* Posts by Chemist

2677 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Mar 2010

GRAV WAVE TSUNAMI boffinry BONANZA – the aftershock of the universe's Big Bang

Chemist

Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

" For instance if you launched two objects in opposite directions at light speed"

SR allows a 3rd observer to 'see' 2 objects moving together or apart at >c but from the perspective of one object the other can never be moving (towards or away at >c). It's one of the problems with trying to understand relativity by analogy with everyday experience.

In the LHC the protons beams each reach close to c relative to the machine but from their perspective only collide at <c

Chemist

Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

"How would you describe it?"

I thought I just did - certainly not as 'exceeding light speed - it has no meaning in this context

Chemist

"expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

Not really a good way of describing it I think. The 'expansion' was driven by a 'phase-change' in spacetime itself AFAIK.

Great science (I hope)

Straight to 8: London's Met Police hatches Win XP escape plan

Chemist

Re: How about ....

"Actually, they still havnt fully switched - 30-40% of their users still have to use Windows for at least part of the time"

The latest figures are ~15500 desktops of which 14800 are Linux. Indeed some of them may be using Windows some of the time -so what . I used to use VAX and Alphas and Linux farms from a Windows or Linux desktop

Chemist

Re: Gross incompetence on many levels

"It is a known fact that they still have over a third of their users on Windows after ten years of migration!"

One of your facts I think not anyone elses

Chemist

Re: How about ....

" e.g still having to use Windows when you require a version of Office that actually works."

One of their first moves was to switch to OpenOffice whilst retaining Windows, once any issues were sorted and the staff used to OO then they switched to Linux.

Windows hits the skids, Mac OS X on the rise

Chemist

Re: @Matt: reasons to switch away from Windows

"You compile the kernel for some reason (like the frequent security patches)"

Oh it's you again !

I use Linux all the time and I haven't needed to compile a kernel in - well I can't remember exactly but at least 15 years and my systems are all up-to-date

Chemist

Re: In Other News, Linux Is Still A Nonentity...

"What does choice have to do with it?"

"I don't see how someone choosing to install it makes it worthy in some way"

Don't you understand ? As people actively have to install it it automatically means the installed base is small. Only if many PC suppliers provide a good selection of hardware pre-installed will it be possible to say what the potential Linux market is. Judging by Android it might be quite large

Chemist

Re: In Other News, Linux Is Still A Nonentity...

"Are you saying it could have been something™ "

No, I'm saying what I wrote - that's what honest people generally do - not prevaricate or lie even. I don't give a hoot for Gates or Jobs if people want to use their software so be it.

On the other hand I don't get your motive : are you really so worried by this 'small' percentage that you have to try to run it down. What is it to you ?

People aren't being lured into Linux they chose as I said. It's been good for me for nearly twenty years, I don't use anything else and I can do everything I want. Edit/render HD video, develop RAW DSLR images, run GoogleEarth, Skype, use a 3G dongle, masses of scientific software and much more. I have a low-energy file server, 3 desktops, 1 netbook and two laptops including a brand new 4 core i7 and none have ever had Windows installed except an old laptop that was given to me because it was unusable after a Window update.

Chemist

Re: In Other News, Linux Is Still A Nonentity...

"Wow! Linux desktop market share TRIPLED from nothing to still-nothing in only five short years."

And almost everyone in that number chose to install Linux, either on a clean machine or dual-boot. That percentage is a massive figure given that most people have to accept what they are given, can generally only buy PCs with Windows pre-installed or don't know/care anyway. The figure probably represents ~~20 million users.

Your sneering insult in your second post BTW only serves to highlight your ignorance and prejudice. It demeans you and taints any posts you make

(non-virgin, non-sub-parentally dwelling, 39 years married scientist)

Windows Phone beats BLACKBERRY in mobe OS popularity stakes

Chemist

"You give yourself away as clearly someone not senior enough to have been involved in such decision making processes..."

You give yourself away as clearly someone who would be like to be thought senior enough to have been involved in such decision making processes... - fixed that

Global Warming is real, argues sceptic mathematician - it just isn't Thermageddon

Chemist

Re: Forth Byte.

"Forth. It's not a language, it's a lifestyle."

I wrote a full 6809 disassembler once in Forth ( on a 6809 system). Given the vast number of addressing modes on a 6809 its source was a mere 6K and compiled to add very little to the system ( can't remember but maybe 1K )

Does mess with your head a bit I agree

Who loves office space? Dell does: Virtualization to banish workstations from under desks

Chemist

Re: Look! It's the 1980s all over again!

"Back in the days I had to work on a Tektronix X-terminal"

You were lucky !

We had an Evans & Sutherland vector graphics 3D screen with attached bit-slice processor AND a VAX as compute/fileserver - all in its own darkened room - now that was noisy

So long, Samsung! TSMC is fabbing Apple's A8 chip, insiders claim

Chemist

Re: Why quad core?

"but hardly see the point for a phone or even laptop."

