On Mon, 24 Mar 1997 22:06:26 -0700, "F. Alfredo Rego" <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Read that page very carefully (particularly the lower part, entitled
>"Windows NT's unfinished business").  You will be shocked in more ways than
>one.  Or perhaps you will not be shocked, because you have submissively
>learned to accept such a situation as "normal and expected" and "who are
>you to complain", etc.

While Mr. Rego is correct that such a situation has become "normal and
expected" (especially for MicroSoft), that does not lessen my outrage and
shock.  Outrage that any company would have the unmitigated gall to foist
such products off on its customers, and shock that their customers would
quietly, with sheep-like docility, accept such products as inevitable.

The "Unfinished Business" part lists several problems with Windows NT,
any one of which should have had Windows users running as fast as they
could *away* from NT, instead they have been embracing it, running head-
long into a disaster waiting to happen.

". . . Windows NT's current limitations haven't impeded momentum of the
operating system"

". . . Windows NT Server shipments grew by 85% last year"

However, ". . . its shortcomings have curtailed its deployment as an
enterprise server running mission-critical operations", and Ted Kull
(manager of LAN systems operations at Educational Testing Service)
says (very bravely, I might add) "Windows NT 4.0 ... has a number of
flaws that make it difficult for us to use it as a stand-alone
enterprise server".  I call this a brave statement because it requires
courage to stand up and say "But the emperor has no clothes on!"

This is what I have been trying to do for my employer.  We are (still)
using Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11.  I have resisted
upgrading to Windows 95 and have required our PC vendors to supply
Windows 3.x instead of 95.  Why?  Because the aggravation and cost of
using the "latest and greatest" is *not* offset by any benefits (at
least IMHO).  We had a new CEO last year (he only lasted 4 months) who
asked me "Why isn't there a PC on every desktop?" (we still have some
users on terminals).  I replied, "Show me the business case for having
a PC on every desktop and we'll have them."

Some times we (myself included) get caught up in the technology and
forget that we're supposed to be solving a business problem, not
obsessing over new toys with which to play.  I guess it can be summed
up in this:  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      Therm-O-Link, Inc.
Phone: (330) 527-2124                   P. O. Box 285
  Fax: (330) 527-2123                   Garrettsville, Ohio  44231