable Media Player arena; but there is still probably enough competition for them to duck it there too.

MS, however, ARE a monopoly and this is why they come in for so much stick.

Yellow Dog Linux licks CUDA

The BigYin
Joke

All that...

...and just to try and play a Flash video as smoothly as Windows XP on an old P4.

Beeb deletes iPlayer app from iPhone

The BigYin
Flame

Are you accusing me of...

...illegally accessing content? Are you accusing me of illegally distributing content?

Be very, very careful what you say, buster. And go look up the work "libel". Yes, it does apply to forums such as this.

The BigYin
FAIL

BBCtards. Again.

The BBC really are being monumentally stupid. And the content providers too. Their current antics simply mean that illegal content is easier to acquire and consume than legal. So guess what people will use?

The iPlayer was so good it has hard to believe it came from the BBC. Now it is just getting turned into a sack of vomit by all this Adobe crap.

Man of God backs Beverley porncoder

The BigYin
FAIL

Good grief

Porn site - index pictures and video, search on same, deliver content to verified users.

Photo sites - index pictures a, search on same, deliver content to verified users.

Video - index video, search on same, deliver content to verified users.

Actually...

Content delivery web interface - index content based on meta data, search on index, deliver allowed content to verified users.

Technically they are all very, very similar. If not fecking identical! What next? "Same models of Cannon cameras used at school sports day also used for smut filth! Shock!"

Thinking about, losing the prudish attitude and using the solutions the porn industry have found to verification, delivery, distribution and piracy could well save millions (billions?) in other sectors.

Mad thought of the day: perhaps the porn industry would be better suited to delivery NHS SPINE than the incumbent consultants?

Patchy Windows patching leaves users insecure

The BigYin
Linux

Linux Repos FTW

This is one area where major Linux distros thrash Windows into oblivion. The "repository" system works very, very well. You can install from the existing repos, add new ones etc. So long as the install is done within the bonds of the prevailing package control system, updates for everything (kernel, apps, whatever) just appear.

You have one point of truth (the package manager, call it what you will) and within a corporate environment you can simply run your own repo that pushes out whatever whenever it is tested/needed.

When it comes to updates and remaining secure, I don't Windows users are aware of how far back in the dark ages they are living.

BBC claims angry iPlayer plugin mob 'conflated' open source term

The BigYin

Point of order

H.264 is not "open source" in any meaningful way. It is patent encumbered and you cannot implement it without paying fat fees. Hence why MOziall has (rightly) dug its heels in over the use of this format.

As for the BBC...fix this stupid mistake NOW. (Yes, I have complained)

'Severe' OpenSSL vuln busts public key crypto

The BigYin

Ha ha ha ha!

Please tell me this was meant as a joke. Please. It's great!

If you were serious; then....oh dear god. Back to school for you!

Ubuntu Lucid Lynx changes its spots

The BigYin

Yup

That's the MS business model alright.

Now, about Linux...

LibDems score copyright coup

The BigYin

I was thinking that too

I am also wondering how that applies to a particular version of a movie/song/whatever that is not released here.

Also, where something is released in one region with a long lead-time before it arrives here. Until it lands, is the sharing legal?

In fact, how does it work with DVDs etc? Region on is not available here; so it is OK to share Region 1 encoded DVD images in Europe? Are these different enough to form a loophiole?

I hope so. Not because I want to share files etc., but because I want to see the idiocy that is region locking die a horrible death. Different regions for various language sets is a good idea - but it should not prevent me from playing whatever I had bought. Which is does now.

Microsoft expects to flog 300m 270m copies of Windows 7 in 2010

The BigYin

Sales lies

It is (almost) impossible to buy a PC with Windows on it.

So when I buy an HP (or Acer or...) and reclaim the MS Tax for Win7, will that still get counted as a sale?

Assuming I can still reclaim the MS Tax that is.

Microsoft claims 90m sales of Windows 7

The BigYin

To MS?

I thought it had to be returned to the OEM? Who will probably want the kit back to verify that the license is not being used.

I'm interested in this as I am planning to by a netbook (or small laptop) and I do not want to run Windows, therefore I do not want to may the MS Tax.

Microsoft wants to put infected PCs in rubber room

The BigYin

He may have meant...

...a more open OS. You know, one where you could go and look at the code if you wanted.

The people who rely on obscurity are the likes of MS and their shills.

The BigYin

Hmm...

...I have no issue with infected PCs being blocked by the ISP (after their own scanning, or someone alerting them) and the owner being made to cover all costs incurred (including clean-up - they can take it to a certified engineer if needs be). People need to wise-up to their on-line responsibilities.

But for MS to propose such measures is a bit beyond the pale. If their OS was not SO EASY to infect and subvert, we would not have these issues. *nixes (and I include OS X) are not immune, but they are a shit-load harder to subvert with the tricks that work on Windows. They are also a heterogeneous and compatible environment, so it would be extremely hard for one piece of malware to infect more than a subset of machines.

Often it is not the OS that is actually infected, but some application (e.g. MS Office) that is bent to the will of the hacker. If you are lucky, MS will update this on a random Tuesday. But what if it was a non-MS app? You've got little help unless you actively seek our the patch/new version.

The update mechanism on any modern Linux distro (I don't know about OS X, sorry) is vastly superior than the one on Windows; it takes care not only of the OS and ancillary systems, but also all applications that have been installed via the certified repositories (or whatever your particular brand on Linux happens to call them). No need to go looking, your system will check for updates once a day (or whatever you set it to).

