* Posts by The BigYin

3080 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Mar 2008

Italy sues Microsoft for box-bundling bungling

The BigYin

@Fuzzy

Hear, hear. My hobbies revolve around the scientific appliance of violence to the human form. This I call "fun". Working with a computers in any shape or form is, no matter how amusing, still "work" just like any fight is still ugly and painful.

I like my computer*. I like my dishwasher. I do not have to spend hours securing my dishwasher from t'interwebs.

*My PC has a DVD with its name on it, now I just need the crimson head covering......

The BigYin
Flame

WTF?

"Just don't buy that machine!"

And do what, live in the dark ages? Or get a degree in computer science so one can build their own from scratch? How about you get your head out of your arse and face the real world.

If I buy a Ford car, I get a Ford engine. Honda car? Honda engine. Opel? Some GM engine. And so on, but they all conform to the various standards (in terms of car and engine and ignoring certain cross-development agreements). Either way, they is competition in car engines.

If I buy Sony, HP, Dell, Toshiba or any other major brand I am forced to have MS Windows. A bit like buying a Ford and being forced to also buy an external combustion engine from Billy Bob's Steam Emporium. i.e. it is detrimental to the hardware and there is no competition.

There are better options (no really, there are) but the restrictive practices of the bully-boy stop them gaining traction. Of course, we are talking about a company that is too scared to implement their own "standards" consistently. Bugger them (hand and shrimp). If you are spec'ing equipment, don't ask how F/OSS (or whomever) will match MS, ask MS how they will match (in technical detail) open standards.

All cars should drive on the same roads. At the moment 95% are only allowed access as they run MS tyres that only work on MS roads. Explains all the crashes I guess.

Matrix 4 and 5 in works, threatens Keanu

The BigYin

NO!!!!!!!

One was good. Tweo was meh. Three was crap. Stop now, you have lost the plot. Literally.

Matrix one wasn't about the F/X (mostly stolen from "Ghost in the Shell" etc) it was about the realising of self over the network (err....also kinda nicked from "Ghost in the Shell"). Two was about...bollocks, and three about the money.

Really, leave this kind of movie to the Japanese who know how the hell to tell this kind of story. Is that racist? Maybe. But at least the Japanese are not afraid to do a story without lowering it to the lowest common denominator.

Just look at what the Yanks did to "Taxi", "Nikita", "Das Experiment" or any other movie/show of recent merit. Some Yanks at least know this, they made a show parodying their own crapitude. We like movies *because* they are difficult. The increasing Americanisation of film (e.g. the recent "Ponyo") is to the detriment of the art.

The consumer is no longer challenged, which should be the bloody point. Each film should be trying in their own way to raise the bar, but no. Crap prevails, a bit like American beer. Take "Dead Gentleman Productions". Utter shit I grant you, but watch their movies and you cannot fail to be entertaining (with d20 chance of amusement). They are at least trying, and actually appear to understand irony (a precious commodity State-side)

I love Anime, SciFi, Action, blah-de-blah; I caught "Casablanca" over Chrimbo and was blown away. Why are films like this not made any more? Pond-dwelling, accountant scum; that's why. Too afraid or real art and the possibility of failure. And if we do not reach for the stars...

Mozilla plans 'Do Not Track' bottle-stopper for private surfers

The BigYin

Feck 'em

My cookies bite the dust unless I trust the site, and I trust very few sites. I give El Reg elbow room, but then I like to live on the edge. Yeah! Go me!

Google 'Do Not Track' extension preempts feds, Mozilla

The BigYin

Google have cookies?

How quaint.

Meex Privoxy and may various blockers, bitches.

The BigYin
Flame

I agree

All tracking should be opt-in only. Unfortunately the advertising companies can raise bigger bribes than you or me, so their laws get enacted (what, you thought this was a democracy?), This is why you get the twenty check boxes written different ways at the bottom of sign-up pages; half must be "false" to avoid stalking, half must be "true" to avoid stalking, Legal maybe, but hardly in the spirit.

but if you were to post on line where the CEO of those privacy invading companies were to be, you would make Assange look like the tooth-fairy.

