* Posts by Charles-A Rovira

32 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Jan 2008

Mozilla takes Windows 8-friendly Firefox out back ... two shots heard

Charles-A Rovira

I wrote years ago that the antitrust punishment for Microsoft was to confine them to their platform at the time. Little did I know that this was precisely how it was to play out. Microsoft's nailed to the desktop. The rest of the world is mobile and kits existing markets are heading that way as well. It is its fate and its undoing. Microsoft's strategy for domination was played out by Google with Android for free, leaving Microsoft with no place to leverage its OEM presence and strategy.

Muslim clerics issue fatwa banning the devout from Mars One 'suicide' mission

Charles-A Rovira

The winning contestant also dies...

Nobody gets out alive. But if you advance science and knowledge on your way, you stand a chance at being remembered for more than the value of your constituent atoms.

Charles-A Rovira

Bwahahaha. They don't mind you going on a suicide mission to kill jews though...

I find the Muslim mind a morass of inconsistencies worthy of the most abject derision. What did I expect. They stop everything 5 times a day to kneel to an invisible guy who lives in the sky, and is so without any visible means of support that he needs your money, your wife or your life.

Religious people give me such entertainment.

FBI spooks use MALWARE to spy on suspects' Android mobes - report

Charles-A Rovira
Unhappy

FISA and the entire DOJ are toothless pussycats.

Oversight of any kind and openness would be a GOOD THING, even if it wouldn't stop or even slowdown the surveillance.

It ain't gonna happen.

The powers-that-be make too much money and have too much power from tapping everybody's communications.

Hitchhikers' Guide was WRONG, Earth is not in a galactic backwater

Charles-A Rovira
Unhappy

Great, its a ghetto then.

I'm sorry but before we were in a suburb, now we're in a ghetto.

That is NOT an improvement.

Microsoft: Our clouds don't bleed you to death

Charles-A Rovira
Devil

Do you believe a monopolist who's having problems selling their OS?

"Microsoft: Our clouds don't bleed you to death"

No it'll be more like sitting around a dynamite stick; the end WILL be swift.

Plans for fully 3D-printed gun go online next week

Charles-A Rovira
Devil

You know that this FREELY printed handgun isn't going down smoothly with the DUES paying member of the NRA don't 'cha?

Follow the MONEY...

Google Glass will SELF-DESTRUCT if flogged on eBay

Charles-A Rovira
Happy

My Grandpa taught me the secret to a happy life,

"Spend all of your money on wine, women and fast cars and squander the rest foolishly on real-estate."

The old coot was absolutely right. :-)

Charles-A Rovira
Meh

It might not stand up to a constitutional chalenge,

but it probably doesn't have to for very long.

Glass is a "walled garden" developers can build apps in, just like the iPhone and iPad are. The Android marketplace is simply a far too undisciplined Wild West bunch of developers.

I fully expect that the WiFi, BlueTooth tethers that will be built into Glass will interoperate with the sizable (multi-million unit) iPhone and iPad markets once Google works out the bugs..

Google did NOT get to its position in search and in telephony by leaving money on the table.

Ethernet at 40: Its daddy reveals its turbulent youth

Charles-A Rovira
Thumb Down

I used to work for an outfit that used token ring.

They ceased to exist soon after that.

The joke around the office was sending each newbies looking for the "dropped packet" in the token ring.

Yeah, they were that lame...

First Irish-speaking virus holds bloke's computer to ransom

Charles-A Rovira
Happy

Is there anything dumber than a scammer?

We used to have printers that emailed their diagnostic health and consumables status back to a central maintenance server.

We once had a laugh as some Nigerian 419 scammer was sending emails to "Remote Printing Unit 10420" of the bank where I was working.

The scammers were trying the "kiddy porn" angle to shake people up too.

If I had had the time I would have Stolled the scammers.

I can just imagine the fun of getting the Irish techie I worked with to go in on the scam with me.

Google to skew search results to punish PIRATES

Charles-A Rovira
Angel

Pshaw. Is that how many successful take down notices were issued and recorded by the courts? As opposed to all of those covered by some legal NDA. Bwahaha... Imbeciles...

Apple fights off ebook suit with anti-Amazon defence

Charles-A Rovira

Typical Apple. They're the wealthiest corporation in the world because they don't do stupid things.

Apple simply is not a monopolist in the book market because it does NOT publish any books. It is also NOT a monopolist by virtue of Amazon's dominance in the e-pub marketplace.

Apple never comes to the marketplace FIRST.

It learn from the mistakes of those already there, creates a better user experience and then slaughters the competition without even looking at the bottom line.

The iPod...

The iTunes Music Store...

