* Posts by oldcoder

741 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Nov 2012

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BOFH: Sure, I could make your cheapo printer perform miracles

oldcoder

Re: Back in the 90s...

If they paid attention to the show, that "rip the important document" was always from a typewriter... at the end of the sheet.

Anywhere else and you could drag the typewriter off the table...

and yes, as a kid I have done that...

Microsoft rethinks the Windows application platform one more time

oldcoder

Re: Learning or just trying a different push??

"So, remind me what the store is supposed to do again..."

Give Microsoft money that you earned....

Google, Rackspace to together unfurl DIY Power9 server designs

oldcoder

Depends on what you are doing.

With Linux based systems, the toolchain is stays the same no matter which hardware platform you use. Program to standards and it will work.

That doesn't mean tweaking won't be necessary, just not as effective.

Windows 7's grip on the enterprise desktop is loosening

oldcoder

Re: If they'd made Windows 10...

Guess you didn't realize that UNIX and Linux have pretty much taken over the servers... Even Azure is reported 25% to 50% Linux now.

If they haven't seen or used Linux, those IT people will get laid off.

Mud sticks: Microsoft, Windows 10 and reputational damage

oldcoder

Re: This article doesn't make sense

Depends on the definition of "is".

When programs that worked don't work, devices that worked don't work, user interfaces that used to work don't work...

Having a working Windows 8/8.1 and a broken Windows 10 is good reason NOT to upgrade.

oldcoder

Re: Windows 10 is the best MSFT OS yet

Mostly because a lot of people don't like being spied on, and the software doesn't work very well.

oldcoder

Re: User feedback

Ah... The obligatory MS employee...

One difference between Google and Microsoft is that Google doesn't steal your information from your desktop... And Microsoft does.

The other difference is that Microsoft can't seem to understand the definitions of "secure", "reliable", "trustworthy", or "usable".

oldcoder

What sunk Vista was Microsoft lying about what the minimum hardware requirements were.

oldcoder

Re: I'm a bit confused

Save your money.

You can just use RH or Debian for your cloud.

Microsoft did Nazi that coming: Teen girl chatbot turns into Hitler-loving sex troll in hours

oldcoder

Re: Not surprising

Watson doesn't evaluate truth or falsehood. It hasn't been trained to recognize that... yet.

And obviously neither has Microsoft.

Hand in glove: Google and the US State Dept

oldcoder

Re: "tech giant"

Odd. It is easy to skip youtube...

Even easier than skipping commercials.

Apple engineers rebel, refuse to work on iOS amid FBI iPhone battle

oldcoder

Re: It isn't clear whether the 5S are newer are vulnerable to FBiOS

All ARM designs have an internal rom that is used to verify and validate the boot... and maintain the "security features".

And short of grinding off the processor chip cover, you CAN'T replace it.

The only thing you can do is replace flash chip holding the client OS... but that won't bypass the security features.

BTW, one of the other requirements is not to modify the flash... otherwise the chain of evidence will have been damaged.

Swede builds steam-powered Raspberry Pi. Nowhere to plug in micro-USB, then?

oldcoder

Re: Nope

Not sure that would work as a generator.

Most AC motors don't have built-in magnets, depending on the

external power to generate the rotating magnetic field... and that induces current in the armature which then reacts to the field.

Former Nokia boss Stephen Elop scores gig as chief innovator for Australia's top telco

oldcoder

Next major Microsoft buyout...

After all Microsoft has to do something to get a carrier to use/sell/foist off their phones.

Reprogrammble routers axed by TP-Link as FCC bans custom firmware

oldcoder

Re: But it's my router, I've bought it

Quite true...

But do you want a computer that you CAN'T perform a DDOS or hack peope?

If you do, you want a brick, as the computer can't be programmed after that.

We tested the latest pre-flight build of Windows 10 Mobile. It's buggy but promising

oldcoder

Always "promising"...

never delivering.

Airbus' Mars plane precursor survives pressure test

oldcoder

Re: Keep in mind it's 90 000 feet on Earth,

I did read of an engine failure in the U2...