Roll on the revolution. We need "marketeers" in the same way we need cancer. They are a by-product of a system run amok.

The BigYin

Use...

...CookieCuller then. Or "run once" virtual images, "VirtualBox" is free for personal use (and pretty sweet too).

The BigYin
Thumb Down

What ads?

I block the shit out of them because they piss me off, even here. Stop with the flashing nonsense, yeah? Have links to products obvious without being jarring (e.g. underline in text colour). Did you know that El Reg has often mentioned something in text that has made me think "Awesome" but provided no link? So I had to go to a search engine and El Reg lost on some revenue.

If I am aware of your advertising, then your advertising is *FAIL*. If I see a name in an article I should be able to click on that name and go (in a new tab, please) to a site relevant to that company and that product (not a pissing landing page). Your adverts should be transparent to me. Because, let''s face it, "DoubleClick" et al are going to get striped at source.

I would like to support you (e.g. I like to look of Apple TV2), make my life easy and you can have my money.

Content and context management is my game. Be amazed at my search engine optimisations. Call 0898-hire-a-tard. Have your needs fulfilled today!

Blizzard green-lights fan-made StarCraft mod

The BigYin

Translation

"Our legal drones did a thing and we encountered a PR shit-storm. So we have turned 180 degrees and are now pretending that this opposite direction is what we meant to do all along. Nothing to see here."

IPTV UK: failure to launch?

The BigYin
Flame

Why would...

...YouView care how you get the data to your local system? Data is data. Suck it down as you see fit, your local client (whatever that may be) just has to be smart enough to buffer far enough ahead. I call "FUD" from Virgin.

They may be worried about people storing the content and want it all DRM'd to heck. Well, I have news for them. By-passing DRM of that nature is a piece of piss and all it does is irritate the hell out of people who would otherwise behave responsibly and push them towards illegal avenues.

Google gins search formula to favor its own services

The BigYin

@DZ-Jay

No, that's not what they said at all.

"Google never artificially [favours] our own services in our organic web search results, and we perform extensive user testing to ensure that search results are ranked in a way that provides users with the most useful answer."

That's what they said.

So, there is not artificial favouring. What about natural favouring? What if the sites are coded in just such a way that the algorithms love them?

"most useful answers"? As determined by whom? What if Google considers it's own services most useful?

I am not saying that is what they are doing, but the PR speak is not without the ambiguities.

Of course, one can't ignore that this appears to be a report from the FUD-masters MS.

The BigYin
Thumb Down

Google promotes Goole?

Shockers!

MS says that F/OSS systems cost more than MS ones?

Horrors!

Yahoo ranks Yahoo higher?

Oh woes!

Business analyst discovers water is wet?

Calamities!

Is it really any surprise that Google promote their own wares? I mean, is it? All companies do this, it should come as no surprise to anyone. Maybe Google will claim that their sites are in some way "better" and so deserve higher ranks. "Better" meaning "easing for our algorithms to deal with".

That shouldn't be a stunner either. Their engineers know the algorithms, so it's a simple matter of massaging the site to match the algorithm. It amounts to the same thing, but does allow Google to state that their algorithms (not sites) are not biased.

Now if you will excuse me, I must investigate ursine religious demographics and arboreal papal defecation.

New Taser made to take down angry bears, moose

The BigYin
Pint

"gun-juggling-burger-monkey"

Poetry,

Third party developers blamed for Windows security woes

The BigYin

@Vic

I think we are splitting hairs. By "centralised" I mean one mechanism provided by the hosting OS. That may back onto a main network-server of some kind, or separate system but all the applications get updates from the same system which checks at the same time. Not each application running it's own checks and employing its own security (if any).

So, IMHO, the repos are "centralised" But that's all so much semantics.

---

@AC

Yes, if you update systems at different times you may hit problems. In that case you want some admin-type system to make all the related updates at once. There are a plethora of systems to do this, but they can only be as good as the data that feeds them.

By having some common repo-type system (apt, yum, whatever) it makes this much easier and one does not need a bazillion plug-ins or client scripts to click pop-ups just to get system updated.

