* Posts by Zippy's Sausage Factory

766 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Mar 2008

Microsoft tries cutting the Ribbon in Office UI upgrade

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Thumb Up

Re: So we're basically back to toolbars again?

Good thing too, say I!

New York State is trying to ban 'deepfakes' and Hollywood isn't happy

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: Bullshit

And what about Woody Alllen's Zelig and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid?

What about them? They use archive footage, as does Forrest Gump. Different thing altogether.

Every bloody gadget in the house is ringing. Thanks, EE

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Bully for you. Don't turn it on.

From the sound of the other comments, it turns itself on automatically. Turning it off again might be a different matter, though.

Yahoo! Kills! The! Messenger!

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Meh

Re: Yahoo!Chat!Quit!Working!??

Yeah, me too. I was under the impression it died two years ago, which is why I uninstalled it and moved to Viber.

IBM to GTS: We want you to 'rotate' clients every two years

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: Could be good for the techies

I immediately thought of that, and I get your argument. Yes, it's good for staff, but it's likely that a lot of the reason that someone stays with a company that uses a "home account" system is to have continuation of personnel. It'll be good for junior staff, but customer services maybe not so much.

Russia appears to be 'live testing' cyber attacks – Former UK spy boss Robert Hannigan

Zippy's Sausage Factory

My own theory is that they are being tested by cybercriminals who are too smart to try and probe their own country's web infrastructure for fear of being arrested by local police. Naturally, this is easier to do in countries such as Russia that have less oversight for this sort of thing - it's a bit like the Isle of Man* setting low tax rates and people being puzzled why rich people move there.

Some of the testing may be state-sponsored, but I doubt it. I would expect that state-sponsored attacks generally tend to be tested behind closed doors, rather than in the wild, for the simple reason that you don't want to give your enemy clues as to what you're planning until you're ready so to do.

* I was going to say Monaco but I always wanted to live in Monaco as a kid because of the grand prix, of course.

Stop us if you've heard this one: Adobe Flash gets emergency patch for zero-day exploit

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Flame

Re: The internet's screen door?

And yet Windows 10 really doesn't want you to remove the Flash binaries. And if you do, updates stop working properly. Yet another example of Microsoft "making it easier".

Microsoft will ‘lose developers for a generation’ if it stuffs up GitHub, says future CEO

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: ROFL

Weirdly, I'm back to trusting SourceForge. Yes, there are a ton of adverts, but the new management actually seem to be honest and upfront about what they're doing - no more malvertising inserted into binaries, for a start. And following them talking with devs on Twitter actually makes me feel they mean what they say.

I know, I'm probably the last one left, right?

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Meh

Re: "Plans integration"

Totally agree...

if Microsoft screws this up, we will lose the trust of developers for a generation

They lost my trust years ago. They always treat the new shiny latest fad as being the most important thing, sidelining everyone else. This is why I've known developers who have six or seven versions of Visual Studio on their PC, simply because the moment you open a 2008 project in 2010, you can't then open it in 2008 and it no longer works with the runtime you need. Plus, each version needs a new version of TFS otherwise you can't check anything in. (Chances they'll go the same way with git? I'm pretty sure they'll try it...)

And Visual Studio steals stupid ideas from elsewhere. Like that lightbulb? Please, if I wanted to torture myself with ReSharper, I know where to buy it. But now because of that lightbulb, Telerik gave up JustCode. Thanks, Microsoft.

I could go on for hours, but I expect I'm going to be downvoted a bazillion times already. *sigh*

GNOMEs beat Microsoft: Git Virtual File System to get a new name

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Meh

Whatever wins, I'm guessing it will be called "Microsoft x".

So probably "Microsoft Virtual File System for Git".

Naturally, it'll only work on Windows 10 Enterprise...

Cynical, moi? I'm glad you noticed...

FYI: Qualcomm hasn't given up on Arm-based Windows 10 slabtops

Zippy's Sausage Factory

I'm wondering whether Windows on ARM is starting to feel like OS/2 on PowerPC?

By which I mean, it's an obvious next step and yet turns out not to be a good idea in practice.

