Office IT rant

[Falloutboy]

SO got a question for you guys, and I know alot of you are in IT of some sort. shouldn't the idea of the IT department be to make the rest of the companies lifes easier? seems like its the reverse here. converted to thin clients a few years ago, took awhile to work out all the bugs and issues it cost, things have been working great for the past few months. then the VP thought it would be a great idea to dump Outlook for an open source platform called zimbra...I'm really trying to figure out why someone would do this. I'm not sure yet if we are on the free version or the Vmware payed version (which don't look cheap so guesing free) but I traded my nice efficient outlook client for a web based Peace of crap slow email...I do alot of emailing...we still use office for everything else so I just lost all my office integration....really want to just break in and nuke the server....

so any IT people out there want to let me know why ZIMBRA would make sense? Also I'm not officially sanctioned to have mobile email, but my Boss (VP) said its fine for me to have it if I can figure out how to make it work on my phone. I'm assuming we have the free version of this POS anyone know how to figure out all the settings of the server without actually being able to talk to the admin about it?

 

[Corporate Thug]

I'm not IT but we converted to thin clients about a month ago and there are nothing be bugs and hiccups when the regular old desktops worked just fine.

 

[Saint Nick]

I agree with OP. HOwever I work for a public utility, we are understaffed and over budget. I'm trying to jump ship ASAP

 

[Ns1]

Most it problems are directly related to budget constraints.

 

[Falloutboy]

Most it problems are directly related to budget constraints.

oh I understand saving money, just don't see how replacing 25 good working computers and replacing them with 25 thin clients and a big ass server saves money. I can understand if it was a new deployment but this is just replacing what we had.

 

[Skeeedunt]

Well, you can't bill him for your wasted time, so he just came in under budget! Enjoy.

 

[Ns1]

oh I understand saving money, just don't see how replacing 25 good working computers and replacing them with 25 thin clients and a big ass server saves money. I can understand if it was a new deployment but this is just replacing what we had.

I would hope someone at your firm performed that analysis, otherwise might be time to abandon ship!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Thin clients are a dream from the IT standpoint especially when you have hundreds if thousands of clients. Unfortunately they are not 100% great for all users, especially for graphical intensive stuff.

As for switching to an open source system, I can see why they'd do that as well. Outlook cost's hundreds of thousands of dollars, if millions. it sounds cheap when you look at the prices since they're in the 100's, but everything is per user, per connection, per computer etc... and there's licenses on top of licenses. It's a nightmare just how much they gouge you. Hopefully they work out the bugs in this open source solution. Normally open source stuff is faster and coded better. Outlook can be a real pig sometimes.

 

[midwestfisherman]

Pebkac.

 

[Saint Nick]

Thin clients are a dream from the IT standpoint especially when you have hundreds if thousands of clients. Unfortunately they are not 100% great for all users, especially for graphical intensive stuff.

As for switching to an open source system, I can see why they'd do that as well. Outlook cost's hundreds of thousands of dollars, if millions. it sounds cheap when you look at the prices since they're in the 100's, but everything is per user, per connection, per computer etc... and there's licenses on top of licenses. It's a nightmare just how much they gouge you. Hopefully they work out the bugs in this open source solution. Normally open source stuff is faster and coded better. Outlook can be a real pig sometimes.

I can't tell you how much I fucking hate Outlook. I used Lotus Notes at my last job, and no one liked it. I loved it compared to Outlook at my current org.

What I really love about my IT management is that they think of an idea and it's just knee-jerk from there... "Oh yeah, let's get that!" and have no idea how to properly implement it, or support it. Such a waste of time. We have spent millions of dollars on apps that users don't even use correctly.

Does Google Mail have LDAP support? I'd take that over anything in a heartbeat. My Outlook crashes nightly, and requires a reboot each time it crashes. It also takes about five to ten minutes to even just open the app. Windows profiles don't help.

 

[Ns1]

I can't tell you how much I fucking hate Outlook. I used Lotus Notes at my last job, and no one liked it. I loved it compared to Outlook at my current org.

What I really love about my IT management is that they think of an idea and it's just knee-jerk from there... "Oh yeah, let's get that!" and have no idea how to properly implement it, or support it. Such a waste of time. We have spent millions of dollars on apps that users don't even use correctly.

i loooooooooooooooove properly implemented outlook with exchange.

