Computerworld - January 9, 2012

1& 1 Internet . . . . . . . . . 5, 11 1and1.com ADVERTISERS’ INDEX This index is provided as an additional service. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or omissions.

Brocade ............... 3 brocade.com/everywhere

Dell .................. C4 dell.com/e;cientIT

dtSearch ............. 29 dtsearch.com

Hewlett-Packard . . . . . . . 7 hp.com/storage/5CI

IBM Non-Intel . . . . . . . . . . . C2
ibm.com/insights
I got his reply:
‘Working now.’ I

Microsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 microsoft.com/o;ce365

Numara Software . . . . . . 9
numarasoftware.com
Regional Select
HAL MAYFORTH

Were the Extensions .xxx?

Among his other duties, this sysadmin pilot fish is responsible for managing backup of his division’s Unix workstations. “I didn’t make a point of watching the backups, but one particular day, I noted a large number of files with recognizable names and extensions,” fish says. “The total size of these files was just over half a gigabyte, quite a bit for that time. Being curious, I determined whose directory was being backed up. I was friends with the C-level boss and went up to his o;ce.

After a bit of usual small talk, I asked if programmer X was in medical school. ‘ What?’ said the boss with a confused look. I responded, ‘I thought he might be studying gynecology, based on some files I noticed as the backup process was running.’ The boss jumped up from his desk, said, ‘ Wait right here!’ and ran from his o;ce. A few minutes later, he returned and said, ‘ Thank you very much. He’s one of my best programmers and I couldn’t a;ord to lose him.’ Sure enough, there was about half a gig more space on the file system than before my visit.”

You’re Welcome

Support pilot fish receives an email from one of her more, um, challenging users. The subject line: No connect. “The body of the email read: ‘Is the server down? No connection, and that is the error message,’ ” says fish. “That’s all the email contained. Was it his cell phone? Laptop? Who knows? What program was it? Who knows? So I sent him a reply: On what — your phone, your computer? What program is giving you this message? I need more information. Thanks! Not even 10 minutes later,

What’s It Worth To You?

This pilot fish
is hired as a pro-
duction assistant at
a small outfit that designs
semiconductors. “Then they found
out that I ‘knew about computers,’
and since we didn’t have an IT de-
partment, I became the default IT
guy for the non-engineers,” says
fish. As for the engineers, they “used
Sun workstations, which I knew little
about. One day, the shipping guy
was on vacation, and since that was
under the auspices of Production,
I became the shipping guy for the
week. An engineer came running to
me saying he was having a trouble
with his workstation. ‘Sorry,’ I told
him. ‘I don’t really know anything
about those workstations.’ Can’t you
at least look at it? he pleaded. ‘ Well, I
could,’ I answered, ‘if you don’t mind
me loudly telling everyone within
earshot about how the shipping guy
knows more about computers than
the engineers.’ He left to solve the
problem by himself.”

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