But I travel a lot ( 1/2 the year) with my laptop, DSLR and HD video camera. As 1080p/50 video requires masses of CPU for H264 rendering it took ~50 mins to render 1 min. of video with my old laptop ( admittedly an old Celeron) but now takes 1.7 mins for 1 min with this quad-core i7. That means I can render during the trip and don't have to spend time after. Well worth it if you spot a mistake in 10 mins of video and have to re-render.

And it's still perfectly usable during rendering for stills processing or editing more video.

Chemist

Re: Why quad core?

"I barely have any use for the 3rd and 4th cores in my desktop computer. Don't know why people might want them in a phone or tablet."

Well much of the time I'd agree but as I have a number of computer-intensive applications that can use multiple cores then I'd rather have them than not. I particular my video editor for 1080p/50 video and ffmpeg for transcoding video run all 8 cores (hyperthreading I know) at ~90% on this laptop and have a huge increase in speed over my best desktop ( which is overdue for replacement for this and other reasons)

Roku flashes $50 HDMI TV web dongle at anyone sick of Google's stick

Chemist

Re: Local content?

"A dongle that's a frontend to Myth TV or even simply VLC"

Our Samsung WiFi HD video recorder will do internet browsing & apps like iplayer, Netflix,etc,etc, but will also play/display H264/mp3/jpg from usb or a networked media server. (I'm using minidlna on Linux at the moment.)

Not a dongle, of course, but I don't see why all of these functions couldn't be easily integrated into one.

Windows XP market share GROWS AGAIN, outstrips Win 8.1 surge

Chemist

Re: I worry about the squirrels and otters

"ntil the Network Daemons refuse to start and nothing you do can get networking to work properly again,"

Have you got a ref. to that being a common issue ?. I don't use MInt but I have used Linux since ~1995 without an serious * network ( wireless or otherwise ) issues.

* occasionally with wireless I've had to use a different adapter until the drivers 'caught up' with the built-in chipset

Chemist

"Why would anyone prefer to use XP?"

One very common reason is that large businesses have standard desktop builds that support a vast array of programs, standards etc. They need a great deal of time and effort to certify a new build will support all their existing desktops. This certainly was the case at the pharma (70000+ desktops) I worked at before I retired where W2000 was the standard even in 2008/9. Not everyone can get by with Office, Exchange and a browser - we had a vast array of supported programs and that was just in the scientific areas.

Chemist

Re: Piss poor data?

"is that the methodology used and the resulting data is nowhere near as accurate as implied by the two decimal place precision "

Agree - and where there is this sort of time-related data (and possibly very noisy data ) where there might be a trend then the use of moving averages helps to clarify any such trend

GNU security library GnuTLS fails on cert checks: Patch now

Chemist

Re: The only reason this is news worthy...

"For instance when the FBI back doored the BSD IPSEC stack..."

As I've already replied (and I suspect to you)

"http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/10/12/15/004235/fbi-alleged-to-have-backdoored-openbsds-ipsec-stack"

This alleged backdoor report is 4 years old AND refers to something that might have happened in ~2000 - is this really the best you can do ?

Chemist

"Thanks to those who spotted, fixed it and pushed the changes to the various repositories."

Update just arrived (OpenSUSE 13.1) - echo thanks to all involved

Hey doc, what's the PC's prognosis? A. Long-term growth below zero

Chemist

Re: PCs are now workstations?

"if you want to sell this common professional tool"

You'll also need to adhere to common standards as well, I'd suggest

Linux-friendly Munich: Ja, we'll take open source collab cloud

Chemist

Re: Lucky

"Good news, everyone! KDE cookie-scoffing bug smashed after 10 years ..."

The 'bug' was so trivial nobody had even noticed it

From your ref :

"The flaw in the free-software environment is best described as a glitch or irritant rather than anything serious, but it did cause some systems to forget their web cookies after a reboot or shutdown"

Do you know how long I leave some of my desktops between reboot or shutdown ?

Chemist

Re: @Chemist

"http://bsd.slashdot.org/story/10/12/15/004235/fbi-alleged-to-have-backdoored-openbsds-ipsec-stack"

This alleged backdoor report is 4 years old AND refers to something that might have happened in ~2000 - is this really the best you can do ?

Chemist

Re: @Chemist

"Open Source != bug/virus/backdoor free"

I agree, but at the same time the whole source is available. Do you suggest that intelligent programmers maybe using software tools are incapable of finding a backdoor. ? That forensic malware experts are incapable of detecting untoward traffic ?

Sure, it's possible, but between closed-source binary and open-source I know what I'd take and in fact I do take

Chemist

Re: Good test enviroment

"I cannot wait to see how well or poorly a big, all Linux enterprise will run after 10+"

I agree, but the 500000+ school computers in Brazil may be a more informative

Chemist

Re: Am I the only one who saw this??

"It looks like Germany is putting in their own backdoor and people are happy to do it "

OSS !

http://kolab.org/

http://git.kolab.org/

Chemist

Re: Lucky

@The Vogon - so you've actually managed NOT to tick the AC box or was it an accident ?

Chemist

Re: Lucky

"The user base are complaining and fighting for access to the "extra" 30% of computers that have access to a version of Office that actually works and has Outlook installed "

ref ?

