of paint fumes and tech support
i swore to myself that i would not spend even a moment this weekend thinking about the software i'm evaluating for my boss. that when i left the office on thursday, that would be the end of it until monday. well here it is on a friday, and i've gone and thought nasty things about the software. so i figure i'll blog out some frustration in an appropriately anonymous fashion and then be more properly able to not think about it.
there's a program we use in the english dept (actually, throughout campus) whenever a computer is absolutely shot to hell and unfixable. we use this when setting up a new computer as well. the library, in fact, uses this software at the start of every year to purge the gunk off the computers in the main lobby. well, we're using an old version of it, and it's started to malfunction in a particularly irritating way. a process that should take about 2 hours is taking three hours to die half-way and be re-started.
so we're in the market for a) a replacement software, or b) a newer version of the existing software. and since there are all sorts of server-side kinks the boss is working on, and since i work more hours in the summer than my colleague, i have been assigned the task of attempting option a.
my evaluation of the software so far is that it could be wonderous, splendid, and in all ways superior to our current software... if i could get it to work even once. i've read their 57 page manual a few times. not once. not twice. actually, 'few' is pretty conservative. i can tell you which page to find certain diagrams on. for instance, toward the bottom of page 22 they've got a table that almost exactly matches what you'd see on the screen, except for the partition size. [manic grin]
therein lies the problem. not in partition size. that shouldn't matter. but in the steps that are just that side of matching real life. their manual was ultimately unhelpful, and i've succeeded in destroying the operating system of the target computer. but not in rebuilding it. because the manual doesn't add up exactly to what settings a person will find if they attempt to follow the directions. the settings that are different are so slightly different, and different in such inconsequential ways, that it shouldn't matter. yet, it does.
i've not just let the manual stand on its own. i've called them. potential money is very important in the vendor world, and a dept in a university looking to buy substantial amounts of software... i was very promptly served. the sales rep, a kind individual who wanted so much to be helpful, gave me a verbal summary of the steps and emailed me a more detailed account.
i have followed these things exactly as well. and when i still had problems, one of their programmers emailed me an exhaustive best practices guide. i must point out here that the process outlined in this guide was different from that in the manual. but after following the 41 page guide exactly, i was no closer to success than i'd been previously. on page 17 of this guide, in a three-line, bold paragraph in the middle of the page, there is a chunk of information that makes me think perhaps this isn't the software we want.... even if it does work someday. and given my two weeks worth of extensive tinkering, swearing, researching, etc., i'm starting to think that perhaps this software won't ever work.
if i could speak directly to one of their support technicians, i think there's a change we could resolve whatever issue is going on. but i must describe the problems to the sales rep, who then forwards my description to the support staff, who them reply to the sales rep, who then emails me back. [another manic grin]
i'm not alone in this, mind. my colleague has been in on the process from the beginning. he's at every bit as much of a loss as i am. our boss has tried to troubleshoot some settings. no go.
i know this software very well by now. i know what it is supposed to do, how it is supposed to do it, and why that should work. i know more about this software than i care to know. but i cannot get it to work. our trial license expires on the 31st. i have until then to desperately try to make this work, and/or to give up.
i'm leaning toward giving up. my colleague is leaning in that direction as well.
***
but there's also a note in the title about paint fumes. the main office in our building is being repainted. the painters are using gas masks while they work. everyone's been moved out of the area. there are signs posted warning people away. why? because these aren't the paint fumes that make you light-headed and queazy. these are the paint fumes that leave you drunk and hallucinating.
no shit. one of the painters was taking a break outside because he was starting to see blue horses. even though he's wearing a gas mask. not a painter's mask, or a doctor's mask, or etc. i mean with the bug-snorkle looking things coming out the cheeks.
the painting process is multi-step, with ample drying time between tasks. that entire wing of the second floor is pretty much inaccessible, unless you want to go out via the outdoor steps. you can do that. the atrium area is supposed to be completely safe for folks who are just walking through. you might want to avoid it, though, if just walking through means you'll stumble on the steps and weave your way to a bench to sit for a while until the world rights itself. just saying.
i don't know how the secretaries are working near there. even without the fumes, the smell is near-unbearable.
