This is an ongoing question. I was forced to explain the reason for going to XP (migration done this year!) from 2000.
Since migrating, I think we have only had one or two BSOD's - and a quick BIOS upgrade fixed that (we are an HP shop, BTW).
Sure I mean there was no real technical reason to upgrade, as most of our users use apps and not the OS features anyways. But I am convinced that but not upgrading, you end up like we did - an old OS trying to run on modern hardware, which was becoming a support nightmare trying to explain why their PC would BSOD three or four times a day.
We going to Vista? Not a chance - but I am running Win 7 on a test PC, and have started loading in our corporate applications - and as such all working as expected. Though I have noticed that everything SEEMS to be running quicker on 7 vs XP.
Keep in mind, I am running it on a very stock standard HP 7600 (Pentium D705, 2GB Ram - 80Gb HD) - aside from the Areo interface (which I doubt we would have anyways) everything else is working just dandy.
Repeat after me: mirroring is not a backup. Backups are physically removed from the machine and stored where they can't be altered until they're needed for a restore. If they aren't removed from the machine, well, as we've just seen that only ends in tears. Observe their pain and learn from it!
That is so true - this is a good case of why you don't do it.
Sure mirroring for failover, but not as a backup plan.
Symantec did just outsource a bunch of their support. I wonder if they'll reconsider the move.
Just? At work we have Symantec Enterprise - which is worlds better than Norton's.
We used to have Backup Exec - and their support has been outsourced for ages, any support issues and you knew that their VOIP system was sending you overseas somewhere....
Work for a local council. No Vista (I do the desktop SOE, so no Vista - even though we have hardware capable of Vista (without Areo and Glass).
We're JUST migrating to XPP SP3 from W2K SP4 on the desktop.
We are now 100% an MS shop, thankfully we have downgrade rights on EVERYTHING MS.
For those cyborgs that think Linux is the answer - pull your heads in a bit, would ya? Seriously, we have end users that can barely type a password. The first one that says "Run you apps under WINE" deserves a slap!
Yes, I do agree Vista is evil, as I have upgraded a fair few latops that people have bought to XP.
I order all of our new Business PC's with Vista licenses, however I then load them with my volume licensing copy of XP excercising the downgrade rights that come with the Vista Business edition... I figure I may as well get the newest license, does not mean that I'm going to use it, as much as M$ would like to think that I am. +1 to this, I just capture the OEM as an image file to meet the requirements of our leasing company when we return our PC's. We have people that are barely able to use our XP SOE to the fullest extent as it is. Besides, I don't really want to spend a year or so getting all the sign offs on Vista against all our applications - let alone learning how to manage it via GPO's...
+1 for this. We have 13 remote sites connected via Mikrotik. 100% reliable - in running for two years have not had one link drop out.
The other advantage is that the kit we are using is on the 5.8Ghz - so you don't have to worry about 2.4Ghz phones, microwave ovens, other people's wireless, etc.
Over such a short distance the link would be 99.9999% reliable...And the other bonus is that MikroTik routers only talk to other MikroTik routers, so is much less likely that someone is going to snoop.
Well, I can't comment on the state of the UK's school computers....
But I am 3/4 the way through a PC rollout for the coucil/local governement that I work for. We are now, more than ever a Microsoft shop, because our new Finance system and Document system are both MS SQL based.
For desktops our new spec's are 3GB RAM on each PC - just to keep up with the new systems (won't get into how we were oversold on the products here!). I have had to write new doco for the new PC's as we are *JUST* moving to XP SP2, and Outlook 2003 - but still running Office 2000 for everything else.
I have had a fair few comments about just moving from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003! Our software vendor has just informed us (unsurprisingly to me) that they are no longer supporting their platform on Office 2000. Got a spare $150K for Office upgrade?
As far as Vista goes, we are on a total "wait and see" - as we have some serious legacy applications that still have to be supported before they can be migrated over to the new system. As far as the new "features" of Vista's Areo and Glass, it is lost on our environment, as most of our users are happy enough to log in, check email, browse the internet - but primarily launch the main Financial package and be done with it. We would still be on 2000 Pro, but that is no longer supported on the newer hardware - at least with our fleet of HP desktops, getting XP drivers is still an option.