---

As for version clashes...well yes that is ball-ache. It's been ball-ache since the dawn of IT and I don't see it getting any better any time soon. One option is to let a third party pack and test the various updates before rolling them out to you (say Red Hat or Canonical). But this means you may have to wait a while as things get tested, which may or may not be ideal.

At least you can access the source code and, possible, patch it yourself if it comes to that. Not ideal either I grant you, but it is at least another option.

The BigYin

@Vic

"Who's going to control that central update?"

The user (or admin). Quite easily too. They can add a thing (lets call it ""a repository") that contains signed-code from a trusted source. Once this "thing" is added (either to the PC itself or to some network-central doofer by an admin) the PC's OS just checks periodically to see if there is anything new.

Repository 1? Nup

Repository 2? Nup

Repository 3? Oh look, updates for this that and the other.

It can the auto-install, inform user or whatever.

No "one ring to bind them all", the power remains with the end-user to use (or not) the third-party repositories. All the OS provides is the mechanism for this to happen. It's a shame no one in computing has thought of such a thing. A real shame. If only there was some kind of OS platform that did such a feat right out of the box. That would be all of the awesomes. :-)

The BigYin

Yup

Especially as the competitor OSs do this out of the box. And, more often than not, they don't need to reboot once the updates are done. Nice.

The BigYin

And why is this?

Because it is so much butt-pain trying to keep Windows apps up to date. Each on uses it's own (crappy) update system because the OS layer provides nothing. Just one reason why I am cutting the Windows out of my life.

Ubuntu - yes, Ubuntu - poised for mobile melee

The BigYin

@ricegf2

Depends on the theme. OOTB I would say (bar wallpaper) that the 10.10 theme is orange. Ornage buttons, orange highlights etc. The only thing purple is the wallpaper.

So it's all down to personal perception I guess.

The BigYin

I agree with much of what you say

But I disagree with your support of Unity and related changes. I have found that Ubuntu hides/changes too much and makes some things nigh-on impossible. I recently had to install the missing parts of PulseAudio in order to gain proper control - what Canonical provides OOTB is inadequate.

This isn't a problem if users remain dumb consumers like most Windows jockeys are, but it is infuriating when you know that a sub-system can do something, but the way Canonical has mangled it prevents one from easily doing it.

My rant aside, the main thrust of your argument is sound. MS is the new IBM. It is too old and too big to innovate, hence why it uses its restrictive, predatory tactics and standards-breaking tactics. Everything must be extended or tweaked so that they can claim "standards", but it's just different enough to not work well with everything else.

Unfortunately I can see echoes of that in what Canonical do. Uh-oh, back at my rant.

WikiLeaks gets Swiss bank info

The BigYin

I want to see...

...Julian making mention and publicising the conditions under which Manning is being held. Let WikiLeak's treatment and support of Manning be and indication to all would-be informers.

M&S signs up to O2 location grab

The BigYin

Blockers

"such advertising becomes as accepted as the adverts one is obliged to see when searching the web, or reading most of it."

Indeed. And a decent phone will soon come with a handy app that will nealty trash all these ads (and optionally spoof you location to ensure privacy).

With regards to web ads - if they didn't flash so much, contract with the site, take up excessive bandwidth and make the content nigh-on impossible read; I wouldn't block them (nor would I use GraseMonkey to "re-edit" sites to make them usable).

Lane Fox promises sub-£100 PCs

The BigYin

@Joe Montana

If these are old machines (and they probably are) then Ubuntu will create the poor image. it's just too big and demanding (and it's only going to get worse - Wayland/Unity). Lubuntu....maybe but I reckon a good Pup-dervied distro would be the best way to go.

Lawyers fear Assange faces death penalty in US

The BigYin

@Sweden ignores its own laws

"There are several well-known examples of that."

Yeah, so well-known you don't mention any!

Assange bailed again

The BigYin

Straw man

"Placing faith in a sociopath is a sign of a weak mind."

I think that's the one. Unless you have evidence that Assange is a sociopath of course.