Emergency services were in the process of being called for a rescue when the pilot said he just called to let them know he would be a couple of hours late... and just glided in.

Norman Conquest, King Edward, cyber pathogen and illegal gambling all emerge in Apple v FBI

oldcoder

Re: If you want to go that far back...

Which reminds me. Even the books of illegal activity themselves were sometimes encrypted... And decoding them was very hard to do unless the associated code book was found. Just meaningless numbers in columns otherwise.

BOFH: This laptop has ceased to be. And it's pub o'clock soon

oldcoder

Re: I am having exactly that sort of day

My first thought was to wait a week, then take their cover and put it around the original document, send it back - and say "looks fine, thanks for the edits".

Is this the last ever Lumia?

oldcoder

To try and keep a Windows phone in existence.

If it weren't for Nokia, there would have been NO WP oems...

And Elop killed the company to make it cheaper for MS to purchase (succeeded too).

Only problem was that all the good engineers bailed. Those that remained have ended up getting laid off, and MS can't do a decent OS to save the company.

Did a hacker really pwn the FBI, US Homeland Security and the DoJ?

oldcoder

Re: Small beer

Yet.

The problem could explode if it turns out they didn't even detect the failure...

And that has been known to happen before. As I recall at the beginning of the OPM fiasco it was only some 5000 identities taken, but nothing sensitive... Then 100,000 ... and finally 5 million+ with all privacy information taken.

Same beginning.. Downplayed issue...

Microsoft explanation for Visual Studio online outage leaves open questions

oldcoder

5 hours... 99.5% uptime guarantee...

So that leaves them about 3.7 hours of downtime for the rest of the year.

Not likely to meet that 99.5% uptime. And given Microsofts history with uptime, the next outage will last several days...

That's cute, Germany – China shows the world how fusion is done

oldcoder

Re: "super-heated plasma that turns the Earth into another star" - @Lomax

Depends on the fuel. Duterium already has the neutrons needed for helium. Free neutrons are at a minimum, and more useful by reflecting them back (use graphite or beryllium instead).

oldcoder

Re: I Wonder....

Nope. The plasma goes cold the instant the plasma makes contact with walls of the container... and the fusion goes out.

When customers try to be programmers: 'I want this CHANGED TO A ZERO ASAP'

oldcoder

Re: SUCCESS

That woudn't change anything - it would still be acceptable as SUCCESS would then be a boolean.

State Department finds 22 classified emails in Hillary’s server, denies wrongdoing

oldcoder

Re: "wasn't at the time".

Right... You require the recipient to be clairvoyant.

It isn't sensitive UNTIL AFTER someone labels it as such.

oldcoder

Re: Spot the oxymoron

some of us have actually handled public mail servers that were given secret information...

What counts is if the sender knew it was sensitive or not.

It is NOT the recipients fault.

oldcoder

Re: Spot the oxymoron

It isn't sensitive UNTIL someone declares it is sensitive.

I've had to handle several public mail servers that were given information that later was labeled "secret"... A few even "top secret".

What counted was whether it was so labled AT THE TIME OF TRANSMISSION...

AND whether the sender knew it was identified.

Microsoft sinks to new depths with underwater data centre experiment

oldcoder

Re: Why put it all below water?

:-) Unfortunately, the current crop of Crays are the same blocky boxes that everyone else uses.

The name is the only thing that has survived.

How to build a starship - and why we should start thinking about it now

oldcoder

Re: project Icarus

Why not? It would never break down... always usable for digging.

oldcoder

Re: Sad reality

Well, that depends on how you do it...

Personally, I think a dive toward the sun, then use (rather large) magnetic fields to catch a ride on a solar ejection would get rather close to 1%, possibly faster depending on which one and how the energy is used (magnetic fields can act like springs...)

Suitable for probes...

ICO says TalkTalk customers need to get themselves a lawyer

oldcoder

Re: Hold on a moment

That sounds like what they said. Being negligent should get fined.

