Microsofts profit model is to waste OUR time and not theirs

So, I work in the IT industry. I'm a developer, in C# mainly for my sins (which to be fair is a decent language with alot of good things to say for it). What annoys me is this:

Whenever you build in Visual Studio, when the compliation hits an error it cannot resolve it continues to compile. Now, this behaviour is pointless, the compiler KNOWS it's going to fail because its had a hard error. An error in compilation means that some part of the whole has failed. This, in all situations that matter, will mean the entire build failed. 

Now, there is some small advantage in continuing anyway on an error, the reasons to continue are:

1. To assertain the extent of the error (is this just an isolated error or is something seriously out of wack, like wrong toolset).
2. Collect ALL the known errors ahead of time so they can be worked on as a batch instead of individually

So next I'm going to tell  you why neither of these reasons are valid:

1. Firstly, at the point you hit an error your 100% going to have to resolve THAT error in the end anyway. Your not going to be able to look at any subsequent errors before hand realistically. 
2. Secondly, every error after the first one is increasingly unlikley to be a real error and is more likely to be the result of the first not being resolved. This is of course not 100% of the time, though usually even if you need to fix all the errors the first error's context is enough to figure out the rest.

What's the problem here? The problem here is that EVERY build Microsoft is spinning our wheels waiting for pointless compilation either telling us what we already know at worst or at best telling us about something we aren't yet concerned with.

Now, bring in distributed compilation in the form of TFS and other solutions. Everytime, as a developer, I finish my work locally I need to push it to a build server to make it production ready. Now, the build server hits an error in the first 30 seconds, so I know my build has failed. YET, it still continues to process 20 minutes of bullshit work!

Now, Microsoft have an error limit in their code, its set to 100 compile errors. The problem is, usually when submitting a build to a build server their are one to five errors, also typically their are THOUSANDS of lines of code.

In 10+ years, people have queried Microsoft about allowing this build error limit to be configured, Microsoft ignored that. Now, with the drive through of open source (and underpaid software developers) people have made their own solutions to this issue. The problem is Microsoft are deliberately not solving it because millions of customers delayed by long build encourages more investment in software and hardware to try to mitigate this simple problem.

Tron Original vs Tron Classic

I watched Tron on TV as a child in the 1980's and loved it to peices. It was the embodyment of my own dreams of a oncoming computer age. It was to me a perfect movie.

Fastfoward to the future where I have a job and enough money spare to buy the DVD's I love and I am recalled to Tron. I go out to buy a copy on DVD and by accident aquire the new Tron, but I am not upset, hurray a sequel! First though I wanted to watch the original classic, so I went out looking to find a DVD entitled just that.

Watching, I was thinking to myself "I feel like I remember this movie looking much better?" at first I worried my childish mind watching then was primary to its past visual enjoyment, but then I saw later sceens and I felt it has been messed about with?

The classic tanks, which I felt sure where the solid ploygon style of the era? where now these awful modern computer tanks and all the charm was GONE. I tried Googling around, because I did wonder if I had remembered the tanks out of the video game Tanks and misremembered them into Tron (where they would belong perfectly):

I felt the original Tron tanks looked lik the above but with just filled polygon surfaces. I still feel convined this is what I saw as a child. I found these online which report to be storyboards for the original Tron:

The tanks shown there more match my memory. Also given the film was made in 1980's where Pologon filled graphics where the pincal of CGI at the time, I suspect the tanks seen in the movie copy I hold aren't original:

 

I found this picture which is maybe an original?

It certainky feels closer to what I remember as a child, though I felt sure the whole tank was pologon with few to none rounded edges?

For me, this mismatch of memory to actual a little mared the movie, fortunately though many parts felt unchanged and like they hadn't given the "must modernise" attention to and where still lovely.

Tron is a movie which is beautifully placed in the era it was made. The Polgyon tanks and other computer sceens (was I imagining it?) made it feel totally believable for that era. Also, it recalled many fine and happy hours playing games with similar graphics and linking the movie into real life experiences.

Now, the version I watched on DVD, makes it feel stupid (or maybe I just miss the version I remember over what was?). The low grade graphics felt accurate back then for a representation of an internal computer make up. Internally a computer isn't all glossy and smart, its all bits, pixels and polygons; Sure the end result on a modern computer is a sharp, believable 3D image, but the mobie is showing the insides of a very early PC/Mainframe.

So the new graphics always pull me out of the action and make me hanker for watching the REAL original movie. Still, enjoyed it and went to the sequel.

Now Tron Legacy felt perfect, its exactly what it should be, not a remake but featuring updated CGI in a really good way to go with the theme of the movie being many years on. The movie and the soundtrack are a complete success.

I just hope that in 20 or 30 years they don't remake Tron Legacy using the latest holographic leaving confused children now adults wondering if they didn't imaginge the better movie lol.

Would sure love to hear from anyone who has pictures of a classic Tron tank, even if I was dreaming.

