Holy flippin' crap. The company I work for has around 140 employees, with about half a dozen locations (a couple are even in different states). Our IS department consists of 4 people, including myself. Our rate of help requests is several orders of magnitude smaller than what you're describing.
There is something seriously out of whack, and I don't think it's the help desk software. I strongly recommend you and your cohorts read Joel Spolsky's Seven steps to remarkable customer service. Step 1 is of particular relevance here, but there's no reason not to read the other six steps too. You have to look at not just "How do I solve this user's problem?", but also consider "How do I either prevent this problem from happening in the future, or at least lessen the user's reliance on the help desk in solving it?"
Users are inherently lazy. This is not some anti-social commentary on the sad state of society, it's the simple truth. We prefer to find the easiest way to get something accomplished, and if you make it easier for them to ask you for some data, or how to do something in your ERP software, as opposed to running a report on your intranet site, or reading a manual or FAQ, then that is exactly what they will do, and you won't be able to get anything done besides act as a natural-language front end to your information systems.
I was fully gung-ho as soon as I read I'd be able to run my 360 at my monitor's native resolution (1680x1050). Yes, it's letterboxed (very slightly), but I can finally play stuff at the proper aspect ratio, and without any excessive smoothing performed by the monitor itself.
I'm inclined to agree. It's not like being asked to write a sorting algorithm that runs in constant time; it's simply not being a lazy moron. Maybe we need to develop a web programming language where string concatenation takes markedly more effort than adding proper parameters to a query.
They lose a laptop with sensitive information, and it inexplicably (and allegedly) reappears in the same office as if by magic, but it's okay, because even though none of the data was encrypted, it was guarded by two levels of passwords (ooh, shiny), and they claim they have some way of knowing that the data hadn't been accessed in spite of their shaky grasp of basic security and data encryption.
Sorry guys, but you're going to need a bigger shovel to handle all that bullshit properly.
Actually, pretty much all Verizon phones don't support Java. (The Blackberry models might have it out of the box - don't know, since I've never used one - and you can load a JVM like Esmertec's onto a Windows Mobile model, or find one for Palm OS models if they sell any). They like their Brew lock-in, I guess.
Car seats are, after all, designed to be used for hours at a time. I've always wanted to stop by the junk yard, find a nice seat, and mount/weld it to some kind of base. The reclining feature would be nice for those all-nighters.
These two teams are shakin' things up trying to fill four thermal and evolved-gas analyzer instrument ovens past the line. Whoever does it first will win $20, and control of the most interplanetary game show on television...
Kexi looks pretty nice, but the fact that you have to pay $67 for a Windows build leaves a bad taste in my mouth. You'd probably be better off hunting down a copy of Access 2000 at that rate.
Completely seconded. I've got an N800 myself, and you should definitely consider it. It features not one but TWO SDHC card slots, and you can actually clone the OS onto a card and boot from it to give yourself a 16 GB root disk if you like - more than enough space for loads of apps and media. Folding bluetooth keyboards can be found pretty cheaply, and fill the niche when you have to do more extended typing.
My gripes are the lack of a decent office suite (though work is being done on gnumeric and Abiword at least), and the media player software that's currently available available ranges from horrible to clumsy.
The battery life is phenomenal, the built in stereo speakers are actually quite decent, and the screen is probably the highest resolution I've seen in something this size.
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I used to play various NES pinball games on my laptop to help keep myself mildly focused during terminally boring lectures.
Holy flippin' crap. The company I work for has around 140 employees, with about half a dozen locations (a couple are even in different states). Our IS department consists of 4 people, including myself. Our rate of help requests is several orders of magnitude smaller than what you're describing.
There is something seriously out of whack, and I don't think it's the help desk software. I strongly recommend you and your cohorts read Joel Spolsky's Seven steps to remarkable customer service. Step 1 is of particular relevance here, but there's no reason not to read the other six steps too. You have to look at not just "How do I solve this user's problem?", but also consider "How do I either prevent this problem from happening in the future, or at least lessen the user's reliance on the help desk in solving it?"
