Make Room! Make Room!

In comparison with the cost of our software licensing and support contracts, the cost of a the hardware is negligible, even with the most expensive OS running on it. In fact we could probably give away racks of 2U dual-Xeons with 16GB RAM and dual 300GB hot-swappable SCSI drives in order to push our applications. We could even throw in copies of Windows Enterprise Datacenter edition for those companies too cheap to outsource their operations where competent UNIX/Linux admins can be found.

Over the expected life of the hardware, the cost of the equipment is statistically 0 at a confidence level over 95% as compared to the costs of the software and people to make it work. Few idiots realise this -- not even our own. So perhaps I shouldn't have been as surprised to receive the following question:

x-posted to da brog.

I do a lot of scripting for data processing and presentation work.  I used to work in UNIX, primarily using SAS, perl, and various UNIX scripts in born shell.  I now work in a much more limited Windows environment.  I am having trouble getting used to the Window command prompt having a much more limited set of commands. 

The Windows update site now requires that the "Automatic Services" and "Background Transfer" services not only be running but must be permanently switched on (i.e., set to Automatic). It's also impossible to avoid Genuine Disadvantage if you install fresh.

Flinging Poo

ATTENTION MONKEY COLLEAGUE INFIDELS: When flinging poo, the idea is to throw it outside the cage at the fuckwits and gawkers and not -- repeat, not -- inside your cage, and under no circumstances at your fellow monkeys.

Yesterday was a national holiday (not celebrated, ironically, in its country of origin). Getting a day off only means there'll be that much more shit to deal with once I get back. This time was no exception. The only thing worse than a fuckwit is a clever admin, and $BigInsuranceCo has one.

x-posted to da brog, sans poll.

Error: An Error of Type "ERROR" Has Occurred

My knee hurts. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's excessive strain, maybe I bashed it into something when I was ratted last Thursday. It's probably a combination of all of these.
My back hurts. Carrying oversized packing boxes home each night ain't helping. Nor is dismantling the humongous IKEA-style furniture
My brain hurts. I'm dealing with Microsoft error messages.

x-posted to da brog, sans poll.

Redefining the OS

Tired from the flight back. Much stress. No time to tell long stories and no concentration to type them. BigHugeTelco made sure I wouldn't have to.

x-posted to da brog.

It's YOUR software. YOU make it work!

I took two tickets in May from a guy I'll call Eddie. One ticket complained that $OurBigApp didn't work with the newest version of a particular browser. The other complained that $OurBigApp didn't work in the newest version of a particular operating system.

We have the SPG (Supported Platforms Guide). It's explicit; if an operating system ain't listed, it ain't supported. If a particular version of an application ain't listed, it ain't supported. If it's beta, it definitely ain't supported.

Internet Explorer 7 and Vista are both beta.

x-posted to blogspot, sans poll.