Day: September 15, 2008

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I like my operating system slightly aged

I have a development server in the house that still runs Windows 2000 Server and has Internet Explorer 6.0.2800 on it. The machine is finally starting to show its age and could not hold up to testing my current project, a web application whose end users will primarily use Internet Explorer 6.0.2900. My server just wasn’t cutting it tonight so I bit the bullet and pulled a laptop which had Ubuntu installed. I pulled out my free copy of Windows XP I got from Microsoft for participating in the Windows XP beta program. After installing it, the network card wouldn’t work so updates were impossible. Fortunately, I used to be a Microsoft Partner and participated in the Microsoft Action Pack program so I had a disc that had XP Service Pack 2 on it. After installing that things were looking better but the NIC still wasn’t working. I dug out a USB drive and used another computer to get the network adapter driver from Dell’s website and suddenly the machine was working. After installing the updated video drivers the laptop with 256MB of ram is running almost better than my workstation I used for development! Best of all, it now has Internet Explorer 6.0.2900 and I can see the website exactly as my clients see it!

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Painful Phone Call

The guy on the phone is so slow and following his script so tightly that it makes me want to put hot pokers in my eyes. I haven’t even made my request yet but he’s kindly "checking on something for me real quick" Some of our dialog:

Him: I need your home number
Me: I only have a cell phone.
Him: Okay but I’m required to get your home and business numbers.
Me: I only have a cell phone.
Him: I have to tell you…
Me, interrupting: Yes that a cell phone is not secure. That’s okay.
Him: I have to let you know that communications on a wireless device are not secure. If you are okay with that…
Me: I’m okay with that.
Him: If you are okay with that I’ll need your authorization to continue.
Me: You have my authorization.
Him: Do you authorize me to continue?
Me: Yes.
Him: I need your authorization.
Me: You have my authorization.

The rest of the call was very similar. I called only about one thing and before I finished my request he interrupts me to say, "Let’s do one thing at a time." and at the end of the call he abruptly hangs up on me. So, why do I feel bad?