Posts by Dr. Mouse

Re: Really?

Exactly what I thought. This is like someone wishing the Mona Lisa was 3D so modifying the original to jump out at you with 3D glasses on.

Re: Editorial mistake

As you say, it takes a long time for each release to become something that's approaching reliable - even the LTS ones.

That's why I tend to stick with Debian (stable) for servers. Although it tends to be quite a way behind the curve, at least it's stable (and incredibly so, IMHO).

I couldn't tollerate the missing features for a desktop, but on a server give me stability and reliability any time.

Re: Target market.

@AC 09:26 - Although I like the story, please learn the difference between there/their/they're and when to use apostrophes. Instead of "there idea's", you should be using "their ideas".

Re: "Fork! I said Fork"

http://xkcd.com/927/

Re: What am I missing?

"it's just pretend, made-up, la-la land currency"

A.K.A. money.

Re: Regardless of the merits of the Apple patent

Nope. If you have a good idea, you have to very careful about who you tell and under what circumstances until you have applied for a patent. Any publication of what you wish to patent, by you or anyone else, before you start the application process can be cited as prior art.

IIRC, this includes patent applications. A patent application is publishing the idea. If you have made an error in your application and you try to re-apply, technically it would be invalid due to the prior art of your initial application.

Re: @Steven Raith 2013-09-16 22:03 Can't Cook.. Stupid Cook..

But there is no one standard for ARM based machines, it's fragmented as there are different configurations of the ARM cores with added hardware, i.e. System-on-a-chip, SOC. Moreover, some of these SOCs have proprietary technologies. So it would be naive to expect that software that runs on one ARM-based platform will run on all the others. Most phones contain ARMs but is it straight forward to run the same software on all of them, e.g. run apps for the iPhone on Androids and vice versa? Answer: no (except for the hobbyist who wants to hack, but most of us dont have time for that). There is hardware lock-down and appstore eco systems and different software stacks to contend with too.

With a x86 PC at least you could say that a program can run on many other various variations of this platform.

This is an OS issue, not a CPU/SOC issue.

The whole idea of an OS is that it abstracts the hardware. All the different variations of hardware components become, largely, irrelevant.

An x86 desktop is a collection of different pieces of hardware. There are different motherboards, graphics cards, network cards etc. For the vast majority of applications, it doesn't matter. They just work, because all this complexity is handled by the OS (and drivers).

Re: Good Experience with BT

"BT has become almost a swear word in our office."

I must agree.

As a "consumer" I have had so many problems with them that I won't have anything to do with them as far as possible.

However I have recently started working for a company who uses them for a backup DSL line at head office and their main connectivity for a warehouse. The head bean counter will not speak to BT any more, pushing it down to her assistant. The same goes for anyone with underlings: They will not speak to BT themselves.

We also recently moved our warehouse. An order was placed for the same business infinity line as was in the old premises to be set up at our new place. After several (progressively more worried and irate) phone calls trying to get hold of the router, 3 days before we were moving, we were told that our order had been cancelled because we could not get infinity there! No phone call, no email, no contact whatsoever. To allow the move to go ahead we had to purchase 3G dongles to see us through till we arranged alternative connectivity.

We will not use BT again. That was the final straw. I had always assumed that their terrible customer service was reserved for consumers, but to treat a business customer in this manner... It was absolutely unbelievable!

Re: The computer that 'lives on your head' will change mankind

It has uses, but ultimately it isn't a mass market device. It will appeal to Youtubers who want to make videos showing themselves fixing something or performing.

But wearing something on your head is not comfortable and it's not like you can leave it there all the time. Battery life isn't going to be good.

Let's just roll back the clock:

It has uses, but ultimately it isn't a mass market device. It will appeal to Yuppies who want the office to be able to call them at any time of the day or night.

But carrying something that big and bulky around is not comfortable and it's not like you can keep it with you all the time. Battery life isn't going to be good.

By the way, I'm not a huge fan of Google or it's Glass. I'm just pointing out that certain nay-sayers are missing some pretty big parallels with other technology.

Re: but Apple will probably wait ..

Apple aren't particularly innovative and usually aren't first to market.

However what they did do that turned the entire phone industry on its head was to produced a polished product that brought together various innovations from elsewhere all in one package and create a well supported ecosystem for it all to work in.

This.

Apple do not "innovate" in terms of producing something entirely new. What they do is take something which already exists and make it "nicer".

MP3 players existed before the iPod, but the iPod was more consumer-friendly, easier to use, nicer looking...

Touch screen smart phones existed before the iPhone. Most of them sucked, some were OK, but the iPhone (in general) improved the usability for the general consumer.

Tablets existed before the iPad, but they hadn't been done for quite a while when the iPad came out. It brought up to date technology into the arena, along with what they had learned from the iPhone, and produced, again, and easier to use product.

That is what Apple do well. I hope they continue to do so.

Re: Are you talking to me??

"What about German engineers then?"

They have the best sense of humour of all!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnybot

Re: Removal of features

"Was this using the official 3rd party sdk? I thought that hadn't been released yet."