One side effect is that you may get a batch of updates every day. This is a "Good Thing"(tm) as you get the fix as soon as it is ready and don't have to wait for that special Tuesday. Reboots are rare due to how *nix deals with files and it is all over in a few mouse clicks (or a few terminal commands if you prefer). And yes, you can modify how all this works for the corporate environment).

If the world moved to Linux (or OS X, BSD, Haiku...) tomorrow, viruses, rootkits, trojans etc would not vanish, but they would become much, much harder to forge given the reasons above. The only losers would be Symantec et al.

So, by all means, block infected machines, but ask yourself why such measures should be necessary. If the internet is the "information super highway", then Windows PCs are unfit for the road and fail their MOT (or TUV or...)

Internet Explorer 8 still not mingling well with 2,000 highly-visited sites

The BigYin
Flame

Can't win

And if the site, strictly coded to the standards, does not load in your browser; you'll be the first to blame the web devs rather than the true culprit (your browser).

MS is 100% to blame for all this crap we have to suffer today (web devs and end-suers). They gave us IE6, IE7 and now IE8. Maybe by IE10 they with have got with the FUCKING PROGRAM and produced a strict implementation of HTML6 (or whatever happens to be around at that time).

Somehow I doubt it though.

The BigYin
FAIL

Still MS's fault

The chose to ignore the standards in IE6 and IE7. So they have made this rod for their own back. People hacked their pages to display to the largest possible customer base (IE6 and IE7 back in the day). Mozilla et al have had to deal with this crap, now it's MSs turn.

They cannot blame devs for having to code down to their vomit-filled implementation of HTML.

And when the world moves to the HTML5 stanards....will IE follow?

I rather doubt it, we'll get a partial implementation at best which will (guess what?) force dvs to write for the sub-standard, sub-set that IE8 provides.

iPhone ego clash costs Flash at Virgin America

The BigYin

Point of order

Flash is utter rubbish for video as well. Roll on HTML5 (and Ogg Vorbis [On2 v3] or license/patent free On2 v8 support; you can shove your H264).

Google now owns location advertising

The BigYin
FAIL

A few things

1) This is obvious, no?

2) Surely their is prior art? e.g. A mobile phone (it's a computer) and it knows its location and it "advertises" a new provider when you leave your normal region.

3) Who sees ads these days anyway? NoScript, AdBlock and GreaseMonkey squish them all. hell, you don't even need to see ads on TV with the likes of MythTV.

Given 1 and 2, why the hell did the USPO allow a patent?

Oh, wait. It's the USPO!

Intel: Think of the children - give them PCs, not e-readers

The BigYin

Think of the children? Ok.

This is a book. Learn how to read them. Learn how to maintain a stream of thought for longer than 30 seconds. Learn how to use an index and bibliography.

This is a pencil and paper. Learn how to do basic arithmetic, algebra etc. No, really; it's important. You'll thank me when your bank screws up.

That is the outside world. Go make some actual friends and learn some actual social skills. Get some exercise, lower your risk of heart disease and an early death.

Kids DO NOT need laptops. They need to know how to drive a computer, sure. But there are many more way, way, WAY more important skills than pressing buttons.

Also, last time I checked, my pencil and paper has a better battery life than any laptop. They were cheaper too.

Openistas squish security bugs twice as fast

The BigYin

What?

No shills? Come on MS fanbois! Yer letting the side down! :o)

BBC Trust won't probe iPlayer open source gripes

The BigYin
FAIL

Becasue it's legal?

You only need a license fee in the UK to watch/listen to a live broadcast.

The BigYin

Well..

...that the consultation done (link is in the story) with as much anti-proprietary comments as I could must.

The complaint is next.

I've done my bit, have you?

The BigYin

No complaints?

We'll see about that I guess. I'll get mine off in the next day or so.

The "content providers" did not expect people to watch TV programs on their TV? Just how monumentally stupid are these "content providers"? A TV is just a display screen for video content, whatever the delivery mechanism (aerial, satellite, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, cable or internet). They are all the same once the stream is flowing in the home. So OF COURSE folks watch on their TV! FFS!

As for deep linking, what the HELL does that have to do with this? I thought they filtered based on IP? So the number of "nawty" programs able to purloin content should be vanishingly small. Deep link or no, if you have your security set-up properly (and as we were lead to believe) then requests from unatned IPs will simply not get through or get redirected (a la AdultSwim).

We shall, of course, ignore the basic flaw in all of this; which is that trying to regionally restrict content in a network that is by design GLOBAL is like trying to empty a reservoir with a sieve. It's a lot of work, some folks will get rich providing a service to do it, but in the end it is utterly futile.

Hence all the barriers the governments are now trying to place on the net. A populace divided is a populace monetised and controlled. The net can probably withstand a nuclear strike, but it is powerless again the RIAA and their lawyers.

BT blamed for Davina McCall spamcalls

The BigYin

Indeed

BT continue to harass me and I am beginning to wonder what legal routes I have open to get them to just LEAVE ME ALONE!

Microsoft and the Windows Phone 7 noise machine

The BigYin

Windows Phone 7?

Who gives a flying toss? You wouldn't enter an elephant into the Grand National, so why the hell would you want Windows on your phone?

British Library wants taxpayer to gobble the web

The BigYin
Joke

yeh

lik teh internet is all of the gudness. It hlpz peepul and keeping it wud be gud.