I came to work today and asked a few people what they wanted in a mailing
system (having just rebuilt and migrated exchange over, they are all aware
of what they're email is doing etc.) And the overwhelming response was that
they wanted a/ instant mailing within the company, b/ reliable storage of
their email, and c/ as little to have to do with it as possible. Now this
seems fair enough to me, I then did some qucik comparisons from our current
system, and what was asked for in the first place, and exchange comes out on
top, it provides all these features, with minimal interaction with
non-technical staff.
I am probably the most anti-micro$oft person in my company, which in
the unix dept here is quite a feat, but I still have to relent here, yes
outlook is a bloated application, yes exchange is falliable (it runs on NT
for goodness sakes) but it provides an allround answer to the requirements
of the staff in the company, no one said use exchange, that was a decision
reached by the whole technical dept, not just the unix engineers, (even if
we did rem our accounts and keep unix ;)
Patrick Kelso
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Thursday, 24 August 2000 4:12 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: what users want (was RE: [SLUG] hrmm.. go Telstra)
John Wiltshire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> This is where you have to ask if you are putting your own views ahead of
> user requirements. If a user (not an admin) sees Exchange and likes it
then
> trying to tell them that they are wrong because you know better than they
do
> is pure intellectual arrogance. Users ask for things. Programmers and
> admins should cater to their needs - after all that is what we are here
for.
yes but not like that. Users shouldn't be allowed to ask for a
specific thing like Exchange. They should describe what they want
to achieve and let the IT people design and implement the best solution.
Your "intellectual arrogance" bit is completely wrong. Do you call
your doctor intellectually arrogant when she refuses to prescribe
you drug X and instead gives you a packet of cough lollies?
Of course not (hopefully!) because you're paying for/obtaining
their advice and services because they're an expert in that
field and you aren't.
Dave.
(there I've finally changed the bloody subject line!)
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
More Info: http://slug.org.au/lists/listinfo/slug
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
More Info: http://slug.org.au/lists/listinfo/slug