Assange and his followers have IMHO been a bit childish at times and they are certainly playing the PR to the max, but unfortunately the world needs Wikileaks, cryptome etc. When one has government hires securing the services of "dancing boys" and covering it up, one has a serious problem. A mature person would, of course, censure the culprits like any other padeo; but instead our masters see no real issue with it and cover it up.

It takes something like Wikileaks to get the truth out.

Then there is undue pressure applied to democracies to implement draconian laws (e.g. USA making outrageous demands on Spain). Once again we (the public) need something like Wikileaks to get the truth out.

Assange may or may not have issues, but that does not detract from the good which has come from Wikileaks.

Cambridge boffins rebuff banking industry take down request

The BigYin

You're still not getting it

*IF* the PIN was stolen, the PIN was written down.

If the PIN was written down, the customer was negligent.

As there is no way (according to the banks) for the PIN refactored ar machines compromised, the customer *MUST* have been at fault if they ever query a transaction where the PIN was used.

It really is that simple.

The BigYin

This is almost correct...

....banks have to show that the customer is the cause of fraud - true

How is this proved? If a PIN is used. The customer must have disclosed (by some means) their PIN.

Ergo, if it's a chip+PIN either it is a valid transaction or the customer is at fault. Either way, the bank does not care and the law is useless (the transaction was authorised by the PIN and that should only be known to the customer).

The banks are not "the man", they simply own "the man".

Hacker warning over internet-connected HDTVs

The BigYin

I do

Every night almost all gadgets get powered off and unplugged. Even the router. The only thing that gets left n stand-by is one PC, and it's job is to record TV, so it often wakes up, does it's thing and then goes back to sleep.

If I am ever daft enough to connect a TV to a network (and why would I? The DRM-crippled usage wouldn't be worth it), then I'll have to make sure I am running a router and a firewall that can pick-up crap like this on the network. One simply cannot rely on the OEM to do it correctly.

The BigYin

Simple answer...

...do not connect the TV to the local network. Why are people obsessed with doing this anyway? The experience is usually marred by DRM and proprietary interfaces with are a total pain in the balls. Use the TV as a dumb-monitor, nothing else. Drive it from some kind of media centre front-end (i.e. a PC). That can be easily upgraded/reconfigured/firewalled/etc and you neatly insulate yourself from the TV manufacturer deciding that your 2 year-old TV is now "obsolete".

It's just a shame that when you get a big TV, you end up paying from USB, Ethernet, DLNA and other crap that you simply do not need.

Google targets Internet Explorer shops with Chrome admin controls

The BigYin

Oi! Mozilla!

"it beefed up the increasingly-popular browser with support for managed group policies and authentication protocols"

***WAKE UP!***

Want to bring your own PC?

The BigYin

Err...

....so all your systems run encryption and will only connect to authenticated devices? Laptops are chained to desks? USB is disabled? There is no VPN (except to a few locked down units)? Any employee taking *any* business device home for *any* reason is subject to summary dismissal?

Because unless all the answer to all the above is "Yes", then you have no hope in hell of keeping "business data" within the company should an employee choose to lift it. And even then I don't fancy your chances.

I'd be more worried about personal data on corporate systems. My personal devices are leagues more secure than anything my company provides me.

'The New Kingmakers': Tech giants pay for the love of coders

The BigYin

@ThuvvaMeister

I think I just found the same CV. Two epic fails on it; "never used the toolset that [I am] recruiting for"? Not been a programmer for ten years? Next please! (Unless I happen to be in that very small niche).

He's got some serious skills though and I can think of quite a few F/OSS projects that would have his hand-off for some help and that experience could be used to re-skill in current tech. For example, take Myth. I am sure there are a few tuners driving that lot to complete distraction, this chap could probably figure out how to poke/prod them and at the same time pick up some C++/python/whatever.

Bim-boom-bash, three months time what we have is a hardware engineer with some decent skills, self-starter, team player, mentor, leader blah-de-blah in what is probably going to be the biggest boom for domestic computing - home entertainment (just ask Sony, MS et al). Hell, configuring and selling UK-ready Myth boxes could be a nice little earner.

