Posts by a_yank_lurker 4138 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Nov 2013
Slurp has several problems. OSes are well understood, mature products. Applications are, again, well understood, mature products. Users are drifting away from MS with their smartphones and tablets for much of their needs. Winbloat and Office are slowly becoming niche products that many only use extensively at work and have no particular need for either at home.
Add to your complaints that some people will get sick from using these devices. Also, other than we can do it, what is the problem they are trying solve? Other than some games, the 2d interface is more than adequate.
This sounds like a less than the dim idea from Slurp.
If the big boys and girls get their security act together (not likely) then the next target will be smaller chains/operations with much less technical depth. Cyber criminals are just like any other criminal - they prefer the easiest target with the biggest bang. Right now and for the foreseeable future it will be large retailers who are running IT on the cheap; which is most of them. So any cyber criminal with a couple of functioning brain cells is going after Target, Walmart, etc.
I see one problem with retail digital security that is largely overlooked. Many retail establishments are 'Mom and Pop' operations or small scale chains. These companies are dependent on their vendors and installers being competent. If the POS is set up, maintained, and upgraded properly there is no problem. But most of these retailers do not understand how the POS system works and are technically unsophisticated. If outfits like Target are clueless these retailers are in even worse shape.
For many consumer and business applications the raw speed of flash is not the limiting factor so increasing the hardware speed will not gain anything. This is a common fallacy when looking at quoted speeds of ignoring what is the actual limiting factor which may be something as mundane as the user's typing speed.
"Basic stuff is don't shut down the computer while copying files to USB." - I think we can all say at some point we have tried to shutdown a computer while a critical background task was running that should be interrupted. The complaint is 'bloat is not bulletproof against typical user errors not that this is good practice. Good program design assumes that users will make mistakes and tries to minimize the system damage caused by them. But then this is Slurp we are talking about who has never exhibited good software design.
The reports make the rolling release distro Arch Linux and derivatives look like paragons for ease of updating and stability for any user. Linux rolling release distros are only recommend for the stout of heart who are willing to occasionally go fix problems by Distrowatch.com. The funny part is I use an Arch derivative (Antergos) as my main distro and have less problems than Winbloat 10 users are reporting.
@Bombastic Bob - I see Chromebooks being readily available in the US so Linux can be sold with some good marketing. Also, with Android being ubiquitous users are using a Linux derivative. Linux in a couple forms is very popular as is BSD. The number reports about Winbloat borking systems is making users warm up to the idea of something else.
OEMs are first loyal to themselves not Slurp and the fact many are testing the waters with Chromebooks and in few cases Linux preinstalled (Dell for one) means they think they can make money without 'bloat.
@Paul - I remember watching a true crime story about an armed robbery gone bad in the in the 70s. The rookie detective tracked down were an item of evidence had been sold and went to the store. The store owner remembered the sale and let him look through the sales receipts. The sales receipts were literally in show boxes and he to sort through and check each paper receipt. It took a few hours and he found the receipt with the perps name and address on it. The detective noted that to do good police work you have literally follow the leads and being willing to dig through piles of extraneous stuff. True in then and even true now.
Backdoors do not solve the problem the doughnut eaters and their shyster cronies in the DAs office need: real evidence of a crime. At best, good intelligence can help them focus on more likely threats and monitor the activities of known criminals. But at some point they need to get of the doughnut shop and pound the pavement for real evidence. Electronic communications, even still encrypted, can tell one a lot about who is talking to whom and when; the command and control structure. Monitoring the ebb and flow of communications can give clues as to where and approximately when something is going to happen.
Backdoors are a panacea for the lazy and incompetent.
@AC - The problem is everyone will click on a link about something from a "trusted" source but only a very small number need to be malicious to bad guys to nail enough users. It is realistically impossible to be able to vet every link in tweets, emails, posts, etc.
@bazza - There two times a company will sue for patent infringement. Case 1 is actually Apple. They have many valuable patents protecting their products which are selling nicely. An infringer is endangering Apple's profits from their products, thus Apple sues. Case 2 is a company that has no viable products but has patents. Their game is to sue as method of legal extortion, the classic patent troll. Blackberry is a fading manufacturer who is resorting to trolling to buy a few years because they were mismanaged for many years.
@Shadow Systems "payroll system crippled" - In the US, Slurp might be liable for some damages if their OS "patch" broke the payroll system. US businesses can be sued for both back pay and liquidated damages for any delinquent pay to all affected employees.
I agree with you that it is intolerable for the OS to make decisions that should be only made by the user. The user installed the applications for a reason and the user should be the one who decides when any are removed. The same with any other files.
I know a blind user who is devoted Ubuntu user. Also, Vinux (vinuxproject.org) has customized Ubuntu for the blind and partially sighted users.
I have heard more about Jill Stein in the last few days (all negative) one has to wonder why. It seems like the donkeys are setting her up as the fall girl if Hildafelon loses in November by claiming Stein stole votes from her; a rather nasty insult to the any voter. It would be fun to watch this become a three or four way race with none getting the nod in the Electoral College. Any rate, I will be voting Libertarian for party building if nothing else.
I am very concerned about credit card and banking information being leaked because it could a more dramatic, personal impact. That is not to ignore or minimize the probably criminal antics spookhauses use against their own citizens which is a more gradual form of damage. Less trust in the government and the elites with the erosion of civil liberties and possible semi-bogus criminal charges to shut up the noisiest.
At the risk of down votes, do not forget Hildafelon and insecure email server handling all her email from Foggy Bottom. Snowden actually raised awareness the ferals were spying on anyone and everyone they could by less than legal means though I doubt they were the only ones.
Slurp seems to cannibalizing its own at best and losing overall dominance in the market place. But their antics have made many consider alternatives. Often these alternatives are just as viable as 'bloat for many users.
What will be interesting is how the trends continue in the future.
@therebel - If one deposits >$10K in a bank account, feral ripoff service is notified because they think that is the minimum amount for money laundering. They also have a nasty habit when they find someone making deposits of about $7K of seizing the account without bothering to investigate how this could occur. Many smallish businesses have been hammered by this.
The issue is how to pay for the staff if ads are not a reliable source of income. Subscriptions appear to be the way to go but they add up. People can only afford to spend so much on all subscriptions, a point made in the post. The suggestion is not the specific service but the idea of one point of contact that allows one to subscribe to x sites for one lower monthly subscription than all individually.
The post is to open up a dialogue about the situation recognizing both the sites and users are often losers with the current ad based model.
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