 

[mike2fix]

I'm sure I have an old school view but my thinking is and has been that IT's function is to help the business lines perform their jobs as efficiently as possible. More commonly I see IT departments run as playgrounds for testing the latest and/or newest gadget that comes along. I love playing with new toys as much as the next guy but not at the expense of the business lines or the company.

 

[Saint Nick]

I'm sure I have an old school view but my thinking is and has been that IT's function is to help the business lines perform their jobs as efficiently as possible. More commonly I see IT departments run as playgrounds for testing the latest and/or newest gadget that comes along. I love playing with new toys as much as the next guy but not at the expense of the business lines or the company.

Wow agreed... holy shit this describes my company. Get this, all of the execs here got iPads/MacBooks... for no fucking reason. We aren't even a Mac shop, AT ALL. Who is?!?!

I saw the request come through the system I work on... I think we spent about $25,000 on iPads alone.

 

[Dumac]

I have a physical laptop and a thinclient.

Whoopee.

 

[Falloutboy]

What I really love about my IT management is that they think of an idea and it's just knee-jerk from there... "Oh yeah, let's get that!" and have no idea how to properly implement it, or support it. Such a waste of time. We have spent millions of dollars on apps that users don't even use correctly.
.

lol this is so my VP in IT....x truck driver who was slightly geeky and friends with the owners (owners still drive for the company) so he got put in charge of IT when the company was smallish, now its grown somewhat but its still not a huge company as far as # of employees that have a work station (25ish total i'm guessing) no one knows how to program yet we keep moving to these open source platforms for "flexability" yet then we pay someone to fix bugs...freaking money pit if you ask me...

 

[Ns1]

I'm sure I have an old school view but my thinking is and has been that IT's function is to help the business lines perform their jobs as efficiently as possible. More commonly I see IT departments run as playgrounds for testing the latest and/or newest gadget that comes along. I love playing with new toys as much as the next guy but not at the expense of the business lines or the company.

Funny, we're the exact opposite. No upgrades unless there's a business case.


We have a sub-IT group which plays with new technology, but nobody gets said technology unless the business unit has the money for it.

 

[amish]

I can't tell you how much I fucking hate Outlook. I used Lotus Notes at my last job, and no one liked it. I loved it compared to Outlook at my current org.

I currently work on Lotus Notes. I cannot stand it. Some parts of it a ok, but overall it makes me want to beat it to death with a virtual trout. It isn't good that there are programs out there called "Notes Medic" and "Kill Lotus" just to get you back on your feet when Lotus decides not to work.

 

[OutHouse]

oh I understand saving money, just don't see how replacing 25 good working computers and replacing them with 25 thin clients and a big ass server saves money. I can understand if it was a new deployment but this is just replacing what we had.

it doesnt. we crunched the numbers about a year ago and for my company its pretty much a wash. and im talking multiple offices in every state.

Thin clients do work but you need a ramp up your IT staff to support it.

 

[MotionMan]

alot

"a lot", as in the opposite of "a little".

This is my Pet Peeve of the Week.

Carry on.

MotionMan

 

[OutHouse]

I can't tell you how much I fucking hate Outlook

what about outlook do you hate?

 

[BrightCandle]

Its in the cloud, its a website, must be better than a desktop app designed for purpose. Don't you know everything is moving to the cloud, even your bowel movements will be outsourced soon.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

At work, we're looking to convert some engineers to EOD "thin" clients. I say "thin" because the clients are Lenovo lappys hooked up to dual monitors, so at least we still have an actual PC.

 

[Ns1]

Its in the cloud, its a website, must be better than a desktop app designed for purpose.

software as a service is here to stay

 

[OutHouse]

At work, we're looking to convert some engineers to EOD "thin" clients. I say "thin" because the clients are Lenovo lappys hooked up to dual monitors, so at least we still have an actual PC.

wtf is the point of that??

stop saying lappy, it make you sound retarded especially if you work in IT.

 

[Krazy4Real]

i loooooooooooooooove properly implemented outlook with exchange.

This. Everyone here runs Outlook 2010 with Exchange 2010. It is glorious.