The MacBookPro...

The iPad...

The iCloud...

It waited until the market place was clearly being run by people too stupid to understand that their products are too hard for consumers to use, and then...

Use iBooks Author, only Apple can ever publish the result

Charles-A Rovira
Meh

Pointless non-argument and link bait.

Apple has more stringent antivirus standards. You can't fault them for that.

The reader app is free. The creator/writer app is free.

The content is free or nearly free.

You can get your content, from a Word file say, and import it into an iBook2 file, generate the iBook2, publish the iBook2 for the iPad.

Apple makes no claim of ownership of your content and you can use the same content to publish it on a Kindle or a Nook or on CR-Rom or on paper.

You can use Kindle™ app for the iPad to get the Amazon version of the content.

You can use various PDF reader apps to get more generic versions of the content.

Its exactly the same as having to use Microsoft's Word program to read/write Microsoft' Word file format despite all of its drawbacks as opposed to SGML format.

Microsoft becoming Apple with Windows 8 control freakery?

Charles-A Rovira
Mushroom

Microsoft is about to shoot itself in the foot, again...

unless Microsoft is willing to enter into competition with its resellers, (a hopeless fight, as they might find themselves fighting deep discounts [no Microsoft OS charged for] of Linux 3.x.x, possibly with Ubuntu, on the machines,) and having to play "control freak" with every cut-rate cut-throat beige box assembler out there, people who still haven't resigned themselves to the fact that PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports AREN'T NEEDED.

Microsoft is a software facilitation house, they aren't great software writers/developers.

They see what's happening and when a company is doing something using, or in spite of, their OS they see how hard if would be to integrate it (extend and extinguish,) into their sphere of influence; then they buy the companies who had the original ideas.

Microsoft Phone man offers guarantee-free glitch pledge

Charles-A Rovira
FAIL

Its called "Mango"?

Well, while its better than "Windows Mobile 7.x, Fruity edition", it shows that Microsoft still hasn't learned how to name a product to save its life.

What focus group came up with this, uh, gem of a name?

They ought to take their marketing people and replace them with trained monkeys.

"Mango"? Indeed he has ... over to Google Android and Apple iOS.

Apple under threat from ... Windows tablets

Charles-A Rovira
Thumb Down

Businesses neither need nor want WiFi and tablets

The majority of businesses, Microsoft's current customer base, have spent BILLIONS of pouns/dolllars/Euros getting the environment just the way they want it, cubicle farms where they can keep a watch on what the employees are doing.

They're not going to suddenly change their minds.

As far as the consumer space, I don't see people giving any company three tries to come up with something mediocre.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard First Look

Charles-A Rovira
Thumb Up

G4 & G5 compatibility isn't an issue

and I own a a working ancient G4 PowerBook and an almost equally ancient G5 21" iMac which is my HDTV now.

I'm looking forward to Snow Leopard. It's already on order from Amazon.

Copyfraud: Poisoning the public domain

Charles-A Rovira

Copyfraud can be defeqated simply by giving your source

If somebody come along AFTER, you accuse them of plagiarism. Case over.

Linux group, Microsoft form unholy alliance against US lawyers

Charles-A Rovira
Thumb Down

Software wants to be treated like medicine

You know that doctors only ever "practice" medicine

There are no guarantees with medicine. There are a lot of ambulance chasers in the 'States but it has to be an egregious case to actually collect on the malpractice insurance. (Otherwise the insurance companies wouldn't offer any.)

The software developers can never claim to do more than practice their trade because there are certain standards that the practitioner of these dark arts would be held to otherwise.

That would require examinations, board certifications, best practices, standards and years of training before they would let anyone loose on a keyboard. Since its not rocket science, the developers have gotten away with that kind of substandard, amateurish crap-fest and cluster-f*ck

BTW. if airplane pilots were held to the same standards, there could/should/would be no commercial aviation and nobody would even get onto an elevator because they couldn't/shouldn't/wouldn't trust that the architects to know enough to line up the holes from one floor to the next.

Laptop Hunters snare Microsoft on Linux

Charles-A Rovira

Microsoft VS Linux ok. Microsoft vs Apple NOT ok.

Linux & f.o.s.s. versus Microsoft I can see. Its a slow-mo fight but its on.

Microsoft vs Apple, I can't see.

Apple makes premium prosumer and consumer hardware and is doing a bang up job while laughing all the way to the bank.

Frankly its like trying to compare a Lamborghini versus a 2CV and a 18 wheeler truck except that Microsoft doesn't even make either of the 2CV or the 18 wheeler.

I can't imagine Steve Jobs wasting more than the occasional glance in the rear view mirror over this.

