The computing stuff rant thread

[T42]

All of a sud my favourite routing site has decided that since my OS UI is in English I'll want to see their stuff in English too. Wrong.  But do they offer a language parameter? They do not.  Same goes for the French Covid app TousAntiCovid (from Stupid Names'Я'Us): no choice and they've chosen wrong.

What's wrong with these numbskulls?

[philip]

Your web browser sends an Accept-Language header when it sends requests to a web site, this should control which language the web site sends back.  This setting is separate from the OS UI language, perhaps your web browser config has changed? In firefox look for Preferences/Language/DisplayedPages

[Mr Larrington]

Dear Nvidia,

I don't know what that bucket of wank you installed this afternoon was, but a driver update it was not.  Randomly changes 64.82% of the video settings, generates so many errors in $GAME'S log file that the usual 2000-odd lines had reached 175,000 before I managed to kill the process and reinstall the previous version.

Don't do it again, you paper-brained fuck-puppies.

[SoreTween]

The fucking merkins have got into the fucking print system on my fucking computer.  Every setting from the PDF paper size, print dialog settings, printer settings, setting on the printer and the paper in the printer is all sensible paper - A4.  So why is the bastard thing refusing to print & asking for leftpondian paper?

Arghhh!

[Beardy]

And another thing. Apps. On fondleslabs. Why do Apple still allow developers to produce Apps that only render properly on iPhones and render only IN PORTRATE on fondleslabs. They should do something about it. 

[Mr Larrington]

And another thing. Apps. On fondleslabs. Why do Apple still allow developers to produce Apps that only render properly on iPhones and render only IN PORTRATE on fondleslabs. They should do something about it. 

Oh yes.  They may have changed since last I looked but BRITISH Airways and Horseybank plc were two egregious offenders.  IIRC they imposed their own horrible titchy “keyboard” too, so you kept spilling thungs wring when typing with stubby peasant fingers.

[pcolbeck]

Microsoft Surface why the hell do you hang on the windows logo every time your reboot necessitating a hard reset?

[ian]

So to update some help files, I have to use Windows because peculiar software. Which involved IT setting me up a Windows virtual workspace on Amazon. Precisely how many dialogue boxes are required to install software in Windows? It was like porn-popup whackamole.

I dunno who set up this system, but to change a word in the bloody help file, I have use stupid software made of poo, integrate it with a GIT repository, and then deploy the change via Jenkins.

FFS. Content management is like, a thing in 2021.

[TheLurker]

So to update some help files....
FFS. Content management is like, a thing in 2021.

Could be worse ...

Punch, 1988

[ian]

I did gripe about it and someone helpfully pointed out that if I wanted a new help system I was the person to ask since implementing one would be my decision.

[Feanor]

2 related mini-rants today.

Mini-rant 1:New PC comes pre-loaded with subscription Office 365.
You are steered down the road of setting up a Microsoft account, and a subscription.

I don't want this, I want to use a perpetually-licensed version of Office.
Trying to remove Office 365 is like trying to get rid of Japanese Knotweed infestation.
Even after 'removing' it and installing normal Office, on first start-up of Word, you are right back to the 'setting up a Microsoft account, and subscription' one-way corridor, with no side doors.
You really need to rip this bastard out by the roots, and the roots run deep.

There is, however, an Office Removal tool which is claimed to make a 'proper' clean job of the un-install.
Let's give that a go.

Mini-rant 2: Diagnostic tools like this should be stand-alone tools.  I detest tools which are just a stub installer, and then require an Internet connection to perform the actual installation. Particularly diagnostic tools, which should not have stupid dependencies on Internet availability.

[FifeingEejit]

I did gripe about it and someone helpfully pointed out that if I wanted a new help system I was the person to ask since implementing one would be my decision.

So whose fault is it that content is treated as a development?

This is actually something I find developers struggle with, the difference between data that makes other data mean something (lookup tables), data that sets up the system for the environment (config but thatvat least with only RDBMS available I can scream and shout that JBoss has a way of configuring environments that's ideal for this to deaf ears) and data produced during production.

Many a review contains the words "test data does not belong in a database migration, you don't want this going live" or "are you sure you want the live system to point at the test demographics Web service when we go live"

Sigh.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[FifeingEejit]

2 related mini-rants today.

Mini-rant 1:New PC comes pre-loaded with subscription Office 365.
You are steered down the road of setting up a Microsoft account, and a subscription.

I don't want this, I want to use a perpetually-licensed version of Office.
Trying to remove Office 365 is like trying to get rid of Japanese Knotweed infestation.
Even after 'removing' it and installing normal Office, on first start-up of Word, you are right back to the 'setting up a Microsoft account, and subscription' one-way corridor, with no side doors.
You really need to rip this bastard out by the roots, and the roots run deep.

There is, however, an Office Removal tool which is claimed to make a 'proper' clean job of the un-install.
Let's give that a go.

Mini-rant 2: Diagnostic tools like this should be stand-alone tools.  I detest tools which are just a stub installer, and then require an Internet connection to perform the actual installation. Particularly diagnostic tools, which should not have stupid dependencies on Internet availability.

SAAS is the future... Unfortunately.

I'm fine with subscription Microsoft 365 1Tb one drive and decent tools for about the same cost as Googles shit.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[TimC]

I have a 'perpetual licence' version of Office Pro, and having installed it once and registered it to my Microsoft account, Windows recognises it and installs it (after prompting) on all my computers. Each major update of Windows asks if I want to go down the 365 route, but a simple 'no thanks' deals with that.

[FifeingEejit]

Anyway, I'm doing fucking testing of a fucking ancient system written in fucking coldfusion 10 and uses a fucking oracle 10 database, it's fucking shite so it is.