Telemetry equals Malware when its forced on people without choice or consent

So, I notice a pattern, when a ""respectable business"" creates a system to steal your data / information without informing you and report it back to them they refer to it as "Telemetry". When an unknown or anoymous entity does said same set of activities, it's called one of the following:

• Malware
• SpyWare
• Virus

I have the following (unasked for) "Telemetry" on my NEWLY installed system:

1. COMODO
2. Microsoft
3. Mozilla 
4. NVIDIA (shame)

 All of these big corporations feel they OWN your equipment and that your simply "renting" the use of their software.

Laws need to be passed reinforcing the rights of the buyer / consumer. We are not services of Apple, Microsoft, Google and NVIDIA to be abused like we where a distributed platform for stealing information to sell to the highest bidders and most interested parties.

The truely sad thing is so many of the younger generation completely accept being owned my Microsoft, and some even favour it. Stockholm syndrome in practice.

Google with the Android product are profiling people 24/7 and because its built into the operating system of the phone its impossible to remove and very hard to block. Probably even doing so is against the licence agreement for usage of the device.

It sickens me that such abuses are considered acceptable and completely common place. Humanity gave up its right to have privacy along with the value of ones own council.

"The Pilot" Worst Dr Who episode I've seen

So this was the single worst Dr Who I've experienced. I was even inclined to go online and see what general opinion was on episodes. I was surprised what I found, the lists mainly included episodes which I either enjoyed or where alright. So it's clear that opinion is well divided.

However, I've just watched 'The Pilot' and WOW was it BAD. The actress who was the main character did well with a very bad story and whilst I haven't taken too her as the new companion, I felt the acting was pretty good. The real problem was with the god awful plot.

It started promisingly with an idea about a sentient ship fuel or oil, leaked from a landed ship and now trying to do its task alone. This was very similar to the concept behind 'Girl in the Wardrobe' which I dearly loved (superb episode) so I felt initially there was some promise, then everything went completely silly (and not in the good Matt Smith way).

First of all this 'ship repair fluid' was able to travel anywhere in space and time. What the &#@($&.

So if it's some sort of sentient repair system, it can easily travel back to the main ship with such powers and get right along with its purpose! If it is some kind of 'rebel' sentient repair system, it doesn't make any more sense then (but at least its some kind of excuse). Next, to add silly on top of silly, when confronted with simply a new enemy, instead of the usual intelligent analysis and cunning, the very first thing the doctor does is drag his whole crew into the middle of a Darlek war-zone *face palm*. WHAT THE F#*K? The Doctor, who is a stallwart protector of his companions, who just LOST to the Quantum Shade the most love companion he had (not to mention Amy Pond, Rose and the other most loved predecessors) he goes and immediately takes his new companions from a completely unknown danger (where in fact they don't actually know their really at risk except by a squinting girl) to face or at least encounter an enemy where he certainly knows they aren't safe. WORSE the episode doesn't end, it just simply fizzles out when the new companion has a quick hand hold with the girl (and don't get me wrong, the lesbian story line is definitely something I appalaud as endaging an alternate lifestyle and audience, but come on, DrWho can be better). Adding the lesbian character is a nice touch but then immediately destroying both her immediate love interests felt really bad. Though whilst a weak way to take that plot aspect, it still had more potential than the main story.

Well I'm just two episodes into Season 10 and fully understand why the Who Hype has died down, its because David Tenant left, Matt Smith managed to push past the loss to do a really good set of seasons, then Peter Capaldi managed to bring back a little of the feel of William Hartnel as well as adding some nice freshness as well. It's just a shame that it's sunk so low.

I was rolling my eyes at all the direct lifts from Harry Potter in season 9 (for those who didn't spot them: Moving Staircases, Dementor, Naiagi, Dark Lord *eyerolls*). Seriously, Davros has a name which induces enough fear without referring to him by Harry Potter references and giving him a snake (who should have been named Nagini since they lifted the rest of the idea) as an assassin.

It's so sad how bad its got, I only hope that as I watch more of Season 10 it perks up.

ED: So I'm watching it again, trying to give it a chance in the light of the rest of season 10. Sadly my opinion is not altered, this was a terrible stumbing start for the producer. On one final note, the effects are more than a little reminisant of Waters of Mars.

Brand new Steam Game and code already registered to another account

My cousin gave me "The Orange Box" (which he had bought some years before and never got around to playing it). I opened the box, entered the CD Key into Steam to be denied installation. As you might also know, Steam doesn't allow to install the game from the DVD media on which it comes and indeed frequently it seems the game isn't even on the DVD, just some parts of the game (if your lucky) and a copy of the Steam client.

What does all this mean? Well it means I now own a heap of useless plastic!

What recourse do I have with Valve?

https://support.steampowered.com/troubleshooter.php?do=view&id=1

So venturing to that link, you find three options:

1. Go back to the original vendor for resolution (since this game was bought years back not possible)
2. Are you sure you didn't just install it already and forget >.<
3. Hey maybe this is a second hand copy? (we won't help)

The problem is that we live in a unique commercial relationship with online vendors. They, legally, can provide us with NOTHING and then make us pay them again.

I grew up in the 1980's and 1990's when vendors provided actual games on actual disks. Once you owned the disk you had the right to install and use the game on one PC. You could finish the game yourself, uninstall the game, sell it to a friend, they could then play the game themselves and this was all within your right as a consumer. Since you bought a copy of the game which you owned.

