[Web4lib] new and "improved" Google Analytics

[libwebdev]

On 6/7/07, Dan Lester <dan at riverofdata.com> wrote:
>
> Why in the world would your IT folks WANT to keep you on the old junk?  Is
> it because they think it would be too much work to update?


Yes. They don't have the resources to have IT staff running around manually
upgrading machines. I offered to help but got no response.


> I assume you don't have the ability to do so yourself due to security
> lockdowns.


It's not the lockdowns (I know the network admin login, but if they knew I
knew they'd have to kill me. heh), it's protocol. I can't just go running
around the network upgrading browsers to my little heart's desire (as much
as I might want to).


While they're at it, you should carefully look at skipping the version in
> between and have them go straight to IE7.


They won't do IE7 yet.


One of the real benefits of IE7 is the ability to set printing to
> automatically "shrink to fit" so that you get rid of all the patrons who
> complain that the right hand part of a text column is cut off.  That has
> saved me endless hassles with users.


They couldn't care less about things like that. Not their problem.


You could also ask them if they want to be known as so backwards and/or lazy
> that they're 7 to 8 years behind the rest of the world.  IE5 was launched in
> March 99, and 5.5 in July 00.  I'd be embarrassed to be running stuff that
> antiquated, particularly since I don't have to pay for the updates.


They don't care about that either. Of course I pointed out the age of these
versions; the response was simply "we don't have any plans to refresh the
versioning of IE on these older PCs apart from ensuring that they are fully
patched."


So what OS are your computers running?  2K?  98?



There are some 98s floating around, yes, and many 2Ks (I'm on 2K myself, but
if I ask them to upgrade me, we have to purchase a licence and I will be
under a lock down, and I can't work like that). The network evidently has
78% of PCs on XP.

This is a government-funded, public institution, with probably around 5000
PCs on site. All new machines have XP, but older ones are still in use and
don't necessarily get replaced just because they are "old". If they work,
and are patched, we are expected to make do. I can understand this. I'd
rather see the money for an XP licence go into books or journal
subscriptions which ultimately assist patient care .. I couldn't care less
which OS I'm using, so long as it does what I need it to, and 2K does.

Funding is a major issue here. We don't have a tradition of philanthropy
like you do in your country, and we are severely restricted in how we can
use funds that come from both the government and public (it mostly goes to
the clinical areas and direct patient care).

lib.