A random M$ rant

[Thurisaz]

...built up over the last two weeks (rough estimate).

 

Did you ever work in a M$ network domain infrastructure? In such a structure, one benefit is that you can log in with the same user name and password on any machine in the network domain. The local PC asks the "Primary Domain Controller" whether this user is known in the domain and if the PDC says "aye" you can log in.

There's only one catch...

 

...if you change your windoze password and then for whatever reason lock your PC (like, you go out to lunch, and the screensaver activates and demands a password before it can be unlocked), your local PC will already know your new password... while the PDC still has the old one! Conclusion? Call an admin and get a new password!

 

Just how difficult can it be to fix this?

 

And if that's not enough...

 

...yesterday, about 11:30 am, close to my lunch break. I have configured a customized symbol bar for my taskbar at work, to contain all the links I need like every other minute. I want to click on one of that links...

 

...WTF? Why is that bar suddenly empty?

Well, I finish that call anyway, then check. Umm, no symbols at all indeed. Okay, "Jeder Boot tut gut" as we mockingly say in German ("every reboot is good"). After the reboot... the same again.

 

Curious and frustrated, I check my "own files" folder, where the symbol bar's folder is located, and I see...

 

..."My pictures". Nothing else.

 

All the files I need at work - gone. Suddenly, without any conceivable reason, I got a new, empty, virgin folder. And am now unable to work with any degree of effectiveness.

 

Okay, "Sebastian? Please restore my folder from the latest backup - you've got 30 minutes til my lunch break ends!".

 

After that, at the very next opportunity, I kill the "device locker" service on my local PC and plug in my (illegal at my workplace) USB stick. Yes it could get me fired if the superiors ever get to know it. But then, if I can't be sure (for whatever reason) that I will still have my important files the very next minute, what else can I do?

 

Just needed to blow off some steam. Thank you for reading. Please continue with your daily routine now

[Eponymic]

I feel ya man.

 

Bloody computers sure can be frustrating sometimes.

[Caretaker]

Thank Thor for Linux...

[HuaiDan]

...if you change your windoze password and then for whatever reason lock your PC (like, you go out to lunch, and the screensaver activates and demands a password before it can be unlocked), your local PC will already know your new password... while the PDC still has the old one! Conclusion? Call an admin and get a new password!

 

At a small company I used to work for ( Which only utilized a handful of DC's on the internal domain), we got around that by synching both the PDCs and the BDCs everytime someone changed their password, ie., a password change necessitated a helpdesk call. Every one. This would be an onerous task in a large company and paralyze the network.

[Thurisaz]

This would be an onerous task in a large company and paralyze the network.

 

That's exactly the problem.

Those password assignment calls already bog us down more than painfully every day. Consider: This week, we have been running the helpdesk (AKA call center) of the whole of the VW Bank with two people. Actually it was three, but I wasn't fully familiar with the systems so far, the first colleague was a trainee ('nuff said) and the third was a veteran... and thus had to do much work besides taking calls.

Now, we do have a standing order to just note down the phone number, name and problem of people calling if there is a significant caller queue. But those users who need a new password already had to walk from their office down to the reception desk to prove their identities before the receptionist calls one of us for PW assignment. You can actually see that clearly in our accessibility quota... as soon as someone has to assign a few passwords (you can't send them away again in this case...), the quota immediately drops far below that normally is the limit we must never cross.

Of course, since some months ago we do have the VoiceTrust system - password assignment via phone. Unfortunately, the letter recognition capability of this system is so shitty that 75 % of the users end up calling us anyway.

[Thurisaz]

Thank Thor for Linux...

105133[/snapback]

 

[euphgeek]

Thank Thor for Linux...

105133[/snapback]

Definitely.

[Prolix]

What's so great about Linux?

 

I'm asking because I'm thinking about putting it on my computer.

[Thurisaz]

More stability and performance, lots of stuff for free.

 

Of course, LInux can bring you problems too... but unlike M$, you usually don't need to pay countless bucks to get a tip on how to solve your problem.

 

I run the penguin on my machines since, when was it?, about 18 months if memory serves. What problems I had can be classified into three groups:

 

Some rare driver problems (no wonder as the hardware manufacturers generally don't write Linux drivers for their stuff, and writing drivers on your own - for the geeks who then share their works with the world - takes some time).

 

Some rare problems with LInux (the Kernel itself), usually solved within some few days by the Linux gang.

 

By far the most problems I ever had originated with the people at SuSE who wrote up some weird additions and patches. But for these things I justly curse SuSE and not Lord Thorvald and his buddies.

 

Oh, and of course the vast majority of all malware out there doesn't run on LInux. I laughed when Blaster came. I laughed when Sasser came. I still laugh when new M$-attacking malware marches around the world... because even when my clients still ran M$, they connected to the net via a Linux server. Aaaah, the luxury of knowing that the penguin has near panimmunity...