Re: As a contractor...

... and unless you did everything by the book, and documented everything, and kept all receipts an audit is a nightmare even for the most honest operator.

I don't cheat (I can't be arsed and the gov is pretty good to me, really) but my weakness is not bothering keeping very good books. I'm a technician, not an accountant and I don't give a crap. I just want to make enough money to live on.

But that's the way I feel about it... I don't even claim a lot of stuff that I could be claiming, because I'd rather pay some tax and stay under the radar.

Re: Rule of Thumb

I service hundreds of home and business users and not one, NOT ONE, has anything good to say about the "Outlook.com" mail interface. These aren't just fucksticks on twitter running their mouths, they are real users. I get service calls specific to that, thinking that something is wrong (how can I get my hotmail back?), and I just suggest other services.

People who keep quiet usually just move to something else because they know it's futile to complain, especially about a free service. It's simply not objectionable or significant enough. I certainly didn't get excited about it, I just abandoned the disposable hotmail account I had (let Microsoft deal with all the overflowing spam). I couldn't be arsed to complain and I never liked really liked the hotmail service (though the old UI was OK) in the first place. I was just using it to collect feces.

"Of course it sucks, it's a Microsoft service" is a common attitude. It often just ends with that and a shrug.

Re: Seems counterproductive...

No, authors and publishers don't get to decide what is fair use. That is for society to judge.

That's exactly the problem these days and what is going to be changed and clarified. We're sick and tired of that control freak attitude. It's not even to their benefit... it's cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

Re: Microsoft's strategy is FAILING

QUOTE: "And as for suggesting linux - great idea if you don't mind spending weeks rewriting drivers and other crap to get it to work at all - while constantly being told by linux people that you are obviously too thick because somehow you weren't built with the instant knowledge of it and were stupid enough to ask."

Actually, you'll be told by Linux people that you haven't a clue what you're talking about... it's not like that at all. If you were treated like that by Linux users, it's because you rubbed them up the wrong way with your attitude.

Funny how, in 1999 when I started to use Linux, that I didn't have to spend weeks rewriting drivers to get it to work at all. I didn't have to be told much by Linux people, because I found plenty of discussions where helpful Linux users answered questions with the very information I needed. It's even better now, there are assloads of Linux forums. You don't even have to search mailing list and usenet archives anymore.

I have edited drivers in the Linux kernel though. Probably the most significant was to get a framebuffer console to work exactly correctly on a very finicky CRT. This asshole monitor needed .inf files from the manufacturer even to work correctly at any resolution in Windows XP, yet it worked in X. I pulled the timings from an x11 driver that did work, converted the values to the format used and changed them in the source of the framebuffer driver. I'm not even a programmer, yet I was able to find my own solution by reading the driver's documentation to find out how the values worked, and by reading well indented, well commented source code.

Because I can. Try that with Windows. It's proprietary and you can't.

Re: Bah!

You made my point for me. None of those things you are exaggerating about are illegal (perhaps texting while driving is in your area), yet they have the potential to be far more dangerous than the simple act of wearing one of these visors. It's what you do with the thing that makes it dangerous. Certainly no more dangerous than someone fooling around with their GPS devices (dash mounted GUI screens), which are not banned while driving. The behaviour of distracted driving is, regardless of the objects involved.

It comes down to free will... at least for those who are capable of thinking for themselves.

They are banning a potentially useful device without much consideration of how people will use it. Automatically, it's videos ("cat videos" as the example) because that's what the small minded twats associate with Google.

Re: Data delete?

I said: "Unfortunately, when they say "the MBR" they mean the first sector of the disk (sector 0), that has the MBR (master boot record) and partition tables."

Actually, it does worse than that. It doesn't just delete the sector, it overwrites the MBR itself, then extends partitions and stuff to disconnect your data and make it difficult to recover any logical drives. (At least that's what I understood from it)

See a post further down by dgharmon that has a rough translation from Korean of what it does.

Re: Data delete?

Unfortunately, when they say "the MBR" they mean the first sector of the disk (sector 0), that has the MBR (master boot record) and partition tables.

If you were to know what happened and use a utility to reconstruct the partition tables exactly as they were (if you just have one partition on the disk it's easy) you could fix it good as new though. You could then use fixmbr (or in the more modern case "bootrec /fixmbr") to make the disk bootable again.

Well yes, plea bargains are often the appropriate route to take and are beneficial to both sides.

The problem is, they exist so the courts can get things cleared through, not necessarily to serve or even expediate justice.

If you have to accept lesser punishment and a record for something you didn't do, or cop to a series of charges that aren't all correct, because of some jackass that wants to use the weight of the system as a weapon against you, then that is abusive.

