Comment On Re-enlisting the Data General

Oooooh, just-in-case.... gotta love that logic!

I have two teen girls and getting them to wear non-designer clothes is a challenge, and these guys got a teenage girl to wear a gas-mask for 8 hours a day for 3 months? WTF!?

Is it only me that thought this was the return of MFD with the Data General as a character?

The tree hugger in me just died a little.

snoofle:

Oooooh, just-in-case.... gotta love that logic!

I have two teen girls and getting them to wear non-designer clothes is a challenge, and these guys got a teenage girl to wear a gas-mask for 8 hours a day for 3 months? WTF!?

Hey, some people are into the gas mask and rubber gloves thing. Not me, of course, just some people....

Shenanigans. There are no women in IT, let alone 17 year olds.

Given the time lapse of technology, wouldn't it be smarter to convert the data to a standard format somehow, and dump it to modern hard drives? Then you could makes as many copies as you want, or make a search system that is maintainable....

Only proprietary formats have to die on old media - open formats allow for data to live on in new environments.

the real wtf fool:

Is it only me that thought this was the return of MFD with the Data General as a character?

That would be awesome.

Dee:

the real wtf fool:

Is it only me that thought this was the return of MFD with the Data General as a character?

That would be awesome.

"MFD"? "awesome"? How quickly we forget...

there are some women in the IT ;) Although the case is similar to the name of the guinea pig - they're not really female and they're not really in the IT ;)

Article:

before being replaced by a Dec Alpha and Oracle database from the server graveyard in one of the dimly lit storage rooms. Once in place and he would then play Doctor Frankenstein

Why did they replace the Data General with a Del Alpha from the graveyard? They should buy something new!

Article:

Once in place and he would then play Doctor Frankenstein

Huh? Somebody didn't quite finish rewriting this paragraph, I guess.

notromda:

Given the time lapse of technology, wouldn't it be smarter to convert the data to a standard format somehow, and dump it to modern hard drives? Then you could makes as many copies as you want, or make a search system that is maintainable....

This would make too much sense in a enterprisey corporate environment.

notromda:

Given the time lapse of technology, wouldn't it be smarter to convert the data to a standard format somehow, and dump it to modern hard drives? Then you could makes as many copies as you want, or make a search system that is maintainable....

Only proprietary formats have to die on old media - open formats allow for data to live on in new environments.

We don't have a lot of information about the system itself, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was bought as a black box and there isn't even a mechanism for the buyer to get directly to some sort of command prompt outside of the accounting application - let alone dump all the data to a straight SQL database.

They did miss a golden opportunity to preserve the data in a new format.

Place each printed page on a wooden table, photograph, scan (into new format on modern system). Voila!

Once I had a similar task that required printing voluminous reports on green bar paper every month end. One day when I was in a particularly foul mood, I taped a "FUCK YOU" note on one of the pages at random using paper from a scratch pad pre-printed with my name. It was never read.

No one reads all that output. Total waste.

dkf:

Dee:

the real wtf fool:

Is it only me that thought this was the return of MFD with the Data General as a character?

That would be awesome.

"MFD"? "awesome"? How quickly we forget...

Geeze - Everyone's a critic! ;-) Looking back, I think I may have tried to do too much at once - probably would've been better keeping things at 3 panels per strip.

Here's a link since it "fell" off of the front page http://thedailywtf.com/series/Mandatory_Fun_Day.aspx

P.S. The "Data General" would've been awesome in the v2.0 storyline.

jimicus:

We don't have a lot of information about the system itself, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was bought as a black box and there isn't even a mechanism for the buyer to get directly to some sort of command prompt outside of the accounting application - let alone dump all the data to a straight SQL database.

Depending on how involved the various printer drivers it offers are (the less formatting codes, etc. the better; a straight ASCII dump, like occurs with "type > LPT1", would be ideal), you could probably hook the system up to a parallel/serial port on a PC, dump the output to a file, then parse it.

"(lack of ventilation, the toner dust is carcinogenic etc.)"

Excuses, excuses! I have a laser printer on my desk next to my asbestos napkins and there is NOTHING wrong with that!

Three months of continuous printing make Ents weep.

jimicus:

[..]

We don't have a lot of information about the system itself, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was bought as a black box and there isn't even a mechanism for the buyer to get directly to some sort of command prompt outside of the accounting application - let alone dump all the data to a straight SQL database.

At least the printer output was structured, readable and reliable, so they could have converted that to Postscript, PDF, plain text, PNG or whatever, and parse the output to fill a database.

snoofle:

Oooooh, just-in-case.... gotta love that logic!

I have two teen girls and getting them to wear non-designer clothes is a challenge, and these guys got a teenage girl to wear a gas-mask for 8 hours a day for 3 months? WTF!?

sounds like the girl was some kind of fetishist... sounds hot

Ok, so the Real WTF here is that nobody, Remy included, thought to say "Why the deuce does the IRS want our old records when we're a UK company?" Seriously, so many WTFs in the world (not just in IT) could be avoided if people would learn to ask why.

Also, I like the idea of the Data General in MFD. When should we expect Season 3?

Two things I miss: MFD and TopC0d3r. Oh, and about the article: picture (of the girl) or it didn't happen!

Is 17 legal in the UK. Could you send some pics?

VaxVMS? Dec?

Ooookay.

Dee:

the real wtf fool:

Is it only me that thought this was the return of MFD with the Data General as a character?

That would be awesome.

Die.

The Data General should be four feet tall and have a penchant for stabbing people who disagree with him.

Justice:

Seriously, so many WTFs in the world (not just in IT) could be avoided if people would learn to ask why.

