Posts by Edwin

One of the few cases

where I'm cheerfully saying "ha ha" at both the "victim" and the perp. 'Cause they're all criminals.

Re: A lot of commies in here

Says a lot about either your tax system or your populace if most people aren't competent to file their own taxes...

I've lived in a couple of countries where the guvmint published its own tax software (or filing website). Quick and painless and free for everyone.

Requiring commercial parties to help people pay their taxes is not compatible with good government (e.g. ensuring the public understands the laws that apply to them)

Re: Biz math

Yes, to everyone who said that the RAID rebuild stresses the components yada yada. We're talking about a one-man shop here who didn't have the sense to back up his data. He doesn't need enterprise grade data protection.

The question, ultimately, is "what is good enough"? In my case, wat I have is 'good enough' and it's a damn sight better than what most people have :(

Re: Interesting post-employment ban

It'd be interesting to know how that works exactly. I know other companies have a requirement that - if you want to come back - your previous manager has to approve your return. Sounds like Microsoft just formalised the process in case your previous manager leaves.

It's not a bad idea per se (I can think of more than one colleague I'd not want back) but of course - as is alleged here - it's subject to abuse.

Re: I still have

Me too. I also have my 9300i (darker shade of grey, features WiFi) and my E90. My E7, sadly, was stolen.

The fax feature was super handy when receiving the daily summary of new houses on the market from estate agents in teh early 2000s.

Re: Feeling old yet?

Huge improvement over what? I hate the standard configuration of most triple 7s - just one long cabin front-to-back on teh -200s and a bulkhead or perhaps some lavatories breaking up teh endless tunnel on the -300s.

The 747 is infinitely preferable as a long-haul aircraft - more space, more visual variety, etc.

Re: Actually, this seems proportionate

Not sure I agree. A year is disproportionate but six weeks of community service plus perhaps 30 days behind bars would seem more appropriate.

Re: Talk like an Egyptian

Nokia 9x10 anyone?

Re: Art of the Deal

The only reason Trump wants to drain the swamp (preferably at taxpayer expense) is so that he can build a golf resort there.

Re: It looks weird but then it's El Reg reporting so...

Yes, Apple must be delighted to be out of El Reg's crosshairs :)

sigh...

Bought a new phone just before MS announced the death of the platform. Wonder if MS will sponsor a replacement handset for me (and the other guy still on the platform)?

Teams is a pity as it's one of the better-functioning O365 apps on mobile, and means I can do ad-hoc chat with colleagues in a completely separate space from Whatsapp...

Re: "Think of the children" or something

I find it very hard to understand the reasoning of the US government on these things, and with the current administration, I tend towards "playing silly buggers" conclusions. (nb: if you're reading this in the US, you may disagree, but it's probably fairly representative of how the rest of the world views the current US government)

The argument against protectionism here is that the US doesn't have a significant capability to build (mobile) networks in-house. Cisco has capabilities, but nothing like the big scandinavian players and the chinese. The remaining argument against this being genuinely about punishing ZTE and securing the US against chinese state influence on critical infrastructure is that it's just part of a trade war game, either bargaining with china or appearing tough for domestic purposes.

All told, I think this could be explained in many ways, and we may never know why...

Re: What's surprising ...

I beg to differ somewhat. Regulation is absolutely necessary, but the problem here isn't deregulation - it's in politics where (particularly in the US) corporations have so much sway that regulation has become twisted and complex to the point of being impossible to manage as politician after politician tries to right a perceived wrong while listening carefully to whoever is sponsoring their re-election campaign (or, in the case of Ajit Pai, their future employment) to ensure it's not righted "wrongly".

As soon as the electorate starts thinking with their head instead of responding blindly to whatever nonsense is being doled out by the likes of Cambridge Analytica and the Internet Research Agency, politics will start returning to government for the people rather than behaving like big business.

I'm not holding out much hope though...

Re: Feeling Old...

I worked around that with a lot of batch file programming and a dozen or so different versions of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT that were swapped in and out depending on what it was I wanted to do. Games had their own copies, but there was also a set to back up the PC to my DittomaxPro and then reboot back into the default setup.

Good days...

Re: Have they the rights

I was thinking that that's all they have, but now you made me question even that ;)

Re: Nationalisation by the back door?

And do party lines (in the telecommunications sense) even still exist?

Re: I use them...

Indeed. I use one to power the pi that runs my unifi server. Doesn't need a fan though - doesn't even get noticeably warm (unlike the 8/60W Ubiquiti switch that powers it...)

Re: Representing yourself

Most companies would much rather settle than go to court. Court is public, and there's always the risk of precedent being set.

For Intel to take this to court suggests they knew up front they'd win, or perhaps she *really * pissed them off.

Re: Why is Garmin

Had a fitbit, which was nice to count steps, but it's Suunto now. Very sports-centric, but all around useful enough for daily use also.

Re: Form factors

Next year's HMD nostalgic relaunch - the Nokia E7? Or maybe one of the 9xxx series? Shall we do a poll?

Only partly true

If I read the kracken website correctly, both clients and APs must be patched - patching only one end of the connection is not enough, so with the updates from Ubiquiti and Microsoft, the most critical parts of the network are now patched.

I have some hopes of the various Apple and Samsung/Huawei clients, but suspect the Withings scale, Netgem set top box and Squeezebox Radio will have to be relegated to the guest network...

Re: Are any routers any good?

Always been a big fan of AVM, but considering inserting a Ubiquiti USG between it and the LAN. Just to be safe.

Re: For real sexsim, anti intellectualism and racism...

Ah yes, the "but he did it too" argument so beloved of five-year-olds and those with no leg to stand on.

Re: Nice hardware, but...

Sorry, which privacy-slurping OS are we talking about here? Windows or iOS?

Sadly, it seems unavoidable that we will end up sacrificing privacy on mainstream OSes since you can't use a "store" without sacrificing your privacy and an increasing number of software vendors deliver software only through these storefronts.

And so privacy on the desktop goes the way of privacy on the mobile.

Re: Free Fix!!!

"I wonder how the citizens of living in the 'home of the brave' feel about how cowardly and paranoid their leaders are."

That's easy: they don't care, because it doesn't apply to them. In fact, a disturbingly large number of them probably think it's a great idea: just ask yourself "what would Trump think?"

Given the above, and the fact that the right-thinking part of the country probably doesn't care enough to stop this lunacy, I think us forunners are screwed if work or holiday takes us to the "Home of the Brave (but not enough to stand up to anyone in power)"(TM).

Re: Auto generated passwords

<pedant>33k6!</pedant>

My thought exactly...

I actually feel quite good when I see things like this going on. Because clearly, if the formatting of comments is the biggest problem in the Linux kernel, then it much be in pretty fantastic shape.

Re: The CEO problem

Hum. The inherent assumption here is that the process is effective, adds value and makes sense. Looking at IT in any number of large corporations, this is a risky assumption at best.

Re: There was only ever one proper gag on Windows...

That - and who do you think has to fix it?

The telecoms engineers in the company would have been an acceptable target, but I suspect they were capable of much nastier pranks in retaliation...