[rescue] My new UltraSparc 5's, also my first Sun stations

[Brian Dunbar]

On Jun 9, 2005, at 1:57 PM, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:

>
> I remember a shop that was *very* well run, all UNIX and VMS, and most
> of it running on Alpha and high end Intel server boards.  The local
> managers understood the reasoning behind having no graphics, and  
> things
> were evidently pretty smooth.
>
> However, one day some VIP PHBs came through for a tour.
>
> They were alarmed to find such outdated systems, and you can probably
> imagine the rest.

Rumor had it that one day the FDIC CIO woke up and demanded that his  
email be moved post-haste from an archaic looking DOS mail program  
(in reality Banyan Vines mail) to to the modern Exchange environment.

I have no idea if there is any truth to that rumor.  By the end of  
that year we'd junked all of our Vines servers in favor of NT 4.0 and  
Exchange, upgraded all desktops to Windows 95 and taken several giant  
steps backwards in terms of supporting end users.

I noted with black amusement after I left that my former employer (a  
contractor) had increased their onsite staff at the Dallas Service  
Center from 10 to (I think) 30.  User head count had not increased  
but the support load had.  Win for the contractor, loss for the  
taxpayer.

But you know, we've all been there.

Brian Dunbar
System Administrator II
Desk: (920) 751-3364
Cell: (920) 716-2027
brian.dunbar at plexus.com
http://www.plexus.com