Bonum Certa Men Certa

Proprietary Software (BT Hub) Has Ruined My Whole Day

Video download link



Summary: While we did have some plans to publish long articles, those plans were curtailed or at least delayed due to the fact our sole device at home not to be controlled by us (a so-called 'Smart' Hub from BT) decided to break itself and by doing so bring productivity to a standstill (that firmware update, silently installed without notice or any form of consent, managed to screw with the local network)

TODAY was the least productive day of the year and once again it is BT's fault. They already compensated us for those previous incidents (January-February this year), but a net total of at least 6 hours was spent today trying to restore the state/health of our LAN. Instead, we found some workarounds. BT has no plan or timetable for a fix, as I note in the above video (we need to figure out how to overcome the terrible video/audio sync).

It would be no fun discussing all the technical stuff; basically, on the grand scheme of things, their silent automatic update (remotely imposed) for the firmware clearly broke something. Each time their routers (or hubs) are rebooted they first fetch the latest image and they probably need to roll back some changes. I didn't get to reject becoming part of their latest experiment; nor did many users of Vista 10, whose machines have once again been vandalised by Microsoft.

"Let's hope tomorrow will be more productive than today's utter chaos -- a problem engineered by broken updates imposed by proprietary software vendors."The video speaks in passing about the latest Microsoft attack pattern (on Free software). The good news from Debian is also mentioned in passing [1, 2, 3]. Well done, Debian Project. Not another 'Open' SUSE or 'Open' Red Hat (IBM), a.k.a. Fedora. Incidentally, Robbi Nespu has just said: "After a while using and involve (contribute) with Fedora for fews years, I sometimes get a feel that Fedora and Red Hat moving so fast on everything and feel it not community oriented it more like leader oriented..."

Leader or master? IBM is the master of the project, and it really shows.

Let's hope tomorrow will be more productive than today's utter chaos -- a problem engineered by broken updates imposed by proprietary software vendors.

A senior BT engineer (a distinguished person who came over to fix a rather mysterious problem back when we only started exposing EPO leaks) once explained to me in very clear terms that each time the BT Hub is rebooted it will forcibly update itself (akin to network boot), which in itself is an optimal sort of 'back door'. You never really know and cannot even figure out what software powers up this device in your home (and they can tailor the OS just to you, depending on how you are classified); it's remotely controlled by somebody else, not you, and there's no way to stop it other than swapping everything with your own hardware and an operating system like OpenWRT.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

By Buying Twitter, MElon and Cheeto Now Control EU Politicians, Even at the Highest Levels
"the top level politicians make the egregious mistake of trying to treat Xitter as if it were a communications medium"
How to 'Sell' Software Freedom to People
In my experience, it helps when one speaks about control, not freedom, including confidentiality
The "Cool Kids" Are Already Using GNU/Linux, Microsoft is Just Cheating
The future and the present are Linux
IBM Going International (and India)
It's Monday and a national holiday
Microsoft Lunduke Belongs in 4Chan
Assuming Microsoft Lunduke is aware of the full context, he is now trolling not one but two decent organisations
 
FUDZilla Has Turned Into LLM Slop and Machine-Generated FUD (New York Times Has Also Just Admitted Moving in That Direction)
Failing news sites, instead of calling it quits with some remaining dignity, are handing control over to LLM slop (pretending to still be active)
The Washington Post (Jeff Bezos) Dies in Darkness
spread it on
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Downloading Gemini Files with Emacs and Elpher, Gopher on Devuan
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Confirms His Next Talk, "Free/Libre Software and Freedom in the Digital Society" (Next Monday in Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He could already advertise this more than a week ago
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 17, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 17, 2025
IBM's Chronic Neglect Won't Save Anything and It Might Even Get IBM Sued
The problem is likely a lack of manpower, not deliberate shoddiness
Gemini Links 17/02/2025: Ideal OS, AuraRepo Alpha, and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 17/02/2025: War on Dissent and Bloggers, Nationalism a Growing Theme
Links for the day
GeekWire: Microsoft Bribes Us While We Cover Microsoft Affairs (Spin Doctoring), Hence We Are "Independent"
What good is a "journalist" sponsored by the very same company he or she writes about?
The Attacks on LinuxQuestions.org
Going to Clownflare only worsens the problem
The GNU Manifesto Turns 40 Next Month
The guardian of Free software (definition, licences, philosophy, hosting and so on) has managed to endure and persevere for 40 years. Very few others can say the same.
In Europe and in India Richard Stallman Need Not Duck Anymore, People Trying to Cancel His Talk Have No Sway
the last time a talk by Dr. Stallman got canceled was about a year ago
Back From a Short Break
We can now resume and try to stick to the usual pace
Links 17/02/2025: LLMs Failing and Patreon Support Becoming a Burden to Bloggers
Links for the day
Links 17/02/2025: Blogroll Conundrum; Research, Scientists Under Siege
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 16, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 16, 2025
Links 16/02/2025: Nostalgia for Physical Media and the US Government Actively Promotes Pro-Kremlin Politicians in the EU
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/02/2025:Life, Cynicism, and languages
Links for the day
Links 16/02/2025: Oligarchs "Collect Your Data and Control Your World", Global Temperatures Shoot Up
Links for the day
Promoting Microsoft Windows With LLM Slop
What is the policy at BetaNews regarding LLM slop?
Alex Oliva, the Potential 'Successor' of RMS, Has a New Web Site
More freedom for Alex Oliva
Links 16/02/2025: "Microsoft Is Laying Off Employees" and Internal Dissent Brewing at Facebook Over Regime Complicity
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 15, 2025