Microsoft commits: We're buying GitHub for $7.5 beeeeeeellion

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: RIP Github

Yep. Deleting my account and moving back to SourceForge tonight...

'Moore's Revenge' is upon us and will make the world weird

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

Makes me think it isn't long before they start advertising things with the slogan "Contains no microprocessors or Internet connection facilities - guaranteed!"

You know it'll happen soon enough...

Is Microsoft about to git-merge with GitHub? Rumors suggest: Yes

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

Quick, everyone back to SourceForge!

Send printer ink, please. More again please, and fast. Now send it faster

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Stop me if I've told you this...

During my days of supporting a corporate database system, I was rung by a senior manager - directly, bypassing the help desk - who started screaming about why the printer wouldn't print...

MOI: So is the printer on?

PHB: Yes, damn it, it was printing five minutes ago.

MOI: That's odd. Let me check the print server... says it's offline.

PHB: Well there's a big red light on it, so I'm sure it's on.

MOI: It should be green. Are you sure it's not out of paper?

PHB: I've just put a load of paper in it, you idiot.

MOI: OK, well it sounds like it has some sort of error by the red light. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with it?

PHB: well... (light suddenly dawning) there is smoke coming out of it. Would that have anything to do with it?

MOI: Probably, yes. I'll tell the helpdesk, shall I?

Sigh... some poeple...

The glorious uncertainty: Backup world is having a GDPR moment

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Meh

I'm comfortable with people wiping my data from a production system, and keeping it in backup, provided those backups don't stay around forever and aren't sent to the NSA at end of life...

Paranoid? Moi? Well, I prefer "Sabotage", or "Volume 4" actually, but "War Pigs" is still a great song...

Softbank's 'Pepper' robot is a security joke

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Joke

But the default user / password says "no" in Portuguese. I mean, that's secure, right?

US websites block netizens in Europe: Why are they ghosting EU? It's not you, it's GDPR

Zippy's Sausage Factory

This was all just vaguely amusing until they said Klout is dead. That made me smile. Klout always struck me as deliberately designed to be weird and creepy.

Also, NPR's 1996 site. That sounds awesome!

Microsoft patches problematic OS to deal with SSD woes

Zippy's Sausage Factory

He always got picked before me in football, as well.

In fact I remember one occasion where it was me and him. He got picked, and the captain of the other side said "we've lost". Sadly, his prediction proved to be correct.

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Meh

And people wonder why I keep pausing updates on Windows 10...

Mobile app devs have, oh, about 9 hours left to decide whether to stay on Google's ad platform

Zippy's Sausage Factory

It's not just mobile app people, it's anyone who uses AdSense.

It's especially annoying as these days, Google is pretty much the only game in town. Yes, there are competitors, but not really very many outside the USA.

Microsoft gives users options for Office data slurpage – Basic or Full

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Meh

Re: Corporate users?

"I'm guessing that the Office ADMX templates will be updated to reflect these changes too, and I'll just add them to the policy."

That's the problem though - it's just a guess. There's no real reason that Microsoft would do that unless they get asked, specifically, by customers. And even then, what are the chances that those high-paying customers will receive special builds?

Vapourware won't keep legal happy.

Adobe, 'hyper personalisation' and your privacy

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

"Adobe: Cambridge Analytica as a Service"

There. I think I found their new marketing slogan.

Nvidia quickly kills its AMD-screwing GeForce 'partner program' amid monopoly probe threat

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: Basically...

Amazon already sort of did that, with patenting "one-click buying", didn't they?

BOFH: But I did log in to the portal, Dave

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Paris Hilton

"Also, I'm a bit surprised that the boss gets to lend a hand in the carpet roll and quicklime routine (instead of being the body in the carpet roll)."

It sounds as if the boss who had the accident on the balcony last time wasn't after all the new boss of the previous few episodes.

I thought the boss who had the accident on the balcony was the new boss's boss, or alternatively, the boss of HR - which would have made him indirectly a boss of the BOFH and the boss but not directly of the BOFH and the boss.

I think...