***
oh, and on monday, i'll hopefully find out what class i'll be teaching. what's that? you thought i already knew? yeah, i did. but it might be changing again. so on monday, i should be all full of closure. i'll know what class i'll be teaching (i mean, they can't change it again after that, right?), i'll know yea or nay on the software from hell, etc. hurrah for monday. not often you hear that, yeah?
and there's the news from hereabouts. with luck, i will be able to completely ignore the goings on until monday.
there's a program we use in the english dept (actually, throughout campus) whenever a computer is absolutely shot to hell and unfixable. we use this when setting up a new computer as well. the library, in fact, uses this software at the start of every year to purge the gunk off the computers in the main lobby. well, we're using an old version of it, and it's started to malfunction in a particularly irritating way. a process that should take about 2 hours is taking three hours to die half-way and be re-started.
so we're in the market for a) a replacement software, or b) a newer version of the existing software. and since there are all sorts of server-side kinks the boss is working on, and since i work more hours in the summer than my colleague, i have been assigned the task of attempting option a.
my evaluation of the software so far is that it could be wonderous, splendid, and in all ways superior to our current software... if i could get it to work even once. i've read their 57 page manual a few times. not once. not twice. actually, 'few' is pretty conservative. i can tell you which page to find certain diagrams on. for instance, toward the bottom of page 22 they've got a table that almost exactly matches what you'd see on the screen, except for the partition size. [manic grin]
therein lies the problem. not in partition size. that shouldn't matter. but in the steps that are just that side of matching real life. their manual was ultimately unhelpful, and i've succeeded in destroying the operating system of the target computer. but not in rebuilding it. because the manual doesn't add up exactly to what settings a person will find if they attempt to follow the directions. the settings that are different are so slightly different, and different in such inconsequential ways, that it shouldn't matter. yet, it does.
i've not just let the manual stand on its own. i've called them. potential money is very important in the vendor world, and a dept in a university looking to buy substantial amounts of software... i was very promptly served. the sales rep, a kind individual who wanted so much to be helpful, gave me a verbal summary of the steps and emailed me a more detailed account.
i have followed these things exactly as well. and when i still had problems, one of their programmers emailed me an exhaustive best practices guide. i must point out here that the process outlined in this guide was different from that in the manual. but after following the 41 page guide exactly, i was no closer to success than i'd been previously. on page 17 of this guide, in a three-line, bold paragraph in the middle of the page, there is a chunk of information that makes me think perhaps this isn't the software we want.... even if it does work someday. and given my two weeks worth of extensive tinkering, swearing, researching, etc., i'm starting to think that perhaps this software won't ever work.
if i could speak directly to one of their support technicians, i think there's a change we could resolve whatever issue is going on. but i must describe the problems to the sales rep, who then forwards my description to the support staff, who them reply to the sales rep, who then emails me back. [another manic grin]
i'm not alone in this, mind. my colleague has been in on the process from the beginning. he's at every bit as much of a loss as i am. our boss has tried to troubleshoot some settings. no go.
i know this software very well by now. i know what it is supposed to do, how it is supposed to do it, and why that should work. i know more about this software than i care to know. but i cannot get it to work. our trial license expires on the 31st. i have until then to desperately try to make this work, and/or to give up.
i'm leaning toward giving up. my colleague is leaning in that direction as well.
***
but there's also a note in the title about paint fumes. the main office in our building is being repainted. the painters are using gas masks while they work. everyone's been moved out of the area. there are signs posted warning people away. why? because these aren't the paint fumes that make you light-headed and queazy. these are the paint fumes that leave you drunk and hallucinating.
no shit. one of the painters was taking a break outside because he was starting to see blue horses. even though he's wearing a gas mask. not a painter's mask, or a doctor's mask, or etc. i mean with the bug-snorkle looking things coming out the cheeks.
the painting process is multi-step, with ample drying time between tasks. that entire wing of the second floor is pretty much inaccessible, unless you want to go out via the outdoor steps. you can do that. the atrium area is supposed to be completely safe for folks who are just walking through. you might want to avoid it, though, if just walking through means you'll stumble on the steps and weave your way to a bench to sit for a while until the world rights itself. just saying.
i don't know how the secretaries are working near there. even without the fumes, the smell is near-unbearable.
***
oh, and on monday, i'll hopefully find out what class i'll be teaching. what's that? you thought i already knew? yeah, i did. but it might be changing again. so on monday, i should be all full of closure. i'll know what class i'll be teaching (i mean, they can't change it again after that, right?), i'll know yea or nay on the software from hell, etc. hurrah for monday. not often you hear that, yeah?
and there's the news from hereabouts. with luck, i will be able to completely ignore the goings on until monday.
posted by Rehkmira @ 16:18
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