server uptime

[Ben Scott]

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 9:16 AM, Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net> wrote:
>  Our Windows server from what I'm told get rebooted once week whether
>  they need it or not, in the name of 'Preventative Maintenance" :)

  Sadly, that's an attitude that's quite prevalent in the Windows
world, even though the OS itself has come a long way[1].  This is
unfortunate, as it creates a self-reinforcing loop where operators are
used to rebooting their servers all the time, and thus third-party
vendors think it is okay for their drivers/applications to need
restarting on a regular basis, thus keeping operators in the habbit.

  As Tom Buskey and Paul Lussier have observed, this attitude has
become so prevalent that we now have to reboot our cell phones and
printers.

  From the "If Microsoft Made Cars" list: "Occasionally your car's
engine would just stop for no reason, and you'd have to restart it.
For some strange reason, you'd just accept this."

=== Footnotes ===
[1] It used to be that one often needed regular reboots to keep
Windows healthy.[2]
[2] I'm talking Windows NT[3], here.  Even people who like Windows[4]
don't consider classic Windows[5] to be a real operating system.
[3] Later releases of Windows NT include Windows 2000, XP, 2003,
Vista, and 2008.
[4] Not me.  I have to know how to manage Windows for professional
reasons, and I can work in the environment, but saying I "like
Windows" would be going too far.
[5] "Classic Windows" being my term for what began as Windows 1.0,
went through 3.x, then 95 and 98, and finally ended with Me.

-- Ben