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MS giving me headaches

By InfoSecEng ·
Excuse me for this, but DAMN MICROSOFT!!!

There is a saying that I often use:

I can't get my job done because my job gets in the way.

What I mean when I say this is that there are so many little tings that have to get done on a day-to-day basis (supporting users, checking the backups, checking logs, etc) that I can't get the things done that I need to get done (build the new SQL server, investigate new IDS products, research the best solution for our videoconferencing project). I say this with a grin most times because I know, though it is frustrating, that both are necessary.

However, when Microsoft keeps coming out with a patch every week because a critical flaw has been found in another piece of their OS or whatever other product they put out, it just chaps my hide (yes, I am from Texas). I have enough to do without having to worry about a critical flaw in MDAC. I know bugs will happen, but this is getting ridiculous!

OK, I am done venting. Now I will get back to not doing my job because of my job.

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Only we insiders know

by pgm554 In reply to MS giving me headaches

Has anybody noticed how the media NEVER explains why patches don't get applied immediatly after release into full scale production environments?

It is because of what we insiders know about the QC of patches in general.

If taking a system down costs me $10K a minute and the patch crashes my system in a month or two,then, I am stuck trying to figure out which patch is causing me the problem .So, if we have an issue with one of the 37 critcal patches from M$ this year, we gotta figure out which one is the culprit(at $$$$ a minute).

But you never hear the media explain this in ANY detail.

So, we're the bad guys if we don't patch,and we're the bad guys if we do.

Talk about paradox.

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Paradox!

by Jim Phelps In reply to Only we insiders know

pgm554:

>Talk about paradox.

Yes, let's talk about paradox. Paradox was written by a quality company which sold quality products, Borland.

Remember what happened to them? Their then-CEO, Phillipe Kahn, decided he wanted to increase the market share and customer base of Borland, so Borland bought dBASE 4 (FULL OF BUGS!). It took them a long time to clean it up, but they finally did. But they lost their shirt on that one, as well as their market dominance in the compiler market, to, SURPRISE, Microsoft!

Meanwhile, Microsoft bought FoxBase (a good product). They cleaned up the interface, then repackaged it as FoxPro. Virtually overnight, they became the dominant database program.

So all the money, time, and market dominance which Borland spent on that deal went for NOTHING!

I'm not blaming Microsoft here, I'm simply sharing my astonishment at the mistakes other companies have made along the way, and Microsoft's ability to profit from them.

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FoxPro

by Oz_Media In reply to Paradox!

Is FoxPro REALLY that big in the US? I know up ere, I've switched so many people from FoxPro to ACt or Access CRM solutions or GoldMine even.

As for a server based DB, I find a lot of locals use Python scripting. I notice that there is very little mention of Python in the US, is that because its free and corps don't get the big bucks from it?

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Foxpro

by Jim Phelps In reply to FoxPro

When FoxBase was acquired by Microsoft, and then made into FoxPro, it became very big very quickly. That was back in my programming days, in the early '90s.

However, I got out of programming and onto the technician track. So I quit using FoxPro.

I haven't seen much of FoxPro since that time. Of course, I wouldn't have had occasion to, since I'm not programming. I never hear much about it. Visual Basic and Access are what you always hear about. But that could be just Microsoft hype.

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Two notes

by Oz_Media In reply to MS giving me headaches

Netware, a few annual updates and NO ridiculous exploits, done deal. I often relate myself to the Maytag man.

I remote manage a couple of Netware servers, NEC hardware based VoIP traffic through a interprovincial WAN, fibre and Cat5E mixed, Remote workers and network managment, GroupWise email, database etc.

Never seen a virus, never been hacked, never crashed ( I had an abend after installing a fax board but that was solved in minutes by a driver update).

As for your Video Coferencing project, I used to consukt in that field before the VoiP industry stole me away. I'd recommend looking at Polycom solutions (great cameras and mics)but keep in mind, no matter what solution you use, the MOST IMPORTANT part is the bandwidth. Run either multiple ADSL lines or 2 or 3 ISDN BRI lines. It's not cheap, but no matter what you're told, NOTHING works well without an immense amount of bandwidth. I had a company tell me that thier solution only reqiored ONE ISDN BRI line but I noticed they demo'd it with three ISDN 'PRI' lines. When they removed two, it was like watching a $20 web cam on a home PC. I can only imagine how bad a single BRI would have looked.

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I sympathize with you pal !!

by wihang_bendre In reply to MS giving me headaches

Though I can't do without MS (unless I switch over to Linux...little chance now that the Linux enhancers add so many features to it that it's almost become a MS clone with some holes creeping in), I absolutely hate when I see the size of the damn patches.

The only ones who are having a ball is my telephone company, licking their lips as they know I (and countless others who use a dial-up connection) will be keeping them in their jobs.

Will Sir Bill Gates do something???

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