28 September, 2010

The Virtual Monday Blues

Dear clients,
  • if your dog has just died; and,
  • if you've just had root-canal work; and,
  • you're about to fly overseas and want to give a presentation developed using the expensive and esoteric piece of Windows-based software you had us buy for your work computer; and,
  • you've just gone and bought yourself a new Mac laptop especially for the trip...
You may want to reconsider ringing me and expecting me to be able to solve all your problems. Because, and this my considered, professional opinion: you're f**ked, and will soon come to envy your dead dog and your zombie tooth.

(And if you really must call to recite your catalogue of woe, please present it an appropriate format - a nice, blues number by John Lee Hooker, for instance.

3 comments:

klc said...

I have a client whose employees spend a major amount of their day using accounting software that is probably not as fast as its name implies. It is a windows only product. For reasons I don't quite fathom, all employees use Macbooks. Periodically they call me up and ask me to set up a new computer. I always ask them if they have purchased the virtual Windows app and a Windows license. And I always then find them the appropriate info so we can order up those two items. When they finally ship I set up the new computer. I think this has happened four or five times. Maybe it means the virtual Windows app is so seamless they don't notice they all use it, but somehow I doubt that's the case.

And I once had a different client who called wanting to install VMWare and Windows on her Macbook at that moment. She was traveling...and calling from a bar. She didn't have the correct service pack version of the XP install disk with her. I sent her some lengthy email about the setup process, but it didn't get installed that night.

Anyway, your client reminds me of my clients.

gregor42 said...

Sorry mate, I fail to embrace the vendor-based bigotry. We all use Intel chips now. The (myOS>yourOS) thing means a lot less in a virtualized environment.

I'm a computer scientist, not a vendor fanboy. I don't care what you use, provided it Works.

That being said, VMWare & Parallels are suitable environments for running your platform-specific software. You will need those pesky overpriced licenses but I daresay of those in your office, you at least have a handle on that.

The likes of Ted and La Mondaine however.... -=shudder/=-

Argh said...

gregor42: I really don't mind what computers staff and clients use, as long they'll do the job ... and unfortunately for the Macs, in our environment they often won't without a lot of support, tinkering and extra software. It's the lack of forethought more than anything else that irritates me.