29 Mar 07
Originally posted by adramforallI didn't factor in the amount of money wasted trying to keep our glorious MS products running at all! If i was to put a figure on the time wasted fixing things that shouldn't be broken it'd be running into 10's of thousands. I am, as we speak, trying to repair a corrupt outbox in Outlook. It has taken me about 3 weeks to discover that this is in fact the problem. Not my network, not my mail server, not some weird virus, etc etc...
All tax deductible and only averaging out at about £2 per week. 🙄
I am quite sure that you could find someway to increase the charges to your clients to cover this massive weekly outlay.
If you charge out say 2000 hours of time per year and you need to recover an extra £100 then you only need to increase your charge out rate by [b]5p to cover the extra costs.
Stop moaning and make the change.[/b]
I just logged onto the MS website to check for updates. They now require their customers to install this little program on their computer that scans the system and send them a heap of information about what i'm running. Once i have been through all of this, had my privacy invaded, i am pleasantly surprised to find NO updates for any Office application. Not a single one. I find it unlikely that there aren't things that need fixing. They're product isn't THAT full proof surely?? The tech support at my mail provider tells me this isn't an uncommon problem, one which comes up quite a lot and has done for some years. Why isn't there a fix? They released this application in 2003. We are now in 2007, that's 4 years at £2 per week which works out as £416 we've paid in Licence fees and upgrades, etc... and we're STILL left with a product that does not do what is says on the tin.
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by Marinkatombthunderbird(s) are go!
I didn't factor in the amount of money wasted trying to keep our glorious MS products running at all! If i was to put a figure on the time wasted fixing things that shouldn't be broken it'd be running into 10's of thousands. I am, as we speak, trying to repair a corrupt outbox in Outlook. It has taken me about 3 weeks to discover that this is in fact the ...[text shortened]... tc... and we're STILL left with a product that does not do what is says on the tin.
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by geniusThat's what i am using already! I jumped ship long ago. I'm trying to fix my Boss's email! He has got so used to the Calender, contacts, reminders set up that he simply won't change. Consequently here i am pi$$ing another day away trying to fix something that really doesn't want to be fixed. 🙁
thunderbird(s) are go!
29 Mar 07
1 edit
Originally posted by MarinkatombFrom what you're saying mate, it sounds to me like you need to get in a proper M$ trained IT monkey to sort out all this crap for you. It seems you're always getting lumbered with the IT work at your company, and from what I understand you're pretty IT literate but not a real IT monkey.
That's what i am using already! I jumped ship long ago. I'm trying to fix my Boss's email! He has got so used to the Calender, contacts, reminders set up that he simply won't change. Consequently here i am pi$$ing another day away trying to fix something that really doesn't want to be fixed. 🙁
29 Mar 07
1 edit
Originally posted by Marinkatombso, change it back. click-click-clickety-click, done.
How is it ethical for Microsoft update to change my default browser to IE instead of Firefox?
of course it's annoying if an update occasionally overwrites some preferences, but it really isn't anything compared to the learning curve you hit moving onto any unix variant. the reason why such things happen on windows is because that's the price you pay for losing that learning curve. if the update would ask the user everything it needed to know, the head of an average computer illiterate office worker would explode. so it's just more practical & less messy in some cases to overwrite the old code without asking.
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by MarinkatombI HATE THAT!!
I'm trying to fix my Boss's email! He has got so used to the Calender, contacts, reminders set up that he simply won't change.
Friggin xenophobia is rife in management. I get complaints when it's time to simply change the login password. "Can't it be 5 characters?" "Do we have to change our password, it's been only 2 years?"
CHRIST.
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by Daemon SinWe've been considering getting someone in to try and get a decent working set up going. It's not beyond me to do this myself, like you say i'm reasonably computer literate (i've certainly fixed all our problems so far, i just take a week over it rather than the 10 minutes it takes someone who knows what they're doing). I just don't want the responsibility. MS products have fostered a great hatred for computers in me that is going to take a long time to get over. Instead of becoming more useful, they become more difficult to fix, that's the way it seems to me ATM...🙁
From what you're saying mate, it sounds to me like you need to get in a proper M$ trained IT monkey to sort out all this crap for you. It seems you're always getting lumbered with the IT work at your company, and from what I understand you're pretty IT literate but not a real IT monkey.
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by MarinkatombOn the upside, once they've learned to use *nix systems, they will feel at
The only problem is you have to flipping train all your staff to use it. Your companies productivity takes a nose dive for 3 or 4 months while everyone gets adjusted.
home in just about any environment without much pain. So if you think a
new distro (or another system entirely) is favourable to your particular needs
you will most likely be able to switch without much headache at all.
29 Mar 07
1 edit
Originally posted by geniusActually, IE 7 is pretty much up to date with standards. There are a few
the programmers seem to have forgotten about any internet standards whatsoever
quirks, as always, but nothing big that I've discovered so far (it even
supports the CSS-property position:fixed, which I've been waiting for a
looooong time). For once, the great MS had to play ball nicely, which makes
me all giddy with joy. 😀
Firefox is still the king though. Don't think otherwise. As soon as MS thinks
they have the upper hand again they'll no doubt stop worrying about
development and we'll be back in that dark pitthole we saw up until only a
year ago.
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by stockenBalls, it still breaks a multitude of web standards including the box rule, standard window padding, rendering of many CSS instructions and even maintains its own coding for 'margins'.
Actually, IE 7 is pretty much up to date with standards. There are a few
quirks, as always, but nothing big that I've discovered so far (it even
supports the CSS-property position:fixed, which I've been waiting for a
looooong time). For once, the great MS had to play ball nicely, which makes
me all giddy with joy. 😀
Firefox is still the king thou ...[text shortened]... ut
development and we'll be back in that dark pitthole we saw up until only a
year ago.
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by StarrmanFriggin nightmare, especially if you have to fit a bunch of information horizontally across the screen...
Balls, it still breaks a multitude of web standards including the box rule, standard window padding, rendering of many CSS instructions and even maintains its own coding for 'margins'.
29 Mar 07
2 edits
Originally posted by StarrmanStrange. Just last week I completed a brand new interface for an Intranet
Balls, it still breaks a multitude of web standards including the box rule, standard window padding, rendering of many CSS instructions and even maintains its own coding for 'margins'.
control panel and I used strict XHTML 1.0 Doctype with standard CSS to go
with it. Frankly, I had no problem at all with that one. The box model and
margins certainly worked like a charm for me, and I used some exotic CSS
rules (ie: for IE), like fixed positioning and hover pseudo classes on list
items. Of course, you have to use strict XHTML or IE will revert back to it's MS
way of doing things, but that's been true since 5.5* so I don't imagine you
missed that.
* Or was it 6? I can't remember...
29 Mar 07
Originally posted by stockenHave you tested it on multiple browsers? Did it render exactly the same if you did?
Strange. Just last week I completed a brand new interface for an Intranet
control panel and I used strict XHTML 1.0 Doctype with standard CSS to go
with it. Frankly, I had no problem at all with that one. The box model and
margins certainly worked like a charm for me, and I used some exotic CSS
rules (ie: for IE), like fixed positioning and hover pse ...[text shortened]... rue since 5.5* so I don't imagine you
missed that.
* Or was it 6? I can't remember...