Not trying to do you down Mr. Harston, but you need to take a step back and re-assess your approach. When was the last time you went to a Tech Meet Up? LUG? Anything like that? Be like the reed in the storm, it bends; the oak stands firm and resolute, then gets blown over.

The BigYin

You're not going to like this...

...if after 260 applications and no offer, you're doing it wrong. No one owes you a living, it's up to you to beat a path to *their* door. If you are not getting offers you have to change how you present yourself, network and job hunt. Maybe your CV is crap, maybe your skills are too niche, maybe you're aiming too high (or low!), maybe you need to relocate...maybe...maybe...

"Great Answers to Touch Interview Questions" by Martin John Yate is an excellent book. Buy it, read it, follow the advice.

Have your tried getting involved with a F/OSS project? It will keep your skills sharp and mean you can add experience to your CV, the fact you are active will look good to any employer.

Perhaps you have done all of the above, but moaning about it on a board won't help!

Best of luck.

Google gets physical on Hotpot

The BigYin

That is...

...quite frankly, terrifying.

ICO makes mincemeat of nativity data protection piffle

The BigYin

WHAT?!?!!!11?!eleventyone

"parents taking pics of their offspring kitted out as angels or shepherds is not a Data Protection matter."

Any one of the random adults in attendance could be a SICK and DEPRAVED PAEDOPHILE trying to get an UP-SKIRT shot of Mary to fuel their DISGUSTING and TWISTED fantasies! Heads WILL ROLL and the ICO if even ONE child is harmed by them NOT PROTECTING the children.

Will NO ONE think of the children?

Where is the Daily Mail when you need it?

Mastercard downed by Anon-Assange-fans

The BigYin

3D Secure is off-line?

Good. That service really sucks balls. I have actually abandoned purchases because sites force me to use that pile of vomit.

Tehran conscripts Ninja masters to crush democracy

The BigYin

How do you know someone is not a Ninja?

They walk about about saying "Hi! I'm a Ninja!" Kind of misses the whole point of "concealment".

Oh, and they didn't wear black; that came from the No theatre hands who used to wear black so as to not disrupt the play too much. No point in being a master of silent death and camouflage, then sticking out like a sore thumb when you try to get near the target! They tended to dress in whatever fitted in.

As for the training? You can go as hard as you like when there is every chance you'll be dead before you're 40; equation changes slightly when that is no longer the case and it is not your source of employment.

"knowing the 'apparent theory' of how to do something isn't the same as having done the equivalent things"

Abso-fraggin-lutely. The question is "If I had to defend myself from myself, could I do so?" if the answer is "No", then one's training is inadequate. If the answer is "Yes", then one does understand how to apply shock and violence in the manner of a person who is intent on causing one harm; so one's training is inadequate.

I can't take "Ninjas" seriously anyway, not after watching "Taxi 2". *Ninja!*

ASSANGE ARRESTED in London - in court later today

The BigYin

Not sure what to think

Is Assange some fighter for freedom and protector of democracy?

Is he some pawn in a government mis-information operation?

Is he a sex-mad, anarchist, nutbar of the highest order?

All of the above?

Apache loses Java showdown vote to Oracle

The BigYin

Probably

It really depends on who people see as more vital? Oracle with their databases, or Apache with their various servers and projects.

Unfortunately Apache is tech-level and the decision makers have probably never heard of it, Oracle can get access to the boards; so Oracle will probably win.

Microsoft 'Xbox TV' rumours: Over the Cable Guy's dead body

The BigYin

'course I can

If I want to watch NBC, ABC, PBS etc shows is easy enough. Watching HBO live is simple too. These services are even starting to push HD out. Oh, and I can do all this on an old xBox (no HD, obviosuly).

So I ask again - why would I pay MS for what I can do right now? And if I want HD, I can just use a different front-end (I'd need new kit anyway) and STILL have no need to pay MS anything. The content is already there to be consumed.

The only way MS would get a penny from me, is if they wrapped up all the broadcasters in some kind of exclusivity deal (can you say "monopoly abuse"?) and even if that did happen, the USA is not the only broadcaster in the world and there are many other services available.

I will even choke down the ads, these can just be injected into the stream at the relevant breaks (they could even be region specific).

