I rarely post Pit threads lately, having achieved a Zen-like tranquility that escaped me in my younger days. But people. For the love of Christ on a cracker.
I am really happy for you that you are existing in pure tranquil bliss and love, and that this condition has been caused by your use of a Macintosh computer and/or the Firefox browser, Opera, Safari, Linux, etc. I am so deliriously happy for you that you would not even understand. Would that we all could find such joy and ecstasy in our choice of computers and software. Really. I mean it.
But when someone has posted a GQ asking for help on solving a problem they’re having with a Microsoft application, it is, perhaps, slightly less than helpful to breeze in, post, “OMFG you still use that piece of shit! I switched to Firefox two years ago and I’ve never been happier! Get with the program!” and then breeze out again.
I’m trying to imagine a situation in which this sort of “advice” is helpful.
In other words, keep your Microsoft bashing out of GQ where it is so ridiculously unhelpful that I can’t decide whether it’s laughable or just obnoxious. I use Firefox and am not super thrilled with many of Microsoft’s applications and am definitely not thrilled with a lot of their business practices. Do I feel the need to post that “Bill Gates is the Dark Prince” in threads asking for help with MS Word formatting or IE configuration? No. No, I do not.
They’re just trying to provoke a reaction, after the ten thousandth time Explorer crashes on page 3 of your post. The hope that somebody out there knows just the thing, like "Go to Help, click on Options, right click on “Please, please, for the love of Jesus, somebody *help * me!”
Well said MsWhatsit. Many of us need to live in the Microsoft world, especially at work. I curse Gates daily, and would love to have none of our server be Microsoft. No matter how much I want the company to run everything from AS400/Iseries Boxes and Linux Servers, most of our stuff is Microsoft 2003. I am happy to have at least we just shutdown the last of the horrible NT servers.
When someone has an MS office question, this is the time for people to know MS office to answer. When someone wants to know what computer and word processor they should buy, this is the time to promote your own favorite technology.
I would have to agree with that. I had a friend that was a Mac fanatic. No problem, I didn’t really care. As a matter of fact he worked in the same office I did and we used Macs there. But when I brought a new PC he went on into his “Don’t buy that, Buy a Mac! Blah blah Bill Gates is the Ant-Christ! Blah Blah Blah Windows is evil Blah Blah Blah Internet explorer will give you colon cancer” speech.
Its kind of like when a friend thats really religious starts trying to convert you so you’ll be saved. I didn’t ask for your advice, so please keep it to yourself.
I used to be one of those who hated all things Microsoft but, after living and working with the programs for so many years, I have gone over to the dark side. There are so many solutions and work-arounds to any problems that one must simply learn how to deal with them… It is like owning a classic powerful muscle car, unless you have a mechanic on retainer you are simply going to have to learn how to lift the hood and tinker with the engine to keep it in prime running condition!
Good OP and well said. I’m no huge fan of Microsoft myself, but being an IT professional I HAVE to use the stuff…and fix the stuff too. It gets rather annoying when the Apple/Linux crowd crash in and shit all over threads about how great their OS (or apps) are, and how shitty MS is…or the various browser wars between FF and IE, etc etc.
We get that you guys don’t like Microsoft and want to convert everyone else from the dark side.
I don’t want to convert anyone – I just want the right to sit on my porch and yell “Ha-HAH!” when your Windows PC gets hosed for the four thousandth time from the latest virus du jour.
Windows users who get upset at being taunted by Mac and Linux users have no one to blame but themselves.
There are times and places to taunt. GQ is NOT one of them–especially when the person has no choice because their school/workplace uses Windows and Microsoft products.
I have never (or at least for less than a cumulative life total of 5 months and never in a permanent job) had to use a computer that the employer supplied me with, and/or had to utilize only applications installed on the computer by my boss.
Consider me spoiled, I guess. (They really really wouldn’t let you bring in your own computer to use instead? Damn, that must totally suck something awful. Especially if you have to use the freaking thing all day long, etc).
Considered yourself spoiled. Any mid to large tech company won’t allow the freedom you’re describing. I can’t speak about small firms since I’ve never worked for one. If we have consultants come in, and they have their own notebooks, they’re not even allowed to connect to our network; they must use one of ours.
I’ve been to hundreds of companies of all different sizes in more than 40 States and maybe 15 countries, and I’ve never seen a place where you could bring in your own computer to do corporate work on. I’m sure there are lots of small businesses where you can, but my WAG is maybe 75% of all office workers in the population have to take the computer they’re placed in front of, period, end of story.
Does it “suck awful”? Maybe, maybe not. For all that Windows computers have this reputation for being hideously unstable, of the 10,000+ XP machines at my company, I’ve been told that of the more than 200 calls to PC support every workday, about 50% of them are use problems, not bugs (such as “how do I change my default font in Word” or “how do I set up multiple personal folders in Outlook”), about 40% are network or printer problems, and 10% are “other”, which includes people calling about voicemail bugs, photocopier bugs, building access security problems, and such things as “my mouse is dirty; please give me a new mouse”. They do say, however, on average they have to do a complete re-image of about 1-2 Windows machines per week because they get so screwed up no one can figure out how to save them. YMMV.
Can’t you tell the difference between your porch and the GQ?
And I’ve never come across a virus, despite 10+ years of using Windows every day. I’m starting to wonder if it’s all a hoax concocted by Norton and McAfee. I do use anti-virus software but I can’t remember the last time it found anything.
Well, if the OP in a GQ thread specifies a question about working within the Windows/XP/Explorer environment and it’s obvious from the way it’s stated that Mac/Linux/Firefox is not an option, if somebody drops in to say, “Well, you should use Mac/Linux/Firefox,” report the post. It’s a violation of forum rules, and to a lesser degree, trolling.
That’s about right IME as a person who started on a helpdesk and has moved to the sysadmin side.
The machines we re-image are generally just machines that are fucked and we don’t have the time to find out what’s actually wrong with them so we just take the data off and blow them away. Obviously if a pattern of fucked machines starts to show then we take the time to really investigate.