Microsoft encrypts explanation of borked Windows 10 encryption

oldcoder

Re: Why?

Hint: try using grub to boot XP on an EFI system.

oldcoder

Re: Translation follows...

And we won't tell you what was "fixed" either...

oldcoder

Vastly more software.

"more days at risk"? Windows still has vulnerabilities from 19 years ago.

RH fixes are actually provided, and not called "features".

oldcoder

Re: When is someone going to file a UK Class Action against M$

You would have better luck using a "false and misleading advertising" claim.

That way you get them no matter what ...

oldcoder

Re: We used to beat MS up for bad security

For protection, of course.

If you don't trust the ability of the SSD encryption to hold up under hardware attacks (they won't - the key is on the device, so hardware attacks can extract the key), then you layer an additional encryption on top.

Predictable: How AV flaw hit Microsoft's Windows defences

oldcoder

Re: How about...

Tell that to the OPM, Madison Ashley, Bank of America, ....

No, MS defaults are very very bad. MS hasn't had a decent secure design in years.

oldcoder

Re: How I read the article

That is why MS doesn't bother to even try.

Besides, they get more money that way.

oldcoder

Re: That's all very well...

No... they would just want everyone to buy another version...

The customers would still blame MS for producing crap in the first place.

oldcoder

MS... Billions for mitigation...

Nothing for prevention.

Which is why Windows is such a poor system for mission critical operation.

Inside Intel's CPU-level multi-factor auth (and why we've got deja vu)

oldcoder

Just another way to duck responsibility...

Now Microsoft will get to blame Intel for its shortcomings...

BTW, It won't work at all for system to system authentication.

SpaceX makes rocket science look easy: Falcon 9 passes tests

oldcoder

Re: x? up, one down.

Quite a few.

The first one only went up 1000 feet or so, and there were a couple of those.

The Falcon 9 had some 8 landing tests (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9_booster_landing_tests and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_reusable_launch_system_development_program )

Trustworthy x86 laptops? There is a way, says system-level security ace

oldcoder

Re: Trusted storage

Not just that... but the bus connecting that to the CPU...

Then there is the added complexity of adding yet MORE pins to the CPU...

NSA spying on US and Israeli politicians stirs Congress from Christmas slumbers

oldcoder

Re: Seriously, though

The only way to end the bunker mentality is to have a country bigger than a bunker.

Israel is just too small country to NOT have a bunker mentality, and a geography that really isn't defensible.

oldcoder

Re: One Way to Congress Critters to Act

Historically, that was not the job of the NSA.

The FBI was the agency to investigate internal corruption which is what you are talking about. And the FBI under H. Hoover got into trouble for doing so without authorized warrants.

This was why the separation of the external investigation (the NSA) from the internal (FBI) was done. It preserved the rights of the citizens.

Now that everything is munged up into Homeland Security... anything goes.

Bookstore sells some data centre capacity, becomes Microsoft, Oracle's nemesis

oldcoder

Re: Since it wasn't mentioned by name in the article

Which is more expensive? Windows - hands down. Specially when you include the costs of the Windows security failures.

Press Backspace 28 times to own unlucky Grub-by Linux boxes

oldcoder

Re: Scare story?

The first and third are not Linux software... And the first is not a root compromise.

The second one is, and has already been patched.

Windows' authentication 'flaw' exposed in detail

oldcoder

Re: Well, Ain't that dandy!

Who knew? Practically everyone that actually worked with Kerberos.

Kerberos was never intended to be an authorization service. Not designed for it, and was never implemented that way... Until MS broke the protocol and tried to make it an authorization service.

And still using the insecure NTLM passwords... Guess what, no security.

Brits send Star Wars X-wing fighter to the stratosphere

oldcoder

You don't need a rudder... Just look at the B2 or other flying wing designs. Most don't have anything for a rudder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_wing

Granted, it still isn't well designed for atmospheric flying.

You also don't need elevators or canards... if you have suitable thrusters in place.

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