Paris because I just confused myself...

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

Re: I've been there

We're in the process of decommissioning a lot of HPE gear.

I really hope "decommissioning" is a euphemism in this case. Preferably for something that involves explosives.

Microsoft's latest Windows 10 update downs Chrome, Cortana

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: MS is now stuck in the 90's,

"If only they were. Win98 & NT4.0 had decent GUIs."

You make me wish I could find my NT 4 install disk now. Lost in a house move years ago.

/me quickly searches eBay...

DIY device tinkerer iFixit weighs in on 15-month jail term for PC recycler

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: Just stop buying their shit

@Anonymous Coward

This has nothing to do with the hardware, he was using counterfeit Windows recovery disks

I thought he was using them with the original product keys though?

Supercycle to su-'meh'-cycle: Apple iPhone warehouses heave with unsold Notches

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: iPhone 6 user here

I'm much the same, in that my 6 plus has a killer feature that my next phone will also have: a headphone socket.

And if the SE 2 doesn't feature one, then I might just be going Android, not that I really want to.

Publishers tell Google: We're not your consent lackeys

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Unhappy

The only issue... who else is there?

Seriously, they're pretty much a monopoly in online advertising these days. And all the research I've done on alternatives only comes up with companies that are US only

Press F to pay respects to the Windows 10 April Update casualties

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: Most of the 'casualties' are Ballmer era stuff

"Groove had the essential functionality of being able to stream your own music files from OneDrive."

According to the article, that's about all the functionality it has left. So not really changed.

Bill Gates declined offer to serve as Donald Trump's science advisor

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Thumb Up

“not a good use of my time”

Whatever else you might think of Bill Gates, he can come up with a great euphemism...

If you're looking for bad news about Microsoft, top tip: look away now

Zippy's Sausage Factory

@cambsukguy

I bloody hope so, my career depends on them. Sadly, I'm not optimistic about it.

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Meh

Actually this does smell like a death spiral to me. Their business is essentially now based around Office 3.65 and Azure. Last year AWS pulled in 10 times as much revenue as Azure does now, and yes I know they're growing faster, but they're still close to being a rounding error aren't they?

I'm discounting Windows 10 because basically Chrome books seem to be eating into that market heavily. And if they're not yet, it's simply because people are afraid of Microsoft's reprisals if they start stocking them. That, I expect, will start changing soon. They even stock some down the road at my local consumer electronics shop.

Based on this, I'm guessing Azure is now at the "Windows Mobile 8" stage - i.e. they've just made it over, taken away some features users like (the new AD console isn't a hit if I recall) and we're just waiting for the remaining users to jump ship.

Yes, in the short term, this looks great - everything's lovely. But Microsoft now looks like IBM in the 80s - they're trying to fight Google, Amazon and Apple at the same time, and losing ground on all frontiers.

Even Microsoft's lost interest in Windows Phone: Skype and Yammer apps killed

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: MS kills UWP apps, Telephony API appears in Windows

Wow a death spiral where you have record profits in the billions of dollars.

Do you live in some sort of parallel universe, where increasing profits is the signs of a failing company?

You're confusing short-term financial results with long-term survival potential. Remember that those record profits are coming from markets that are visibly disappearing - PC desktop sales are going down, Linux has no licence fees, AWS is eating Azure's (and everybody else's) lunch.

Microsoft will continue to be around, but it's unlikely that they will be the same level of major player in five to ten years that they are now. That's why they are trying to transition users to subscription-based products (Office 3.65, for example) rather than the purchase-based model that they have been relying on for so many years.

The question is whether, when the Windows franchise finally runs out of steam, will they have done enough to keep going? Right now, I'd say it's too early to tell for sure.

Reg writer Richard went to the cupboard, seeking a Windows Phone...

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: Craptinuum - The Windows Phone Killer (App)

I think there's a limited selection of people for whom Continuum would have been a fantastic thing. I'd quite happily pay for a dongle that could connect my iPad to a monitor and keyboard, as odd as that sounds, simply because there are some really nice apps on the iPad that would benefit from that.

