[gb] Studio

JGrubb

The machine side:

In my office it’s not web apps, it’s native apps. I work part-time in a call center – the place you call if your Samsung TV goes out the week before Super Bowl Sunday. There are somewhere around 4 or 5 different models of computers that are present on the entire network, with probably 120 computers total. There are probably 40 or so computers that are P3s running Windows 2000. They are not capable of running XP, and Windows 2000 is not capable of running anything newer than IE6. Furthermore, these machines have been completely “brained” into Citrix clients, which do nothing more than connect with a server in the server room which then carries out all the computing tasks of the entire system.

There are another 30 or so “thin client” devices in the Citrix system that don’t even have hard drives in them, they exist only to log into the Citrix server. They only run what is on the main server, which unfortunately has to be IE6 for reasons stated above.

The remainder of the computers are perfectly capable of running IE8, ie. running XP. However, the hodgepodge of software that is tying this place together is constantly teetering on the edge of spontaneous incompatibility with the hardware that’s it’s been installed on for years. In other words, it’s a miracle that this place runs now the way it is, and IT is pretty much busy keeping up with the phone system (it’s a call center), keeping the network flowing, and constantly troubleshooting someone’s machine. Almost all the software is integrated with everything else via widgets and shortcuts, so to take one of the pillars of that system and switch it out is not something that can be done overnight or even over a weekend (even if the place weren’t 24/7, which it is).

The human side:

We are lucky to be in business for ourselves, or perhaps it’s for these very reasons that we are in business for ourselves. We like to tinker. We aren’t afraid of trying different browsers or editors or OSs or whatever the heck, but most casual computer users aren’t that way. People who go to a cubicle every day and work on a computer are absolutely not that way. If one little bookmark disappears or the widget shortcut that opens Excel isn’t there one day or is on the left side of the screen instead of the right, if the most miniscule thing about their workflow changes people completely lock up. I can’t imagine the insanity that would ensue were we to attempt to upgrade all 120 computers in one fell swoop. Most IT folks just aren’t paid enough and have their hands full trying to keep the office running as is to worry about it. I presume…

The corporate side:

It’s probably different elsewhere in the world, but the shop I work is pretty over the top with the Office Space shit. Workers are expected to punch in and be at their cube within 2 minutes. They are expected to be off the phone for no longer than 8 minutes in between calls. Supervisors are constantly monitoring “for quality assurance purposes”. The turnover is constant. The training lasts for two weeks before they even get that far. Bandwidth is constantly bottlenecked. Extra-curricular browsing is discouraged, to say the least.

I can assure you that the higher ups in the office have no interest in changing a single thing about this arrangement. Sad but true.

Andrew

@JGrubb Well to me it sounds like the company is living on “borrowed IT time”. It must be up to each individual company to update and maintain their IT infrastructure. I started a new job a couple of years ago and we pretty much had the same problem but with our servers and services. It’s taken some time but being consistent in telling management how much SH*T is in the systems we have managed to persuade them to invest in upgrading them! And the reason we succeeded is because the company realised that if they wont invest they wont be around in a few years.