On Feb 5, 2010, at 9:04 AM, Dan wrote:
I have complained often... to no avail.
Being behind the times is par for a lot of large businesses. This
occurs when IT groups intentionally set things up so as to maintain
their job security. It's bad planning and bad oversight
(management). OTGH, it's a quite necessary, as the hacker underworld
needs it to survive.
To an extent, but in many cases it's out of the local IT
hands....sometimes it's ineptitude or extortion on the part of outside
vendors. The scientific instrument industry is rife with that kind of
stuff.
All of our Win2K systems are still around because the instrument
manufacturers haven't updated their software to XP or later; they want
us to buy a brand new $120K LC-LC-MS instead.
Sometimes it's because out outside-imposed rules on the IT people; for
instance by UA policy (handed down by the AZ Board of Regents) it is
mandatory that any system connected to the UA campus network run an
antivirus program.
In theory that includes my iPod. In practice that also means my
netbook running Linux.
It's as if HR instituted a rule that to qualify for health insurance
every employee must undergo BOTH an annual pap smear and prostate exam.
Another great example that's more germane to LEM groups is Sun's
blindingly rigid and stupid rules about full release versions of Open
Office.
If I go to their main download page I can get version 3.1.1 of OO for
Intel, AND 3.0 for PPC, IN Macedonian, or two different versions of
3.1 in Serbian, but the English version for PPC is still the
antiquated 2.4 which is an X-windows program, and doesn't even open
the latest files.
Why? Allegedly because they haven't had enough PPC users sign up to do
their exhaustive testing to release the PPC version from Release
Candidate status, EVEN THOUGH the code for the PPC and Intel versions
ARE IDENTICAL...it's a simple compiler switch; their rules for the
main download page state that only official releases are allowed
there. So to get the 3.1.1 version of US English OO for PPC you have
to go spelunking thorough their web site until you find it.
This is the corporate equivalent of the petty tyrant who installs him/
herself as the head of the Homeowners Association, and starts running
around with a ruler measuring the height of everyone's grass or the
distance from the curb to their trashcans on trash day, just so they
can asses fines and feel superior.
--
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group
Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs
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