The BigYin

Umm...

...why would I pay MS for what I can do right now for free?

And why would I pay them when most of the services are region-locked in one way or another? I'd just chuck a few notes at a VPN service and be done with it.

Minister 'C*nt' promises £50m to get fabtastic fibre for all

The BigYin

10mb?

Oh, I dream of 10mb. And I live in a major urban area, but not London.

Guess I'm sutffed then.

Gov decides not to have scientific advice on drugs any more

The BigYin

FFS

Policy by gut feel and popularism, rather than hard facts and evidence. Have these morons learned *nothing*? If the facts show that drug X does less harm that (say) alcohol, then that's the hard truth, deal with it.

This year's comedy Xmas No. 1 contender: Silent song 4'33"

The BigYin

@Code Monkey

"Bollocks to the lot of em, I'll save my record buying money for something I actually like"

Congratulations, you are the first person here to get the point.

The BigYin

The rebel...

...become the establishment. Just as "Rolling Stone".

If it works this year, a big corporate will simply hijack the idea next year and coin it in.

The revolution will not be televised, but it sure as hell will be monetised!

Frenchies, Germans wave fat pipes at embarrassed Brits

The BigYin
Thumb Up

@AC

"we get left with a small number for the most widely used wheel sizes. If you have a particularly unpopular size of rim, good luck with finding any at all"

Not an issue. Buy cheapo rims that fit the car, fit a standard sized snow tyre (some care is needed on size matching, check with the manufacturer, tyre company or decent mechanic). You won't want to use your alloys in winter anyhoo, have you seen what salt does? Come winter, 20 mins with a jack and yer done. Simples.

One more thing...learn how to drive in snow/ice as in, go take friggin' lessons. The theory on how to control a car in slippy condisiton and how skids work "Oh, you just turn into the skid. La de dah." is all well and good, but being able to actually do it is much more important. So, what's yer Chrimbo present? A day on the skid pan. It's wicked fun!

The BigYin

Not surprised

This is the nation that basically shuts down when some white stuff falls from the sky.

Snow tyres...I should set up a business importing snow tyres and then lobby government to make them mandatory (as in Germany et al). Saving the nation and my wallet!

Silverlighters committed despite Microsoft's HTML5 love

The BigYin
Thumb Up

@nematoad

"the sooner an open standard is reached the better."

This. With bells on.

The BigYin

That's a "No" then...

...Silverlight is not cross-platform and cannot be run on Linux.

With all respect to Mono and Moonlight, they are either a few versions behind or can only offer a reduced subset of the functionality, so one cannot develop on .Net or Silverlight and guarantee with 100% certainty that it will execute on these frameworks - not with taking a lot of care over features and versions (or developing directly on those platforms).

The BigYin

Not so sure I agree

I thought it was more the compiler that did the type checking, the language (certainly at runtime) would just go "WTF is this?" before vomiting a stack out to the console and going off in a huff.

JS may be far from perfect, but you can at least guarantee that the client can execute it. Not that I fancy doing much heavy-logic in JS (been there, got that t-shirt, it didn't fit)

This is not so for Silverlight, and until that is fully cross-platform it cannot succeed.

As for Java (and I am a Java dev) it never got anywhere on the client (due to it, basically, sucking donkey balls) and people need their heads examined if they use it on the web. It's found a niche in server apps and it does pretty good there; that's where it should stay. Use a known standard for comms to a client built in a more client-side friendly language and all is right with the world.

Gov to resellers: Glory bonanza secrecy days are over. For real

The BigYin

Wait, what?

"open source where possible"

All the big-vendors need to do is say "Open source is not viable here". The Civil Servants don't have the knowledge to know whether or not that's true. If they did have that knowledge, then they wouldn't have signed such crappy deals over the last few years.

Not that Open Source is the answer in all cases (nor is it always free, as some people seem to think), but if Drupal is good enough for the Whitehouse...

One thing it would be nice to see is the government to stop forcing MS Office on schools. For teaching word processing, spreadsheets, basic databases etc; LibreOffice (and others) are more than up to the job.