This is common in America. Take the plea bargain, or the prosecution is going to do everything in their power to get you convicted and sentenced harshly.

Re: Scientific Terminology

Folks who think they talk to the dead are inarguably sure of it too.

There is no doubt that the Earth's climate is shifting (again), but that it's man made is bollocks.

Believe what you want, and suffer and sacrifice, but the rest of us are going to carry on with modern conveniences, cheap sources of energy and ignore the likes of you.

Also, the words of these scientists are full of climate change buzzwords and bullshit and it does have a discrediting effect.

Re: Classic Shell?

I run a computer service (not sales, just good on site service). Classic Shell makes my people happy, when they have subjected themselves to Windows 8 through a new computer purchase. I don't configure much, I just install it and choose the option of "Vista/Windows 7" for the start menu style. This brings back a Windows 7-like shell and goes directly to the desktop after login. It also brings back traditional shutdown menus and stuff.

I was previously offering Windows 7 "downgrades" for a nominal fee, but that's a lot of bollocks tracking down drivers from the chipset manufacturers (especially on notebooks where the OEM doesn't provide them) and also other concerns. (Hint: Microsoft doesn't allow "downgrade rights" for consumer editions of Windows)

Unless someone would like to try a nice Linux distribution (which I am more than happy to have done, also for a nominal fee), I think Classic Shell is the best solution for Windows 8 shitboxen. It's Free (MIT License), does exactly what most users want with almost no configuration (with assloads of options available for those who do know what they want) and to my knowledge, doesn't cause any problems. It seems to be implemented as an extension to the explorer shell, rather than a shell replacement. That could be a matter of semantics, but I'm guessing it's less likely to cause any unexpected surprises that way.

So that's what I'm doing now, for anyone I encounter who expresses exasperation at that absolutely retarded user interface.

I set up local logins (Microsoft wants everyone to use a Windows Live login and people think they have to), I add back the solitaire games from Windows 7 (google for that, if interested) so they don't have to have a Games for Windows Live account and go through the chicken before egg bullshit of needing to update the client software because it can't log in, and I also tell people to resist drinking the Microsoft Store koolaid.

They get an explanation of my ideological objections to this blatant attempt to establish apple-like lock-in dumb-down, for no charge.

Re: Parental Responsibility

That's right, I don't care about YOUR children or how you choose to mollycoddle them. I care about mine, and I teach them the difference between reality and fiction. I also don't let them wander around the Internet such that they are going to be viewing material that's going to cause them psychological harm. I let kids get a little desensitized to violence (play video games, watch tv shows, have events in the news explained to them frankly etc.) but within reason. My reason.

Yes, if your children are encountering violent, shock porn on the Internet it is you as a parent who is at fault. Nobody else. Who ever said that the Internet was for children, without any guidance? Do you also let your children wander around the rough, seedy parts of cities where they will be exposed to violent crime, the sex trade and drugs and then blame everyone else?

Re: Great!

I'm not so optimistic... as profit margins get lower, so does manufacturing quality. Mechanical hard disks are atrocious these days. I'm buying the more expensive Western Digital Caviar Black drives and having higher failure rates than Maxtor rubbish 10 years ago. I personally had 3 of those drives (of different sizes) fail all around the same time. One of them wasn't in use, it was disconnected, storing data. I went to use it to rescue some files and it had bad sectors (i/o errors). This simply means that the magnetic surfaces of the drives were all coated with the same shoddy materials, that degraded in the same time frame. It's not a bizarre coincidence like one might think. I used to think that having my data on multiple hard disks was safe, thinking 2 hard drives aren't going to fail at the same time. Guess what?

I don't care if the drives are cheap and have long warranties, people can never get back their wasted time (and money... I still have to charge labour to replace failed hard disks for customers, it's no fault of mine that the goods were shoddy and I'm not holding the bag)

Back when hard disks were expensive the quality was better.

Re: Duh, perhaps there are too many bugs in Java 6 and it's time for an update?

When you have a runtime environment that existing applications rely on, you have to back port fixes to it so you don't disrupt your customers. Either that or you have to always ensure backwards compatibility. One thing you don't do, is remove things at your whims and break functionality, even if you're going to stop maintaining the old version after time.

Otherwise, who would invest time and money building software using fragile environments?

This is what Microsoft does with their compiler runtimes (MS Visual C++, Visual Basic) and .Net Framework. They have to maintain several versions of these, if they are installed, because new versions are not drop-in, backwards compatible.

You evidently don't know much about software, but don't let that stop you from admonishing others.

Re: Touch is ok for

No, but he represents MOST computer users. Remember, not everyone cares to go to technology news sites and post comments.