Now the law having been made into a joke, we own precisely nothing (oh, a peice of plastic with a copy of the steam client).

So, if you buy a game in the shop, better install it in the week of launch or you will lose the game and Steam will care ZERO.

I looked about online and I can see there are advertised "Steam Wallet Code Generators" which presumably randomly generate potential keys for people to type into steam and see what game they get for "free" at the expense of the future buyer of the DVD disk.

Internet Sheriffs. We the people... we need to make the law online

I am surveying the state of the internet with regards to law, and the state I find is something akin to the law found in the Wild West of America during it's worst years of corruption.

I was considering the matter, and we, all the peoples of the internet are letting ourselves be implicitly ruled and overruled by greedy corporations.

What I decided needs to happen is we need to establish some decent and publicly agreeable laws in an online crowd supported fashion and popularise these decent and people serving laws in a way that they can be presented to governments around the world as a fait accompli complete and with massive support and popular backing, so as the American constitution was founded so, we the people, being the people of the planet earth can establish an internet which doesn't support greedy, money grabbing techniques and practices but is a return to form of a place of freedom of speech and protection of human rights and dignity.

So, I figured I'd try starting the effort here and see if I can't bring some of you good people along this journey.

To start this great en-devour (which I admit might die right here on this first blog post if insufficient people care about this issue) I will state a simple set of aims:

1. To establish a set of laws and principles to protect the dignity, privacy and rights of the individual to control and ensure any published works concerning themselves are accurate, factual and written with a balanced perspective.
2. To provide a structured method of legal recourse to combat and eliminate propagandist and unscientific publications which can shown to be an untruthful attack on an individual or an unreasonable breach of their rights to privacy (to wit, the right to have their address not be publicly available excepting agreed lawful usage).
3. To restrict the freedom of expression act to matters provable to be either strictly true in the scientific sense or purely a matter of opinion relating to some provable truth and where matters are non-provable the article must emphasise such fact clearly and unambiguously.
4. To re-establish responsibility upon publishers, especially corporate publishers, to require to provide physical copies of paid software which can be installed and used from a physical medium without recourse to require internet activation and also to force said companies to always provided any paid update in a similar manor.
5. To prevent and deny online rental and licensing software agreements which seek to force the customer into a monopoly relationship with the vendor (aka Cloud Computing). 
6. To establish a stable system of online purchase tied closely only to actual demonstrable costs published for the customer to review (for example, if the software vendor is required to pay a fee for hosting their solution, it should be disclosed to the customer and be the only exception to the rental / licensing agreement).
7. To restore to consumers statutory rights regarding paid for softwares such that no legal agreement can cancel or otherwise dismiss those right by contract and the consumer cannot surrender the rights.
8. To make software giants responsible for and conscious of issues of customer privacy and choice.
9. To deny artificial requirement for internet connection for services and to prevent the creation of internet services specifically and singularly designed to deny the end user the ability to run the solution in an offline manor.
10. To enforce ALL software providers to provide a valid and manned contact email address and a minimum turn around on responses to queries with legal ramification (indicated by some simple tag within the email subject), giving them 28 days to respond before they enter an illegal stance there by denying the "noreply@" style email addresses and other mechanisms to ignore so called "troublesome customers".
11. To define "lock in" solutions in the form of App Stores as de-faco monopolies and therefore to be regulated and controlled by local government to ensure fair representation within the medium of all peoples.
12. Force solution providers to provide a base license agreement containing minimal legal content designed purely for the insurance of meeting legal obligation which is mandatory and deemed reasonable. Then any additional 'agreements' must be optional and not impact the primary use of the service, there by providing fair use and not an 'everything or nothing' agreement as we find today.

I realise these are lofty aims and they undermine present (I argue institutionally corrupted) business practices.

Who's with me?

Suspicious Breakages of Post Support Microsoft Operating Systems

In 2015, I had 2 computers at the peek of correct configuration and function, these where respectively a Windows XP machine and a Windows Vista machine.

These two PC's where fast performing, well configured and virus protected.

At this time, I emigrated back to New Zealand leaving these PC's shutdown.

Four years later, I return home, boot up the XP PC and it's still working well. So I set it up for my mother, automatic updates later and the system slows down to a crawl and the internet randomly disconnects. No viruses, no Mal Ware, JUST Microsoft F**KING UP my system (I have to believe deliberately breaking the out of support systems).

Anyway, so I boot the Vista PC and Windows DreamScene is suddenly no longer running. I re-enable the component, it runs for a few mins then lags out. I had used Windows DreamScene for many years before and never encountered one single issue with the product! I have / can-attest-I-have no hardware issues and the many previous years of faultless running is not any kind of daydream.

I can't believe people are accepting Windows 10 from such a corporation. I am a Microsoft Developer (for my sins) and the underlying OS is sound, the problem appears to be they have employed measures to ensure you won't remain satisfied with an older product (since they have blatantly added 'features' to make software deliberately bad / faulty after their chosen lifespan. I will experiment with setting my clock back 5 years and see if that fixes all the issues, unless Windows Updates snuck on)