Users are inherently lazy. This is not some anti-social commentary on the sad state of society, it's the simple truth. We prefer to find the easiest way to get something accomplished, and if you make it easier for them to ask you for some data, or how to do something in your ERP software, as opposed to running a report on your intranet site, or reading a manual or FAQ, then that is exactly what they will do, and you won't be able to get anything done besides act as a natural-language front end to your information systems.
If you download the official AIM client for Windows Mobile, it acts as a proper IM client and goes over TCP/IP, not SMS.
General release
Latest beta
It's been working fine on my Tilt for those times I need it.
It was on an episode of Red Green. Pretty good one, too.
To borrow the old emacs line:
IE is a great OS - what it needs is a decent web browser.
...his grave would be spinning about him.
I was fully gung-ho as soon as I read I'd be able to run my 360 at my monitor's native resolution (1680x1050). Yes, it's letterboxed (very slightly), but I can finally play stuff at the proper aspect ratio, and without any excessive smoothing performed by the monitor itself.
I'm inclined to agree. It's not like being asked to write a sorting algorithm that runs in constant time; it's simply not being a lazy moron. Maybe we need to develop a web programming language where string concatenation takes markedly more effort than adding proper parameters to a query.
...It's use the frothing rants of Steve Ballmer as the basis of my business strategy.
...How the headline is accurate?
Like I need yet another NoScript update this week.
They sure do - 80 km/H!
Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Virtua Tennis...
Hey, 6 is a power of 2. It's 2^2.585, to be inexact.
No, I think it was the sleeping above his covers thing that did it.
...lead poisoning, was it?
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.
They lose a laptop with sensitive information, and it inexplicably (and allegedly) reappears in the same office as if by magic, but it's okay, because even though none of the data was encrypted, it was guarded by two levels of passwords (ooh, shiny), and they claim they have some way of knowing that the data hadn't been accessed in spite of their shaky grasp of basic security and data encryption.
Sorry guys, but you're going to need a bigger shovel to handle all that bullshit properly.
Actually, pretty much all Verizon phones don't support Java. (The Blackberry models might have it out of the box - don't know, since I've never used one - and you can load a JVM like Esmertec's onto a Windows Mobile model, or find one for Palm OS models if they sell any). They like their Brew lock-in, I guess.
Car seats are, after all, designed to be used for hours at a time. I've always wanted to stop by the junk yard, find a nice seat, and mount/weld it to some kind of base. The reclining feature would be nice for those all-nighters.
GO!
These two teams are shakin' things up trying to fill four thermal and evolved-gas analyzer instrument ovens past the line. Whoever does it first will win $20, and control of the most interplanetary game show on television...
DOUBLE DARE!
Hmm, that's a good question. Let me do a little research on Go... Oooh, clever. Very clever.
Hmm, very intriguing. Perhaps I'll have to kick the ol' tires a bit this week. Thanks for the link.
Kexi looks pretty nice, but the fact that you have to pay $67 for a Windows build leaves a bad taste in my mouth. You'd probably be better off hunting down a copy of Access 2000 at that rate.
Completely seconded. I've got an N800 myself, and you should definitely consider it. It features not one but TWO SDHC card slots, and you can actually clone the OS onto a card and boot from it to give yourself a 16 GB root disk if you like - more than enough space for loads of apps and media. Folding bluetooth keyboards can be found pretty cheaply, and fill the niche when you have to do more extended typing.
My gripes are the lack of a decent office suite (though work is being done on gnumeric and Abiword at least), and the media player software that's currently available available ranges from horrible to clumsy.
The battery life is phenomenal, the built in stereo speakers are actually quite decent, and the screen is probably the highest resolution I've seen in something this size.
Oh shit, that reminds me, I forgot to check xkcd today.