Ah... but if you ask why there's a high probablility you'll get branded a troublemaker, and people will listen to you even less. There's also a slim chance you'll get b!^@# slapped across the room.

snoofle:

and these guys got a teenage girl to wear a gas-mask for 8 hours a day for 3 months? WTF!

She would be, what is know as a "goer".

snoofle:

They did miss a golden opportunity to preserve the data in a new format.

Place each printed page on a wooden table, photograph, scan (into new format on modern system). Voila!

ROFLCopter! Blue parent, please.

I don't even want to contemplate how much it would cost to send that much paper on a trans-Atlantic journey...

Possibly, they do business in the US?

The plan was to hire an intern for the follow on summer to send the report via FAX

Charles400:

Once I had a similar task that required printing voluminous reports on green bar paper every month end. One day when I was in a particularly foul mood, I taped a "FUCK YOU" note on one of the pages at random using paper from a scratch pad pre-printed with my name. It was never read.

No one reads all that output. Total waste.

I used to think that, but I ran a report once with more than 100,000 records, each about 5 lines of output, and I got called to task by a manager because there were 3 errors in the report. Not three errors in the way it was constructed. No. Three errors. They printed it out, and line-checked the entire thing. The printout was a good 4 feet high.

Needless to say this was a government agency.

Downfall:

I don't even want to contemplate how much it would cost to send that much paper on a trans-Atlantic journey...

Here's how I wish it had gone:

1. Calculate freight for several pallets of paper to USA.

2. Watch manager stagger in disbelief.

3. Spend the next 10 weeks reprinting everything in a smaller font.

4. Repeat 1.

5. Repeat 2.

6. Put all the data on a USB stick.

7. Watch manager's brains melt.

Charles Manson:

Is 17 legal in the UK. Could you send some pics?

Can't access upload site from work, but try
this

In the school I used to go to, they installed a row of bookshelves at the front of a balcony overlooking the main study hall. The steel beam supporting the balcony edge (about 65 feet clear span) sagged about 2-3 inches in the middle, and they had to put 4 new columns under it to hold it up.

Pine Scented:

The tree hugger in me just died a little.

Seriously, what is it with you tree huggers? Trees grow back, you know.

Usher:

In the school I used to go to, they installed a row of bookshelves at the front of a balcony overlooking the main study hall. The steel beam supporting the balcony edge (about 65 feet clear span) sagged about 2-3 inches in the middle, and they had to put 4 new columns under it to hold it up.

...because nobody thought it might be a tad cheaper to just move the bookshelves next to the wall at the back of the overhang?

Back in the MSDOS days I used to get messages all the time about some general reading my hard drive. I figured it was the military spying on me.

davidyorke:

snoofle:

They did miss a golden opportunity to preserve the data in a new format.

Place each printed page on a wooden table, photograph, scan (into new format on modern system). Voila!

ROFLCopter! Blue parent, please.

I'm not sure if anyone's noticed, but asking for a comment to be blued is about the surest way of making sure it isn't.

Jay:

Back in the MSDOS days I used to get messages all the time about some general reading my hard drive. I figured it was the military spying on me.

We were. But we didn't think you knew. Now that you confessed, we have to eliminate you. Home phone number please?

I bet they'd wear a gas mask if you paid them :P

Anonymoose:

The plan was to hire an intern for the follow on summer to send the report via FAX

Cripes, given how much paper they must have used-- they should have just stapled the tail of each page to the head of the next, and fed it directly TO the IRS. Once someone in Washington got their hands on the first page, they could have just reeled the rest of it in.

Osno:

Two things I miss: MFD and TopC0d3r. Oh, and about the article: picture (of the girl) or it didn't happen!

Zerbs:

Justice:

Seriously, so many WTFs in the world (not just in IT) could be avoided if people would learn to ask why.

Ah... but if you ask why there's a high probablility you'll get branded a troublemaker, and people will listen to you even less. There's also a slim chance you'll get b!^@# slapped across the room.

high probablyility, nope more like certainty. Been there, asked "why", got b!^@#slapped across room. Of course my boss doesn't like to share any information, especially "why" (or the purpose of the task). He says that I don't need to know that, but he's insecure (I know something you don't!).

The sad part is, now after shredding all the paper, accounting will want to know why there was a 100000% increase in office supply costs.
better start printing out those reports.

that's right:

The sad part is, now after shredding all the paper, accounting will want to know why there was a 100000% increase in office supply costs.
better start printing out those reports.

It'll come out of the IT budget.

snoofle:

Usher:

In the school I used to go to, they installed a row of bookshelves at the front of a balcony overlooking the main study hall. The steel beam supporting the balcony edge (about 65 feet clear span) sagged about 2-3 inches in the middle, and they had to put 4 new columns under it to hold it up.

...because nobody thought it might be a tad cheaper to just move the bookshelves next to the wall at the back of the overhang?

There were probably already bookshelves on the other wall. And after the beam has sagged like that, the dreaded HSE would probably insist the columns be added even if the load is removed. Probably lucky the whole school wasn't condemned actually.

Justice:

Ok, so the Real WTF here is that nobody, Remy included, thought to say "Why the deuce does the IRS want our old records when we're a UK company?" Seriously, so many WTFs in the world (not just in IT) could be avoided if people would learn to ask why.

Also, I like the idea of the Data General in MFD. When should we expect Season 3?

My guess when reading the story was that this was an international company. If they had a branch in the US, then that branch would fall under IRS jurisdiction. If IT consolidated financial data in their UK headquarters for their foreign branches then this whole thing makes sense.

It's pretty normal for international corporations.

Osno:

Two things I miss: MFD and TopC0d3r. Oh, and about the article: picture (of the girl) or it didn't happen!