[ale] uptime?

[Wandered Inn]

--- Gary Maltzen <maltzen at MM.COM> wrote:
>  I'm sorry you find support for that suggestion offensive. Sometimes
> there are more pressing issues at hand and an "acceptable" solution
> beats no solution.

This is the problem with many companies.  They're too busy bailing the
water out of the boat to fix the hole.  Thing is, if they'd fix the
hole, they would save themselves a lot of time on down the road.  And,
they also might be surprised that the customers might be acceptable to a
short term inconvenience for a long term gain.

>
>  Note: I work in a real company that depends on it's revenue stream
> for it's livelihood.

I would assume that many others on this list do as well.  
Unfortunately, corporate America is in a 'patch the symptoms' rather
than 'fix the problem' mode.  I can't help but blame a lot of this on
Microsoft, because of the combination of their omnipresence and there
lousy software.

Many folks have made comparisons of applying software fixes to other
products in the world.  Why people continue to accept 'reboot, if it
goes away, don't worry about it' solutions is beyond me.

True life story.  The first brand new car I bought was a Ford Pinto
(quit laughing).  I took it home and after about a week use, I got in
one day, shut the door and the back window popped out.  Fortunately it
didn't fall completely out and break.  To make a long story shorter, I
made a number of trips to the dealer to rectify the situation.  At one
time one of the service folks actually suggested that when ever I got
into the car, to open the window, shut the door then close the window. 
Now although this would probably 'patch' my 'bug' I was not interested
in this solution.  The dealer finally replaced the vehicle.  Now, when I
relate this story to ANYONE, they find it absolutely unbelievable that a
company 'representative' would actually suggest such a 'fix.'  Why is it
similar fixes are acceptable in the software world?

Think about 'reboot and forget about the problem' for any other product,
what would people do?

Your water turns greenish brown.  You call the water company and they
tell you to go out and turn your water off and on.  You do, and the
problem is gone.  You ask them why it happened, will it happen again. 
They say they don't know and it might. ????

You're driving your car down the road, it stalls and dies.  You start it
up again and finish your trip, because THAT'S WHAT IT SAYS TO DO IN THE
MANUAL???  How many other products in the world actually document this
as a solution?

I really can't think of any other product where:

1. this is an acceptable solution
2. people put up with such a solution
3. the product isn't recalled/replaced/modified to correct the problem.

--
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds.
The
latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to
hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his
intelligence."
- Albert Einstein
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