Windows 7 beta washes up on Pirate Bay

Charles-A Rovira
Boffin

With Widows GA DRM and the internet "calls home"

I can see why M$ is not overly concerned with piracy.

Any computer NOT on the 'net is useless. (Computers are far more valuable as communication tools. [That's why M$ is DESPERATE to find some way to stop the iPhone.])

With the computers 'phoning home' for driver and other software updates and M$ being able to withhold those updates from anyone NOT in their database of paid up customers, well ...

They got you by the "short 'n curlies" don't they.

Music labels in talks with Hulu

Charles-A Rovira
Thumb Down

Does that mean that ...

the music companies are going to do music videos? (Like MTV used to?)

I sincerely doubt that.

That would take sizable promotion budgets (and medical expenses for some very ugly musicians [or would YOU actually want to see Keith Richards. {Not even for free. I'm certainly not going to PAY for that.}])

A deal with Hulu is about as likely as the medium of sound suddenly becoming visible.

RIAA won't sue, but will throttle

Charles-A Rovira

The **AAs need to eat their own poison...

Until the **AAs clients produce some quality, (like the sixties music we're subjected to every time we go out to a pub for a drink,) they can't stop suing the estates of dead people (Yeah, granny downloaded Metallica because she's got wireless internet near her grave site,) or trying to impose a tax on media to rip off the people who don't care for their product (law suits and agita, [they definitely don't make songs or movies,]) or for their clients' products (I can't tell you the last time a movie actually compelled me into a theater and I prefer my music indie.)

Screw 'em all...

Ballmer on banking crisis: No one is safe

Charles-A Rovira
Gates Horns

Suck to be the monopoly now I bet...

Hey, give Balmer his due (he'll rip it out of your hand otherwise,) this little debacle might upset the stock portfolio.

I bet that this has already cost Microsoft a few billion dollar (which are becoming worth less and less until they achieve parity with the Peso...)

Bwahaha, eat dirt Monkey Boy.

Concrete-jet 'printers' to build houses, Moonbases in hours

Charles-A Rovira

Rebar?

It needs to lay down rebar (Yeah, sure... Like that's ever gonna happen... :-)

Otherwise its a very temporary solution (that's when the concrete doesn't sag and crack from its own weight.)

Concrete by itself is not a very good building material.

British boffins perfect process to make any item '100% waterproof'

Charles-A Rovira
Unhappy

This will DESTROY wet T shirt contests

Seriously, water's SUPPOSED to make you WET.

I have to go and lie down...

Hyper-V climbs into Windows

Charles-A Rovira
Thumb Down

Something else that they'll claim they invented...

Bob and Clippy are the only things Microsoft can claim they invented, but that's never stopped 'em in the past...

Main advantage of using it, a BSOD can take down multiple copies of your app.

MySpace fraudster indicted in teen's suicide

Charles-A Rovira

We don't shun anymore

Actually the charges ARE criminal, but we have lost the habit, or perhaps the capacity, of "shunning" which would be the only punishment which would fit the crime.

Dubai mobe cracking demo barred by Heathrow boffin bust

Charles-A Rovira
Heart

Actually, its a systemantic law.

"The Ministry is named for the opposite of who it works for." should just read

"The ministry is named the opposite of what it does."

Ministries never do anything "for" anyone. They develop their own priorities upon their creation.

The first directive is "self-preservation".

The second directive is "self-perpetuation."

The third directive is to oppose the function of whatever their actually charged with.

Thus we have a department or ministry of defense which makes us attack, not defend anything.

Thus we have a CIA or MI-# which makes us behave stupidly.

Thus we have a House of Representatives (US congress) or a House of Commons (UK parliament) which is not representative nor common.

In the 'States, we have you beat though. We have an extremely expensive health (don't) care system which is in the process of killing us all by denying us coverage when we need it.

You've got the National Health.

Terry Pratchett donates £500k to Alzheimer's charity

Charles-A Rovira
Unhappy

As an MSer I sympathize, Hell I can empathize!

All of you blokes writing cynical sh*te, we don't care about you neither.

I'm looking at my office wall right now and every book by Terry Pratchett is up there. I hope he writes many more.

Malware authors target Mac emerging markets

Charles-A Rovira
Thumb Up

Malware on a Mac needs things that the OS doesn't supply

There are always ways for a thumb suckingly idiotic user to fsck things into the ground but s/he really got to work at it on a Mac.

Installing malware requires that the moron actually enters his password.

Even at that, it can affect his account while not necessarily screwing up the root account.

All in all, turning off the "automatically install" options and forcing the user to ask himself "Why the hell does this browser/web page want me to install something?" is usually enough to defeat viruses.