[geeks] SGI Sadness

[Mike Meredith]

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 01:59:23 +0000, wa2egp at att.net wrote:
> > You can detect the difference between patch cable #29647 and patch
> > cable #92764 ?
> 
> No, but I'm not am not an IT person. But then you probably don't know

Sorry. It was a dumb comment intended to point out there is a reason for
carrying patch cables around (and you can't tell the difference between
a good one and a bad one without looking closely). Turns out the some
people think that patch leads can stretch if they pull hard enough.

> Well, our tech is still drawing teacher's salary and is at top level
> so that's about $80K/year.  Tenured too.

There's problems with protected salaries ... this "tech" may not be
popular with the central techs. Of course I shouldn't complain too much,
as if it wasn't for protected salaries I could be about to loose nearly
$7,500 a year.

> Too bad you can't write a replacement that looks the same so said
> lecturer wouldn't know the difference. 

Well if I didn't have too much other work to do ...

> We get kind of the reverse.  If
> we want  software on the machines, it has to be "approved" by central.
>  Why?  They
> "gurus" never heard of it.  (Interactive Physics, Star Office, various

There is a good reason for centralised control of software loads ... not
only does it make supporting PCs easier if they're somewhat
standardised, but it's a method of controlling the use of pirated
software. Not that I'm accusing you, but here piracy was rife a few
years ago ... especially with the academic policemen (one academic used
to say he always kept a tight grip on his wallet whenever his visited
them).

Of course it's broken if you can't get your software put onto the list
of standard software.

> Why do you  think teachers rebel at the idea of year-round school?  We

What most people don't realise is that Universities *are* year round
schools. We have perhaps 25% of the students during the summer but with
a lot higher 'churn' (lots of two week courses). And of course the
summer is time for all the big project work in IT. I used to laugh when
people assumed that I had a quiet life during the summer. Now I grind my
teeth.