Also because we're all doing this testing the teams pings been going all day as various questions reformatted from the desired "what the fuck" are asked.

This sprints been beset with issues that can instantly be pointed back at the fact we have no fucking automation for this system and it needs to go in the fucking bin ASAP.

Thankfully we are also writing its replacement...

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[Beardy]

Ah, system automation. One system I was primarily and then peripherally involved with for over 12 years never achieved automation or it’s key tasks. The number and diversity of other systems with with it was interconnected in order to perform its core tasks were just too flaky and the addition of not all those systems being under our control meant that automation just proved to challenging. Whether anyone has actually achieved automation since I left the business three years ago I sincerely doubt.

[Feanor]

I have a 'perpetual licence' version of Office Pro, and having installed it once and registered it to my Microsoft account, Windows recognises it and installs it (after prompting) on all my computers. Each major update of Windows asks if I want to go down the 365 route, but a simple 'no thanks' deals with that.

That's good.
But there are no Microsoft accounts in use here, just the on-site Domain accounts.

The removal tool did a decent enough job, but it was slow.
Then a fresh install of Office 2016 worked fine.

[ian]

Returning to Windows after a long time. The dialogue boxes for everything. One is never enough. I will happily install any kind of ransomware, the most diabolical of malware, I will give you all my passwords just to make it fucking stop.

And stuff just starting. Teams fires up every time I start. There's no stopping it. It's relentless. It's a fucking virtual machine, why do I want Teams to start on it? No, I don't want to install Edge. Stop. No. I said stop. Shopping mode, what the fuck is shopping mode? Stop it.

Office 365. No, no, no... Link your Microsoft account... Do this? Do that? Surrender your immortal soul. Yes, anything, just stop, OK?

It's no wonder people just install any old shit, they're being trained to hammer OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK.

[Mr Larrington]

While we’re dissing Microsith, what the blue blazes is that weather forecast thing you've stuck in the notification area, Gates?  I didn’t ask for it, don’t want it and had to hunt around for quite a long time before figuring out how to make it go away.  If I want to know what the weather is doing in sunny E17 I'll look out of the fucking window.

[FifeingEejit]

Ah, system automation. One system I was primarily and then peripherally involved with for over 12 years never achieved automation or it’s key tasks. The number and diversity of other systems with with it was interconnected in order to perform its core tasks were just too flaky and the addition of not all those systems being under our control meant that automation just proved to challenging. Whether anyone has actually achieved automation since I left the business three years ago I sincerely doubt.

Automated testing means writing code that can be automatically tested by a simple algorithm, so functions that basically say whe a + b return c
The code base is a ballal ache of shambolic spaghetti, so shove in a and b' and you'll get some variation between c and z, possibly including the Cyrillic, Greek and minoan alphabet.
There is also... Wait get some tissues... No not for THAT .....  A JS file that's over 4000 lines of code.
Unsurprizingly there's merge problems because everyone's fighting over it.
This has resulted in me uttering "remmeber when I showed you lot all the git merge memes aye well...." we recovered that fuck up that automated regression/unit test g would have caught easily assuming the dev ran it before merging from develop, by digging the branch out of the devs PC and going through the merge manually, oddly enough merges Pfarrern matching has problems with repeating blocks of jquery validstor for jqxwidgets because pattern wise they're all the fucking same and intellij merge tool shouted it in our faces.

I wish that file was a one off but there's plenty of files over 1000 lines in that system and most of them don't seem to get the problem... Possibly mecause im always ranting about it and they switch off when I rant.

Just as well I fucking love a good rant, more sensitive devs might run a mile probably from me right enough...

Still can't belive one of our "stops" in a retrospective was "stop using the concept success and failure" that was not from either a millennial or gen z... Oh no...

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[SoreTween]

While we’re dissing Microsith, what the blue blazes is that weather forecast thing you've stuck in the notification area, Gates?  I didn’t ask for it, don’t want it and had to hunt around for quite a long time before figuring out how to make it go away.  If I want to know what the weather is doing in sunny E17 I'll look out of the fucking window.

Thank you for confirming my suspicions regarding wierd shit afoot on a relatives box today. I suspected Microsith at work but with this relative I never rule out pebkac.

[matthew]

While we’re dissing Microsith, what the blue blazes is that weather forecast thing you've stuck in the notification area, Gates?  I didn’t ask for it, don’t want it and had to hunt around for quite a long time before figuring out how to make it go away.  If I want to know what the weather is doing in sunny E17 I'll look out of the fucking window.

Would you be so kind as to share this information, as it gets worse. I am sat on a corporate network in Berks, but it locates me at head office and gives the weather information for Rochester. 

[Pingu]

While we’re dissing Microsith, what the blue blazes is that weather forecast thing you've stuck in the notification area, Gates?  I didn’t ask for it, don’t want it and had to hunt around for quite a long time before figuring out how to make it go away.  If I want to know what the weather is doing in sunny E17 I'll look out of the fucking window.

Would you be so kind as to share this information, as it gets worse. I am sat on a corporate network in Berks, but it locates me at head office and gives the weather information for Rochester. 

Right-click on taskbar
News and interests
Turn off

[Mr Larrington]

Ninja’d by Pingu…

At least Microsith had my location right.  Most webby SCIENCE tells me I am in Croydon.  Not quite as bad as Farcebok thinking I was in York and wanting to buy a tractor, at almost exactly the same time as Zuckerberg was on live television explaining how THE ALGORITHM generates shitverts micro-tailored to a luser's every whim and fancy, but really.  Croydon?

[Jaded]

There are many parts of Croydon that could be improved with a tractor.