Re: This is getting silly now
No, that's a very specific format for storing details of a certain type of savannah-based acacia-eating herbivore. The format is known primarily for its unusual image aspect ratio of 9:54 aka Super-Tall-Portrait.
3819 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Mar 2010
Look, I don't want any toast, and he doesn't want any toast. In fact, no-one around here wants any toast. Not now, not ever. No toast.
Or muffins. We don't like muffins around here. We want no muffins. No toast, no teacakes, no buns, baps, baguettes or bagels. No croissants, no crumpets, no pancakes, no potato cakes, and no hot cross buns. And definitely no smegging flapjacks!
>But the pro version should be without that trash.
Alas, the days when "Pro" meant "Professional" are long gone for Windows. You have to now think of Home, S and Pro as all being aimed at consumers, but with different mixes of lockdown, and Group Policy editor thrown into the latter - as if half the GPOs actually have any effect on it... no, for that, you need the Enterprise version.
In Microsoft's current approach, their corporate customers should all be on Enterprise editions, paid for monthly and with all that lovely lovely ongoing 365/Teams/Azure revenue.
Everyone else - home users, professional enthusiasts, small one-man businesses - can go hang. They're just a revenue stream to be monetized, data-mined, and "persuaded" into other MS services.
Actually, before someone corrects me, I take some of that back. Enterprise customers are also there to be monetized... but at least Microsoft is a little more subtle towards them.
It's funny isn't it, how up until Windows 10/11, anyone expressing enthusiasm for Vista would have been shunned as a clearly deranged lunatic. How times change.
Kind of like how until recently, anyone babbling about how "They" are watching us 24/7, satellites, spying on us, monitoring everything we do or say or buy... would be dismissed as a tinfoil-hatter. Now however the response is more likely to be "yes yes, all that's true, but apart from that, what's bothering you?"
Hah, I'm not surprised that such a thing already exists. When I needed to work around this exact problem, I just threw a quick Autoit script together to accomplish the same thing. But then, re-inventing the wheel is my forté, it seems.
Opt("MouseCoordMode",1)
Dim $aMousePos
While(true)
$aMousePos = MouseGetPos()
MouseMove($aMousePos[0]+1,$aMousePos[1]+1,0)
MouseMove($aMousePos[0],$aMousePos[1],0)
Sleep(30000)
WEnd
> 'cos otherwise I expect that some bright spark (did you see what I did there?) would have a completely 'drive by wire' steering train, like the fly-by-wire aircraft, and then they'd be completely *&^%$d.
Alas, I don't think Toyota got that memo. Their new "OMG" (yes, that's really the name they've chosen for it - One Motion Grip) steering system uses a yoke and fly-by-wire, with a battery as backup but no direct mechanical linkage.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/features/toyota-reinvents-steering-wheel/
All I could think of when I heard it was "that's one big Jobbie Weecha!"
As the saying goes, though, "one crime at a time".
The classic example is that if you're drug-running, you make sure your car is insured/taxed/inspected, all its lights work, and you don't speed or run any red lights. Basically, drive like a grandma.
(all of which admittedly, in some parts around here, would be suspicious in and of itself... but I digress)
That, and knowing when to take your ill-gotten gains, cash out, and vanish into the night.
Not to contradict you, but are you sure you're not thinking of Barbour? When I think of waxed green jackets, that's the name that comes to mind. I didn't even know Burberry ever made such a thing. But then again, I'm a bit of a Dwayne Dibbley when it comes to matters fashion.
Around the turn of the century, there were a few vendors doing this same thing - cheap PCs, subsidized by advertising on the desktop. It was a dismal failure then, and it'll be a dismal failure - one hopes! - this time round.
Of course back then, as someone above alluded to, there wasn't the likes of Pluton and TPM and SecureBoot to ensure that the PC only booted what makes the vendor moneythe best, most exciting software optimized for the user with carefully selected premium offers...
The icon is because I think I just threw up a little on my keyboard typing that last phrase.
Yep. Teamviewer, for example, does a similar thing. I use it about every 3-6 months to do tech support for various elderly family members, and it is the most frustrating thing to get the stupid "You have an outdated version of Teamviewer! Sorry, you must update to the latest version before doing anything!" message. Which means I then yet again have to coax said family member through the update process.
Yes, it's often as easy as "click the 'Help' menu, now click on Check for New Version, now wait for the Setup window to appear..." but if said family members were comfortable with following instructions like that, I wouldn't need to be using fucking Teamviewer in the first place... aaargh!
Dear software vendors. Unless there is some absolute, technical reason why an older version can't be used - i.e. you've changed the protocol so significantly that there is no interoperability - please don't enforce new versions "just because". And "security" is, IMHO, a crap reason for enforcing this. If someone's using an old version, warn them - warn others on the Zoom call too, if you really want - but grant them the autonomy of deciding on their own terms when to upgrade.
Especially because in too many cases these days, the reason for pushing a new version is that the marketroids have embedded new adverts or telemetry into it, and there is no benefit to the user.
Grrr. Rant over.
I'm sure it'll turn out better than Ronnie Barker's effort!
Icon: I didbringabeeralong. ("and a couple bottles of sweet sherry for the ladies"...)
Companies love steering users to their apps of course, because the apps are a walled garden where the user's experience is completely at the whim of the company. If you're accessing Amazon, Youtube, etc through a browser on your phone, you might be running ad- or script-blockers to filter out the shite, and we can't have that can we? No, no,no.
Actually, this is the one that came to my mind: https://youtu.be/vWNJZrdn7i4?t=51
The question is, does Poettering's suggestion suck or blow?
(¿Por qué no los dos?)
Oh, hear, hear.
In my case it would be the Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro. That was the non-ergonomic one, with USB connection and a (unpowered, alas) USB hub built-in - perfect for connecting the wireless mouse dongle. I'm still using mine after, what, 20 years? Haven't found anything that feels better. And yes, I know that's entirely subjective.