Undoing the work of the corporate Computer Nazi...

[frog]

I will agree that IT policy can be very politically driven. The execs get the Gucci Blackberrys and the trogs get the Dells.

I have customers who, even when you put the information right under their noses, still won't listen to you. One department decided the drives on their workstations were too small and wanted to buy larger drives. We got a quote for some large SCSI drives and they replied they were too expensive. Instead they bought the same size EIDE drives. We warned again that they wouldn't work. For the past year the drives have been dropping off and on the systems and they've finally agreed to buy the proper ones.

It's the same with printers. We want a printer. What do you want to do with it? A3? back to back? colour? Oh yes all that! We check with Stationery Store and they've never had any A3 in 15 years! We check with their boss and he doesn't know of any A3 printing jobs done in his department or farmed out to another. What colour work do you do? Which department currently does your colour work? Are there any changes due in the department which will include colour work in the near future? Oh stop asking bloody stupid questions and go and get the printer!

I went to a printer call yesterday. It's stopped working. The LCD panel is dead and no fans running says the bloke who reported it. I went over and switched it on and it worked fine.

Last week. My printer has stopped, there are a couple of lights flashing but it won't print. Go and see. So what happened? Don't know - it just stopped. Take a look inside - nothing untoward. Remembers that customers are bloody liars and go and look in the nearest waste paper bin. Top three sheets, two whole and the third has a corner ripped off, about the size of a thumbnail. Back to the printer and check it again, this time very slowly. Remove shred of paper and give to customer. I thoght you said it just stopped. Did you try to drag a piece of paper out of it? No! not me! Funny how it fits the missing corner of this sheet which has the bid you're currently working on then in'it. Oh that bit! Well yeah, I might have pulled it as it came out but I was in a hurry. It's page 6 of 72 - were you going to drag the rest out as well?

I've never met a honest customer - and I'm pretty certain I never will

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Hang on - bit of a contradiction in terms there. Surely if IT people require things like that to keep them in a job, then as long as there's a healthy dose of it around then they're not going to lose any sleep over it...

Seriously though, who are management going to ask about having macs, company-wide, if such a hair-brained idea was ever to take germination in one of their minds? Yep, the IT brigade. Who probably wouldn't deny that a mac is easy to use, but in all likeliness haven't ever used a mac, and are suspicious of them, as they perceive them to be just a bit noddy - and they do the sharp-intake-of-breath thing amid much moustache-sucking, as the thing that often instantly springs to mind is 'I wouldn't like to guarantee that people are going to be just as productive with macs, as i don't know that macs can even DO all the things that they're going to be required to do here'.
I'm sure in a lot of cases macs CAN do all the things they need to be able to - but most IT people don't know that, so wouldn't be likely to recommend macs to management, that added to the fact that many businesses have got custom-written software that hasn't been written for mac.
Then on top of that you've got the training issues and what not, and it's not hard to see why you have to be a pretty serious mac devotee to even consider recommending macs to the decision makers, let alone campaign for them. People know where they stand with windows.

And another thing - people seem to be under the impression that it's the 'geeks' who make the decisions about what PCs/OSes to get, and corporate policy. It's not - it's usually bean-counters who make the decisions. The geeks will make recommendations, and they will often be able to influence the decisions by what facts they present and services they profess to be able to offer with a particular implementation, but it's the bean-counters that actually make the decision and therefore that ultimately stand by them, so this is why you needn't be surprised that IT policy is money-driven.



If you like your mac for what you want to use it for, great. I wouldn't diss it if it's what suits you and it does what you want it to do, and well. But just don't evangelistically whinge about other people and organisations not using/understanding them or come over all indignant that companies haven't "seen the light" because they haven't rolled out macs across the board.

i think the point about the bean counters is quite salient there bonj. chapeau.
btw, if someone genuinely prefers windows, for what ever reason, i'm cool with that. what annoys me is the "macs are for poncy graphic designers with more money than sense" attitude of some people.

 

[Danny]

Just how exactly DO you communicate about computers with people who type 'yes' in the 'confirm password' box, rather than the password again, and who panic that "it says 'press any key' - but my keyboard hasn't GOT an 'Any' key!"

Very much in the same way as you communicate with people who are new to cycling and don't understand the difference between, say, a chain ring and a front changer.

Anyway the people who complain about corporate computer nazis are the ones who know, or think they know, something about IT and have downloaded all sorts of non-standard software onto their corporate PCs. You need to have a discussion with these people about why they have put this software on their PCs and whether this is really helping them in their work. Often users will have perfectly good reasons for using software - Firefox for example is better for people who have sight problems than Internet Explorer.

The problem is that this discussion rarely takes place, and instead the corporate IT people take a "we know best approach".

 

[trustysteed]

we have a standard build image for all our pcs with xp, office, adobe, winzip, cd-burning software and some other useful apps. so people pretty much have what they need. if they need anything specific they log an IT Requisition and justify why they need it and more often than not, it will be approved.

we certainly don't get militant if people want to change the picture on their desktop though.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I've never met a honest customer - and I'm pretty certain I never will

Well you've made a big learning there...

 

[yello]

Just how exactly standard C you communicate butt computers with people who ' yes' in the ' confirm password' box

Is that for real? I rather like that!

And, to be honest, it makes sense. A problem with a lot of software - and I was a developer and made the same mistake - is an assumption that the user is following the developers train of thought. When viewed from a different perspective, the users actions are usually quite understandable... even if they are amusing too!

 

[Danny]

we have a standard build image for all our pcs with xp, office, adobe, winzip, cd-burning software and some other useful apps. so people pretty much have what they need. if they need anything specific they log an IT Requisition and justify why they need it and more often than not, it will be approved.

we certainly don't get militant if people want to change the picture on their desktop though.

An entirely sensible approach which ought to be taken up by all IT Depts.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Anyway the people who complain about corporate computer nazis are the ones who know, or think they know, something about IT and have downloaded all sorts of non-standard software onto their corporate PCs.

Ah, it's the old problem. It's not the people who know nothing, and it's not the people who know everything ... it's the people who know a little and think they know it all who are the problem.
Applicable in every walk of life.

 

[Fnaar]

I'm the only one of my colleagues who has admin rights... I needed to install handheld computer software 6 yrs ago, the IT numpty couldn't do it, gave me admin rights, then never took them away! Even with subsequent upgrades of computers. Tee hee.

 

[Joe24]

not to mention the apparent lack of the teaching of grammar, punctuation and spelling

Yeh yeh.
Microsoft Word does it all for us these days.I wish
The school computers are crap though. The ones that have huge towers are slow and old, with bits missing. And there are some that are 'Wise' ones which are small, slow and really crap. They take about 5 mins to load up.
Oh, they did once block email, but when the kids and teachers complained because the kids couldnt email the work to them, it was put back on.

 

[domtyler]

Macs are for poncy graphic designers with more money than sense.

Oh don't be ridiculous man. They are far superior to any Windows based PC, never crash and are much easier to use. I agree that more thought has been put into the aesthetics than your standard PC and the cost is slightly higher, but imo it is definitely worth it.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Oh don't be ridiculous man. They are far superior to any Windows based PC, never crash and are much easier to use. I agree that more thought has been put into the aesthetics than your standard PC and the cost is slightly higher, but imo it is definitely worth it.

**cups ear to hear sound of penny dropping**

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Macs are for poncy graphic designers with more money than sense.

 

[bonj2]

LOL @ frog's story of lying customers/printer support

 

[Jaded]

Macs are for poncy graphic designers with more money than sense.

That why you have three.