That said, the issue of monitor resolution vs iPad resolution is one thing, and the fact that I can AirPlay the thing and attach a BlueTooth keyboard in any event renders the whole idea moot anyway.

BT pushes ahead with plans to switch off telephone network

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

Of course line rental will go up

Because "we're providing a better service now". Naturally.

Car-crash television: 'Excuse me ma'am, do you speak English?' 'Yes I do,' replies AMD's CEO

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Brundle is the reason I don't watch Sky's coverage. Cannot stand him.

Guess who's still most moaned about UK ISP... Rhymes with BorkBork

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Unhappy

I miss Demon Internet

That is all.

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

Don't TalkTalk make a big thing of them being voted the best ISP in some adverts they're running at the moment?

Was that the "Talk Talk award for best broadband ISP with an alliterative name that rhymes with 'dork'" I wonder?

Windows 10 Spring Creators Update team explains the hold-up: You little BSOD!

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Upvoted for your excellent translation of Microsoft speak.

France building encrypted messaging app for politicians

Zippy's Sausage Factory

Re: An app with a limited number of users will get less scrutiny from most security experts.

I wonder if some of those "interested computer professionals" might be located in Moscow. Although I suspect they're not official ones, just "hobbyists" you understand...

Boring as she goes at Sage? Oh no, no, no! Shares slide as sales slip below forecasts

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

Don't panic, Sage shareholders...

The government's new digital strategy means businesses will need to buy certified software to make their VAT returns in future, and I'm guessing Sage will be one of a very few players. Trebles and brown envelopes full of used fivers all round...

HMRC delays digi tax plans amid Brexit customs woes

Zippy's Sausage Factory

The whole MTD VAT thing is a bit bonkers. They could easily just put a web page to submit your returns and it's done.

But no, they have decided you need to buy some expensive (probably Windows-only) nonsense that costs a small fortune (and will get rapidly more costly when they realise the government just handed them a near monopoly).

So having kept my accounts in Gnucash for years, I now have to buy a Windows PC just to submit a VAT return? Sounds a bit daft to me...

A developer always pays their technical debts – oh, every penny... but never a groat more

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

It needs fixing – badly.

And often, if you need it done fast, and cheaply, that's what it gets: fixed, badly.

UK defines Cyber DEFCON 1, 2 and 3, though of course doesn't call it that

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Joke

"I hope businesses and industry will be encouraged to report any cyber attacks they suffer, which in turn will increase our understanding of the cyber threat facing the UK.”

Yes but how do you prevent them, or deal with them when they're happening? How does this help with that? It feels like someone posted a lifesaving guide next to a river, which just has categories for how the person died...

"A bit dead"

"Quite dead"

"Very dead"

"Very very dead"

"Extremely dead"

"Concrete shoes"

"Might have been nibbled a bit by fishes"

"Even more dead than that"

"Just a skeleton, really"

Microsoft Office 365 and Azure Active Directory go TITSUP*

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Devil

Re: Good job they didn't call it Office 24/7/365

They should do. "It works reliably, for 24 hours, 7 times a year, once every 365 years..."

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Joke

Typical Microsoft...

Ah, I remember when IE4 didn't work with the shiny new IIS 5. But Netscape worked perfectly.

They'll never change, will they?

Sirius Cybernetics Corporation? Of, they dream of making products as reliable as those from the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation*.

* before the Adams fans pile into me, yes I know. That's the joke.

Facebook dynamites its own APIs amid data slurp scandals, wrecks data slurp applications

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Black Helicopters

Re: The 'Shadow Profile' Economy

So how are ex-users / non-users Facebook supposed to Opt-Out?

There's no way!

This is why I have about seven browsers installed. I have Firefox installed just for Facebook. Nothing else. For main browsing, Pale Moon and all facebook cookies are blocked. For Google Drive etc, Chrome.

Paranoid, moi? Why, who's asking?

Spring is all about new beginnings, but it could already be lights out for Windows' Fluent Design

Zippy's Sausage Factory
Joke

Lotus tried this with SmartSuite. Look how well that worked out!