Roughly 30% of users use some programs is what they say

Chemist

General The Register Comment

There really, really should be some way to distinguish one AC from another in any thread other than by using a posting time (apart from the obvious AC that is). Maybe AC1, AC2 just for the duration of the thread.

It would save a lot of confusion

Chemist

Re: Lucky

"The user base are complaining and fighting for access to the "extra" 30% of computers that have access to a version of Office that actually works"

ref ?

Chemist

Re: Hmm. You never......

"Here you go if the press commentary was not evidence enough:"

Here is some press commentary that provides a different picture. ( I didn't find any sig. press commentary that was supportive of the HP report )

http://techrights.org/2013/01/24/anti-munich-pr/

Chemist

Re: Ironic

"So they pulled it off. Maybe we should think about a similar move".

Indeed looks like a good opportunity for a consultancy business

Chemist

Re: Hmm. You never......

"This isnt even remotely causing MS to panic"

You are starting to sound like a set of "Monty Python" sketches - "The Spanish Inquisition" or "The Black Knight" maybe

'

Chemist

Re: Ironic

"24 million.."

My mistake it's 35 million !

"Success! 35 million students in over 50,000 schools throughout Brazil are now enjoying 523,400 new computer stations"

"The Brazilian Ministry of Education chose the free Linux operating system as the platform, calculating the projected long term benefits this choice will bring to the Brazilian economy."

http://userful.com/products/case-studies/brazil-case-study

Chemist

Re: Ironic

"14,000 users "**

Maybe not but 70000 French police, 24 million Brazilian schoolchildren and lots, lots of other projects - it's starting to stack up.

**1/4 of which are still using some MS products BTW

Microsoft hardens EMET security tool: OK, it's not invulnerable, but it's free

Chemist

Re: More security is a good thing

"Unfortunately, I can already hear the bearded, rabid masses of commentards flinging their spittle at this article"

Why ? I'd not criticize MS for getting their act together. In fact if you look at my posting history I rarely criticize their software at all. In fact I don't think about them at all unless I'm reminded on the Register.

(Also non-bearded and non-sandal wearing, non-basement dwelling, saliva-retaining, married scientist without Lyssavirus infection)

UK citizens to Microsoft: Oi. We WANT ODF as our doc standard

Chemist

"since almost any decent word processor will at least open & read pretty much any format."

And how about in 50 years time - all that will help then will be a well-documented format (so not an MS one). If you read the threads around this you'll get plenty of views on this **. Also documents are being edited on various tablets and not all of these will read every format.

**(I know you might not have had time having only joined today)

Chemist

Re: Thanks

": either way, if support for a format is dropped, I'm screwed."

All the more reason for well-defined non-proprietary format with a number of implementations

Chemist

Re: Thanks

"But if it collapsed, what then ?"

All the more reason for well-defined non-proprietary format with a number of implementations

Chemist

Re: Data Format, not Applications

"Yes, quite wrong, Munich for one, it's certainly the most famous one."

The French police have almost completed a move to Linux

http://www.zdnet.com/french-police-move-from-windows-to-ubuntu-linux-7000021479/

That's going to be ~70000

Microsoft asks pals to help KILL UK gov's Open Document Format dream

Chemist

Re: Re "Actually, I like CSV best."

"Which route did you try"

Opened the file with calc, data wizard opens , unchecked the non-relevant boxes (space, semicolon) and OK.

I generally ask collaborators for data as .csv as I've developed a lot of C over the years for handling all sorts of odd cases and often the files are millions of lines long and need some/lots of pre-processing before going anywhere near a spreadsheet (or more usually JMP)

Chemist

Re: Re "Actually, I like CSV best."

"Things CSVs don't work very well for:"

I just tried a few in LibreOffice Calc

test space, "test space","test,comma", test,comma, test;semi, "test";"semi"

read in as :-

test space | test space | test,comma | test | comma | test;semi | test";"semi |

where only the test,comma had been split into two columns ( as expected)

Chemist

Re: "why do you think posting this patently untrue and discredited nonsense ..."

"Because paid shill still has to shill."

But he/she is absolutely hopeless at it

Chemist

Re: UK gov, Beware the Microsoft Trojan Horse

"The current losses including all underlying costs are estimated at about €30 million and the project is unlikely to ever make a return on investment blah, blah"

My we are getting desperate, the tone of this thread as been overwhelmingly pro-open standards and to some extent anti-MS. So why do you think posting this patently untrue and discredited nonsense will sway anyone here ?

Chemist

Re: Format

"I doubt your competence to make such statements."

I doubt his impartiality to make such statements.

Chemist

"The letter further accuses the Cabinet Office of backing ODF primarily out of a desire to save money on software by switching to open-source applications"

This bad because ?

Sanity now: Gnome 3.12 looking sensible - at least in beta

Chemist

Re: Amazing what a bit of competition can do

"You will, of course, cite Munich"

You treat people here as though they were stupid with the memory span of a gnat. You post this drivel week after week.

Better late than never: Monster 15-core Xeon chips let loose by Intel

Chemist

"

"Server 2012 R2 would top the pile...."

of ?

Probably good for growing mushrooms then.