Most people that I know (and hundreds of average users make up my clientele)

Hate operating touch screen gadgets

Hate Windows 8 to the point that it's unusable to them.

Pay me to get rid of Windows 8 and install Windows 7 and/or Linux.

(I completely drop my hourly rate and do this for a nominal fee, because... I HATE WINDOWS 8 and I fight against what it stands for, at every turn. It's more than just a horrid user interface, to me. It's a power play that is not in the best interests of the computing industry, or users.)

It's a severe disconnect.

Microsoft desperately wants hardware manufacturers to churn out devices that either can't be downgraded or are impractical to do so.

Re: "the writing is on the wall for desktop computing."

The early models of EEEPC came with dumbed down rubbish (horrible custom user interface on a Debian back end) and the units didn't even work properly on most networks. As near as I can figure it was a problem (some incompatible response) with the DHCP client, because it affected ethernet and wireless. I didn't waste time debugging it. It did work in some places though. I wouldn't be surprised if those got returned as defective, because they were as far as people were concerned.

They really gave "Linux" a bad name with the faeces they put on there. One woman was so negative when I was telling her I'd have that fixed up better than ever in an hour or so... she said she wasn't interested in that crap at all. After I got a modern distro installed (the current Mint with XFCE at the time), and set up some panel launchers etc. she was "wowed" at how nicely it worked and the applications she had at her fingertips.

I've fixed a few of those by installing a proper distro using an external optical drive. The 8 Gb models (SSD) anyway... the ones with 4 Gb aren't worth bothering with.

Re: "Notebooks were incredibly popular when they came with Linux."

Eadon, you're hurting yourself with the use of the word "force". I know what you mean, but the apologists will hold you to the literal definitions of the words you use.

You're right though, Microsoft does indeed coerce OEMs. It's still a "choice"... you can do what Microsoft says and get the nice price for Windows (in this case, Windows XP brought out of retirement), or defy them by continuing to offer other configurations and pay more than your competitors. With low profit margins, that's basically death.

It's an American style choice. (as in, you "chose" the consequences)

That's right, netbooks were coming out with Linux. Microsoft then decided that they would sell Windows XP again after all, because they can't lose any ground to Linux, even if they weren't interested in that niche in the first place.

Those netbooks that came with Vista Home Basic and Windows 7 Starter were rubbish. Arbitrarily crippling features doesn't make the OS any more light weight. Terrible operating systems for a low powered netbook. I have revived many a netbook by installing a light weight Linux environment. (e.g. XFCE instead of flagship desktop bloat). I even compile them a kernel optimized for Atom.

But Microsoft doesn't care what they pollute. (just about everything they touch)

Re: Windows 8 FAIL

It is life and death to me... Microsoft is RUINING the computing industry. This is the worst thing they have ever tried to do and I have nothing but hatred for the greedy cunts.

Think beyond the queer user interface, there is something far more ominous in intent. The Microsoft Store. All "Windows 8" (Metro) apps have to go through them, and developers have to pay them homage.

Microsoft is trying to turn computers into dumbed down, locked down devices that they control. They are trying to force a change in the industry, and seize control at this crossroads. I'm glad that vendors aren't playing into their hands.

I've always hated Microsoft, but now it is a darker, and more seething hatred. Anything I can do to cost Microsoft money is my pleasure. (and I do, wherever my work gives me the opportunity)

Re: I would imagine...

"Bet they dont"

Bet they did... the same company whose software vulnerability he exposed, Skytech, offered him a (private sector, meaning commercial vocational school) scholarship and a job.

Much to the dismay of all the authoritarian types in the peanut gallery, I would say his career just got a boost from this episode. Out of that silly provincial college, and into a real institute of technology program that will actually lead to a real job that he'll walk right into, right now.

Re: An NRA spokespersons said...

Sure video games and movies desensitize people to violence, but desensitizing doesn't cross the threshold of irrational thought, leading to massacres.

"Come on Dad, shoot him in the head! Make it splode!" (said by an 8 year old girl watching Dad play games)

Said child does know the difference between video games and real violence, but is not traumatized to hear of it. You can tell the kid "those people were killed by a shooter" and she understands. You don't have to cover her eyes and ears.

That's what desensitizing means. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

Children in war torn countries grow up desensitized to violence, but that doesn't mean they don't want it to stop.

Re: The days when everyone ran their own servers are long gone

If this is in reply to me, I didn't mean paying clients. I meant it in context of "client and server". A client would simply be a visitor's web browser etc. Of course you can have a few clients connect for whatever reason. (e.g. filesharing)

Try running a site like TheReg or even a forum with, say, even just a few hundred regular users on a home internet connection. You'll lose most of your membership because they will be frustrated.

