Why I hate MS

[Ben Scott]

On 4/26/05, Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net> wrote:
> Mostly because the people who admin their systems are completely
> ignorant of *ANTHING* related to computers or networking.

  Ugh.  You have my sympathy.  And total agreement.

  My current job includes the care and feeding of about 50 Windoze
boxes.  I'm pretty confident in the security and availability of "my"
network, mainly because I was the one who put most of it together.
Most of the best practices that apply in the nix world apply here,
too.  Users don't have permission to modify their systems; software is
installed and managed centrally; user data is stored on a reliable
server, not workstation hard disks; etc, etc.  It wasn't terribly hard
to make things this way, although it was a bit tedious (there is so
much crap software in the world, and not just from Microsoft, alas),
and it was by no means inexpensive.  But it works, and fairly well, I
like to think.

  What continually amazes me is the fact that this situation is
apparently a rarity.  I deal with much larger organizations whose IT
departments have no understanding what-so-ever of even basic Windoze
functionality.  They'll drop thousands on "products" and "solutions"
from "vendors" but have never heard of Active Directory Group Policy.
(That is kinda like a nix nerd not knowing what NIS is.)  DNS?  That's
for websites, right?

  Likewise vendors.  Over and over I encounter big-name vendors who
can't seem to get their own products to work right.  It seems like
every software package for doze we encounter has some kind of issue
with our security restrictions, our firewall, our proxy server,
automated installation, or whatever.  Over and over I think to myself,
"We *can't* be the only ones using this stuff.  We've only got 50
computers, for crying out loud!  What the hell, does Boeing or Liberty
Mutual send a guy around to each and every computer in their
organization with a CD every time they have a software upgrade?"

  I'm one guy, largely self-taught, with a fairly limited budget, and
access to resources no greater then some books and some mailing lists
like this one.  How the hell can I consistently be beyond the
capabilities of companies whose annual budget for paperclips exceeds
my salary?

  The state of the IT industry disgusts me.  And I call it my
profession.  Profession?  A plumbing union has better professional
standards than this.