If this were done well, it could be useful (if occasionally annoying).

That said, I suspect the definition of "executables" is what's going to cause the biggest headache. Sure, an EXE file is an executable. Sure, so is an SCR. But these days there's so much interpreted code that it's not clear what is a .NET app or Java app and what isn't. How about Flash content? It's sort of executable in that a runtime will process it and DO something. But wait, there's more. PDFs have macros, as do most document types, which are sort of executable too.

It'd be nice to fix this all so nothing ever runs without your explicit permission.

Pedantic. And it's five to seven days, which in my case is six and a half days.

The Pebble really is a good product. It doesn't try to be something that makes no sense at the size of a watch. It's not a data input device, or even a substitute for a phone. It's just a nice notification device so your phone can stay in its sheath or pocket or wherever you'd like to keep it.

Can't be done. You won't find an electable candidate who shares my views on important topics.

Representative government is a necessity, but it's still important to give them explicit and clear mandates on especially important topics. I trust politicians to decide day-to-day topics, but when it's big things like anti-terrorism-snooping laws, or going to war with another country, or human rights issues like gay marriage, there should be a mechanism for the public to be heard. "I don't care what party you represent, I don't care what colour your campaign sign was, I don't care what general ideology you follow, X% of the population has spoken on this topic... hear, obey, and implement our will."

That would be representative democracy done right(ish).

That's irrelevant. The reason or history behind why a place is sacred is utterly uninteresting. It's a hyperspace bypass. You've got to build bypasses. But seriously, everywhere is sacred in some way, to someone, or has remains from some group or ancients. The point remains that it's high time to start phasing out these concerns. Where two sites are of equal applicability, utility, and cost, sure you can pick the one that respects tradition. But otherwise... move on*.

It's not like there's more land each year that can be used without offending someone.

*Note: I'm not advocating destroying unique historical monuments like pyramids, stone circles, Easter Island heads, or lunar rover landing sites on a whim. But places with random bones or places with nothing but tradition... yeah.

Because the UI (in 2012 R2) is spastic and inconsistent. The different UI elements involved with say... creating and connecting to a VPN is stupid. Starting at a normal desktop UI, you get the Start Screen, then you manually type "control panel" because it may or may not be visible, then go to Network and Whatever Else, then you click to add a network connection and go through the normal UI to add the VPN. Then you have to actually open network adapters to see the connection you just added. Then when you double-click on the VPN's icon, a moronic blue bar (part of the charms idiocy) comes up on the entire right side of the screen, showing you your connections, and you get to click on your VPN connection AGAIN to select it, then you get a connect button that you an click, and finally feed in credentials. The blue bar vanishes. Because... reasons.

Look, we get it. Microsoft things it's a tablet with a touch interface. It's not. It's a server. With - most likely - an RDP, VNC, or out-of-band interface. But no.

Having to memorize and use Powershell syntax to launch a VPN is stupid, especially when the previous Server 2008 UI was usable.

Agreed. Besides, it turns out that the default for web servers for their DNGAF option (Do Not Give A Fuck) is also enabled.

I have a similar reaction to everywhere I've read this headline today. They're Star Citizen drop-outs if their departure was voluntary, and rejects if it wasn't. The bit that they'll have most demonstrated is how to take money from folks.

I'm a SC backer, and eagerly await its eventual release, and I'm totally comfortable with the economics involved with that product, but a team who DIDN'T bring it to fruition, who only did some immeasurable part, doesn't impress me. No, the currently released modules don't count.

Sure there's a point: we get to feel superior because we wouldn't be this dumb/criminal/evil/fraudulent/wrong.

It doesn't matter that the story is literally "two people who frequent some other web site say they looked at their neighbor's new laptop that the neighbor said they ordered sometime in early February and received sometime in late February and it's still got Superfish on it. Also, those two same somebodies say that when they ran the official Lenovo removal tool the software wasn't removed, by which they mean... some files and registry keys remained, which clearly means the software is functional and a problem."

Yeah.

"Two people claim one laptop may have shipped around the time this story broke, give or take, and can't be bothered to say/figure out if Superfish remains functional after removal."

I keep finding myself posting Lenovo-defending posts pretty much because the witch-hunt is way out of perspective.

One flick of your mouse scroll-wheel finger. That's what it takes for you to disregard an article that you don't care about. An article which - while having been conducted before - opens discussion of human timekeeping practices, which do impact IT issues.

Not everything in the universe is specifically for you.

No, that's not what is being said.

Yes, security software means a short-term subscription with Norton or similar. But the Lenovo-branded applications... you're just making stuff up. Lenovo has been shipping their machines for a few years now with a fairly reasonable package of management software. It'll do scheduled hardware tests (as best as software can possibly), keep BIOS/driver packages current, keep you informed as to expiring warranty status, and otherwise make it generally easy to find information on the product you own.

So hey, don't get informed, just jump on the Lenovo-hate bandwagon.

What? Wait. Grow some perspective.

Lenovo accepted remuneration in return for installing a program that injects ads and presumably reports statistics. How is that logically different from installing the Google Toolbar on IE? Right. It isn't.

Oh, but the software is poorly implemented and could allow unexpected access to the users' data. How is that logically different from installing Java, Flash, and Adobe Reader, each of which has repeatedly been found to massive security vulnerabilities? Right. It isn't.

Fact is, Lenovo didn't do anything new here. Certainly nothing illegal, all-caps or not.

Not to defend Lenovo in this, but yeah, that's not how it happened. Keep in mind they stopped installing this a month before they "got caught".

There's no reason to assume that Lenovo knew, or was told everything this software could do. Personally I would definitely attribute malicious intent to the developers of the software, not the company that agreed to install it.

Expecting Lenovo to manage to learn/know/discern every bug, flaw, or undesired side-effect of every software package they allow on the preload image isn't practical. I mean, if they preload Java, are they responsible when the computer gets hacked because it's buggy? Flash? Windows itself? A driver? What about CD-burning software that could potentially have a back-door or rootkit? Now, yeah, this was shit-ware to start with but it's hard to know exactly where to draw the responsibility line.

Regardless, this isn't a matter of stopping because they "got caught". They stopped before they got caught. They just didn't offer to fix things until after it was discovered just how bad it is.

This completely ignores that MH370 is (likely) a stationary, fragmented husk, spread over a significant portion of the ocean bottom (as in, below crush-depth), with zero emissions, and not in any way expected to support life. Strange how "two things in the water" can still have a bunch of important attributes that differentiate them.

There is no informational content to be gained by watching this video. There is plenty of emotional content to be gathered though.

The problem is that such intense emotional content won't help anyone react rationally. It'll just breed more hatred, which isn't good for anyone involved.

I'll give you two decades. Three, tops. Get going, I literally don't have forever to wait for this.