Also, if running your own mail services on an ISP connection, few will accept mail from you. You will have problems, regardless of having your MX records and everything in order.

It's not that you can't do a lot of stuff yourself (like you describe) or that you can't host anything, I was just reacting to the notion that you don't need a datacenter when you have high speed internet at home. It's kind of deceiving if you don't know any better, one would think "12 mbit upstream" would be dandy but in reality other factors make it undesirable.

It's certainly worth the $150 or so a month it costs me to have a server in a datacenter. I'd spend thousands a month to lease lines, and pay an upstream ISP to have viable hosting from home. (That's the point I'm stuck on)

I guess I am way out of context because I am absolutely not saying I would want or even tolerate NAT from an ISP. I sometimes open ports for services when I have a specific reason to (e.g. I could pop open an ftp server right now if I wanted someone to get something from me directly). If faced with NAT, I would cancel the service so fast, and so nastily, that they would need counselling.

NAT is for ME to do, with my one public facing IP address.

Re: The days when everyone ran their own servers are long gone

Except that your links to the internet will be poor compared to a datacenter, that has routers from the major carriers right on their doorstep.

You, on the other hand, with a residential or business connection intended for client use, will be behind much more infrastructure and have considerably more latency for clients connecting to you. Some clients may not be able to reach you at all.

That's the reason why people have servers in professional datacenters. Running it from home, it will be hit or miss for clients, and you'll easily saturate that pipe you think is so fat. ISPs don't give you unmitigated 24/7 full duplex connections at your stated speeds. If you're just goofing around that's fine, but for any serious hosting with any traffic it's not viable.

You will see, as many others have.

Re: I guess

I meant to mention... if this attack DOES succeed (either implemented as a trojan, or a manned attack tool) the biggest advantage of owning the router would be to change the DNS servers to your own, that are maliciously configured to direct everyone to nice web sites of your choosing. This way everyone on the network can share the joy.

So sending this out as a trojan (email, drive-by etc.) wouldn't often succeed, but if it did.... mmmboy.

By the way, I live in Southern Ontario, Canada and the local ISP here hands out good old fashioned Linksys WRT54GL routers. (I use them too... well designed devices that are reliable for a long time) What's worse is, they lock everyone out of them and put a "Property Of..." sticker over the reset button forbidding its use. (Of course you could do it anyway, but...) I highly doubt they are going to phone everyone and tell them to bring their routers in for a firmware upgrade. (Not this particular ISP).

Re: I guess

Yes, it's a bit of a stretch. If you have that kind of access, getting the user to run a malicious program, you might as well just use the PC for your payload. It would be a more effective trojan and more likely to succeed.

This would be more useful as an attack tool wielded by someone who already has network access to mess with someone's router.

Re: It won't happen again

Well, it's a shorter sentence than first degree murder in the U.S. (you can get silly sentences of 300 years there) but it might as well be. You might get less jail time for a rape, though.

Others are watching this. When you start dealing out holier than thou, brimstone and fire, long sentences for non violent crimes, many crimes may just become violent to eliminate witnesses or potential snitches, as well as arresting officers. (look at drugs in the U.S., for example) Criminals might as well keep fighting, there's very little incentive to surrender and face the music.

America is a really nice place full of happy people.

Re: Job requirements

I had a similar experience in Toronto... in around 2000 I realized that liked working with computers better than the other studies that got me involved, so I went to get some certifications which would hopefully formalize the skills I already had, or so I thought. When applying for jobs, yes, all the advertised positions called for highly unlikely combinations of qualifications and experience.

I applied to a lot of places (that weren't advertising, and some of them with resumes taken in by friends that worked there) and couldn't convince anyone that I wasn't just some typical "MCSE" (Microsoft Certified Solitaire Engineer) idiot, though I had no formal work experience in the field to list and they had no way of knowing I was real. I never even got one interview. Cold and harsh. Oh wait, I had one "email interview"... they started out by telling me I was more than qualified, with all the "if you choose to accept this position" crap to get my guard down, then I just never heard from them again. The cunt didn't even return my follow up emails, he just ignored me. What a coward.

So this article really hit home. I was probably a couple of years too late.

I ended up just moving back to my home town and starting my own computer service, going on site to homes and offices. 11 years has gone by and I won't get rich doing this, but it's better than having to deal with the stuffed shirts.

Re: Um...

You would log them if taking them for evidence of the poor route that you want your ISP to correct, which is what he was doing at the time.

There is nothing unusual about that. I use traceroute often myself, and have specifically used it many times to see why I had lag to... our Call of Duty servers. In fact sometimes I would have to ssh in to the servers and traceroute to myself to see the problem. The routes often aren't the same in both directions, depending on the datacenter.