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This is an ongoing question. I was forced to explain the reason for going to XP (migration done this year!) from 2000. Since migrating, I think we have only had one or two BSOD's - and a quick BIOS upgrade fixed that (we are an HP shop, BTW). Sure I mean there was no real technical reason to upgrade, as most of our users use apps and not the OS features anyways. But I am convinced that but not upgrading, you end up like we did - an old OS trying to run on modern hardware, which was becoming a support nightmare trying to explain why their PC would BSOD three or four times a day. We going to Vista? Not a chance - but I am running Win 7 on a test PC, and have started loading in our corporate applications - and as such all working as expected. Though I have noticed that everything SEEMS to be running quicker on 7 vs XP. Keep in mind, I am running it on a very stock standard HP 7600 (Pentium D705, 2GB Ram - 80Gb HD) - aside from the Areo interface (which I doubt we would have anyways) everything else is working just dandy.
Repeat after me: mirroring is not a backup. Backups are physically removed from the machine and stored where they can't be altered until they're needed for a restore. If they aren't removed from the machine, well, as we've just seen that only ends in tears. Observe their pain and learn from it!
That is so true - this is a good case of why you don't do it. Sure mirroring for failover, but not as a backup plan.
Symantec did just outsource a bunch of their support. I wonder if they'll reconsider the move.
Just? At work we have Symantec Enterprise - which is worlds better than Norton's. We used to have Backup Exec - and their support has been outsourced for ages, any support issues and you knew that their VOIP system was sending you overseas somewhere....
We are local government and we have migrated to EDMS for just such a thing. We are using TechnologyOne's Dataworks http://www.technologyone.com.au/index.php?id=270 But HP's Trim is worth a look as well http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/software/im/governance_ediscovery/trim/index.html Depending on the size of your company. I would be *tin foil hat* about using Google analytics for such a thing...
Let's not forget the two-headed jokes as well!
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/11/28/1227491813497.html?page=fullpage You know it is bad when children's groups want clean feed as well.
Work for a local council. No Vista (I do the desktop SOE, so no Vista - even though we have hardware capable of Vista (without Areo and Glass). We're JUST migrating to XPP SP3 from W2K SP4 on the desktop. We are now 100% an MS shop, thankfully we have downgrade rights on EVERYTHING MS. For those cyborgs that think Linux is the answer - pull your heads in a bit, would ya? Seriously, we have end users that can barely type a password. The first one that says "Run you apps under WINE" deserves a slap! Yes, I do agree Vista is evil, as I have upgraded a fair few latops that people have bought to XP.
+1 for this. We have 13 remote sites connected via Mikrotik. 100% reliable - in running for two years have not had one link drop out. The other advantage is that the kit we are using is on the 5.8Ghz - so you don't have to worry about 2.4Ghz phones, microwave ovens, other people's wireless, etc. Over such a short distance the link would be 99.9999% reliable...And the other bonus is that MikroTik routers only talk to other MikroTik routers, so is much less likely that someone is going to snoop.
Well, I can't comment on the state of the UK's school computers.... But I am 3/4 the way through a PC rollout for the coucil/local governement that I work for. We are now, more than ever a Microsoft shop, because our new Finance system and Document system are both MS SQL based. For desktops our new spec's are 3GB RAM on each PC - just to keep up with the new systems (won't get into how we were oversold on the products here!). I have had to write new doco for the new PC's as we are *JUST* moving to XP SP2, and Outlook 2003 - but still running Office 2000 for everything else. I have had a fair few comments about just moving from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003! Our software vendor has just informed us (unsurprisingly to me) that they are no longer supporting their platform on Office 2000. Got a spare $150K for Office upgrade? As far as Vista goes, we are on a total "wait and see" - as we have some serious legacy applications that still have to be supported before they can be migrated over to the new system. As far as the new "features" of Vista's Areo and Glass, it is lost on our environment, as most of our users are happy enough to log in, check email, browse the internet - but primarily launch the main Financial package and be done with it. We would still be on 2000 Pro, but that is no longer supported on the newer hardware - at least with our fleet of HP desktops, getting XP drivers is still an option.