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Comment Crostini was years late (Score 2) 36

The practical problem with Chromebooks at the time was that for several years, between the debut of Chromebooks in 2011 and widespread support for Crostini (a GNU/Linux virtual machine) in 2019, a Chromebook couldn't do anything other than browse the web without threatening to wipe all your data (because "OS verification is OFF") every time you turned it on. That isn't very conducive to offline use while (say) riding a bus. I had been using my netbook for lightweight hobby programming projects.

Comment Gross incompetency in IT security (Score 1) 24

Very few businesses that are involved in IT in any way have anything remotely close to decent security.

Basically, they need to reintroduce the US' Internet Czar, who should have meaningful authority and who should impose meaningful IT security standards. That small companies can't afford to hire security staff is irrelevant as they mostly either work in the cloud using SAAS, at which point their provider should be handling all the security. If you want to roll your own, then you should accept the burden of paying for adequate security. Minimum standards apply to just about everything else in life, and I'd rate getting IT security right just a little bit more important than getting cars to not roll over (you can usually survive a roll) or preventing toasters from spontaneously combusting (you can park electrical appliances away from flammable stuff).

You can avoid catastrophes with defective appliances but you can't avoid catastrophes with defective IT systems.

Comment The disadvantage of a bigger laptop (Score 2) 36

and small screen laptops were on the wane, as larger, higher resolution displays were coming out.

The disadvantage of a bigger laptop is that a bigger laptop is less convenient to use in a cramped space, such as on a bus commute to and from your day job. It's also less convenient to pack in a cramped space, such as your tiny personal locker at your day job. A 10.1" laptop fit in (say) a locker in the back of a Walmart Supercenter, and a 11.6" laptop did not. That's part of why I was so disappointed that manufacturers suddenly discontinued 10.1" laptops at the end of 2012. I remember recommending that people affected by this discontinuation buy a cellular iPad, a Bluetooth keyboard case, a VPS, and an expensive data plan, and use the iPad to remote desktop to the VPS. I rejected that workaround as cost prohibitive at the time.

Submission + - Jury verdict of $23.2 million for wrongful death based on Gmail server evidence (andrewwatters.com)

wattersa writes: In 2022, I wrote here about a complex missing person case, which was partially solved by a Google subpoena that showed the suspect was logged into the victim's Gmail account and sent a fake "proof of life" email from her account at the hotel where he was staying alone after killing her.

The case finally went to trial in July 2025, where I testified about the investigation along with an expert witness on computer networking. The jury took three hours to returned a verdict against the victim's husband for wrongful death in the amount of $23.2 million, with a special finding that he caused the death of his wife. The defendant is a successful mechanical engineer at an energy company, but is walking as a free man because he is Canadian and no one can prosecute him in the U.S., since Taiwan and the U.S. don't have extradition with each other. It was an interesting case and I look forward to using it as a model in other missing person cases.

Comment Diversify your skillset (Score 1) 77

As a young programmer I watched senior coders get laid off and realized several things:

1) The more you make, the more attractive the target for cost reduction
2) You could have extensive knowledge about coding and a specific codebase, it won't save you.

Since then I spend my free time finding skills that my current environment is lacking, then develop those skills and put them to use. In the intervening 20+ years in the field, I have never once been laid off despite making what I make ( admittedly violating rule #1 ). Even were I laid off, I have several companies that would jump at the chance to have me back ( given my skillset and work ethic ).

I think working for larger corporations stifles people; they let themselves get comfortable in the pigeon hole they've been assigned, so they are ill prepared when lean times come.

Comment Re:The writing is on the wall (Score 1) 31

I've been poking proxmox for the past couple years, using it at home and in smaller environments and such...really impressive. I know there are some sophisticated functions that esxi can do that proxmox can't, but if you aren't one of those edge cases then you should be fine.

I really appreciate it's clustering and HA capabilities that you get out of the box, and you can't beat the cost ( even if you buy support ). It's really a game changer for the smaller to medium environments, particularly those that were on vmware stuff before.

Comment Re:Congrats to Linux Devs and Distros! (Score 1) 148

Does a Windows game run 100% in WINE?

YES! Many happy users of Proton on Steam Deck will answer in the affirmative for many games. This is what Valve's 30 percent cut of Steam sales pays for.

If *Nix was just a simple drop-in replacement without all the config issues that require an hour of reading to fix

As if Windows 11 doesn't have its own host of "config issues that require an hour of reading to fix."

Comment Re:Lines aren't frozen. (Score 3, Insightful) 258

Good point. An army that sees all others as subhuman and sees only the next death is one that has to keep fighting. It has no choice. It's the only thing it knows. It can keep conquering more territory outwards, or it can slaughter its own government inwards. History shows those are your two options.

Whether or not Russia conquers Ukraine, it will attack other countries - vast numbers of bored, underpaid soldiers would seek entertainment elsewhere if they didn't.

Comment Re:Two simple questions. (Score 1) 242

This is what I'm going by:

The report said that in December 2018, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a special airworthiness information bulletin based on reports from operators of model 737 planes that the fuel control switches were installed with the locking feature disengaged.

The airworthiness concern was not considered an unsafe condition that would warrant an airworthiness directive – a legally enforceable regulation to correct unsafe conditions.

The same switch design is used in Boeing 787-8 aircraft, including Air India’s VT-ANB, which crashed. The report added: “As per the information from Air India, the suggested inspections were not carried out as the SAIB was advisory and not mandatory.”

https://www.theguardian.com/wo...

Comment Two simple questions. (Score 1) 242

1. Were the safety guards, which were optional, installed?

2. We know investigators are looking into the computer system, does this mean the computer can also set the switch settings?

If the answers are "no" and "no" respectively, it was likely an accidental bump.

If the answers are "yes" and "no", then one of the pilots lied.

If the answer to the second one is yes, then regardless of the answer to the first, I'd hope the investigation thoroughly checks whether the software can be triggered into doing so through faulty data or the existence of software defects.

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