There is an SDK, but it is clearly marked as being in beta:

"Warning: The current Google Cast SDK is a preview SDK intended for development and testing purposes only, not for production apps. Google may change this SDK significantly prior to the official release of the Google Cast SDK. We strongly recommend that you do not publicly distribute any application using this preview SDK, as this preview SDK will no longer be supported after the official SDK is released (which will cause applications based only on the preview SDK to break)."

Re: @ AC 1519h GMT - Question

'Saying Microsoft "did what people wanted" is like saying that a company selling whit shirts to a crowd demanding black is "Meeting demand" by selling blue.'

Actually, in this case I would say it's more like them continuing to make white shirts, but adding a tiny black square to them.

Re: "while strictly guaranteeing security"

Just like the NSA then?

Re: fingerprint scanner?

There are a couple of things a fingerprint scanner has over other forms of security.

The first one is that it's much much less likely that someone will remove your finger to get into your phone than look over your shoulder while you type your PIN.

The second one is it's easier.

I had a Motorola Atrix, and I found the fingerprint scanner the best part of it. That one was buile into the power button. Unlocking with a fingerprint was no more difficult than having no lock, once you got the hang of it. PIN or password, or pattern unlock, all take more effort and more time to get into your phone.

I'd love to have that feature again. I wont be buying an iPhone to get it, though.

Re: Coming from a different angle

"the top level is blocking innovation by making savings a priority"

Yep, I've seen that so many times. It's why I left my last job. Top brass blocked every proposal we put in front of them. One particular project (virtualising a load of under utilised servers which were costing a fortune in support contracts and were slowly dying) was on it's 5th iteration, each with lower costs, even though the first showed savings within 3 years. Didn't matter to the board.

Re: That makes two

"What Obama said is a lot of smoke and mirrors."

Or, in other words, "He's a politician".

Re: Hmm..

Yep. He's going to have to hope there are no BOFHs or PFYs on that list.

Re: take him out

"Give it a little time. It takes a while to mount that sort of operation, especially in a police state."

But he left the United States!

Re: Personally

"*begins writing his own style guide*"

http://xkcd.com/927/

Re: So what?

We had a similar one.

We had a call from our ISP telling us we had breached our T&Cs so our connection would be cut (and that would include our website etc). A short conversation by my rather panicked boss later found they were referring to someone using our connection to download copyrighted material through Bittorrent. After we blocked it, they agreed not to cut us off.

It turned out it was an employee bringing in a personal laptop, connecting it to our visitors wifi and "forgetting" to disable their torrent client. The employee was sacked and our visitors wifi security policies tightened (or shall we say enforced).

Noooo!

Do you know how many wires/shiney things there are on the ISS? Neither do I, but I suspect a lot, all of which would become toys/things to destroy for the cat.

Cats are evil. Sending one to the ISS would be the one of fastest ways to ensure the demise of all inhabitants.

(Can you tell I'm not a cat person?)

I REALLY hope that post was in jest. It looks like it, but you can never be sure...

Re: 37%

"Still see a hell of a lot of XP machines in for repair and I'd say 90% of them are at least a couple of months behind on updates, if not more."

If your customers are anything like the people I deal with (mostly relatives and friends, mostly non-tachies who don't change the auto update settings) that's because they broke a couple of months ago or more, and they had another working machine to be getting on with, making fixing it a low priority.

Re: Shame their first recourse was "the law"

Reminds me of a South Park episode (as does everything at the moment)

TOUR GUIDE: We have to accept people for who they are and what they like to do. Hey! What the hell are you doing?

SMOKER: Oh I was just uh-

TOUR GUIDE: There's no smoking in the museum!

SMOKER: But I'm not in the museum.

TOUR GUIDE: Get out of here, you filthy smoker!

KYLE'S FATHER: Yeah, dirty lungs!

....

Re: Android is no threat

"Windows is a lot more secure than Linux these days... And security is built in from the ground up"

Where to begin?

Only my opinion, but if you take a default Windows installation compared to a default Linux installation, I cannot see Windows (any version) being more secure (in any sense of the word). The same is true for well set-up instances of each. The only way I can see Windows being more secure than Linux is comparing a well set up, corporate Windows system with a default, run-of-the-mill consumer Linux system.

And don't get me started on "from the ground up". Security has always been an afterthought on MS systems. It has been central to the design philosophy of Linus (and Unix in general) since day one.

Re: Analogy overload

"You're not married, are you?"

No, not until February.

As to your point: Yes, she does watch a bucket load of manure. I, however, always have the option of leaving the room. I'll go read a book, do some work on my bike, or even use a TV in another room.

OK, I do put up with watching some TV I would rather not with her, but she does the same, so I can't really complain.

Re: special privileges

"I'd say they are not - but public figures (such as MPs...) tend to attract most abuse, it seems simply because they're well known arseholes."

There, fixed it for you.

I must say I found it pretty clear. Although it was a few years ago, before Facebook, it was clearly stated that you must not discuss the case with anyone and must not research it outside the courtroom.

These two were idiots. Unfortunately, you don't have to show a minimum level of intelligence to be a juror.