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Looking Backward, Looking Forward
Welcome
A new year always brings the hope of new possibilities, new technologies, and new challenges. I'm not sure that new challenges are what system administrators want to look forward to, but you know they're there and they're coming whether you like it or not. Challenges, in one way or another, are what you do. You face challenges and you resolve them. I remember quite well when Windows XP (XP) hit my clients' desktops and I was thinking, "Well, I guess I can get out of the computer business because XP won't have all the issues of its predecessors." It seemed like the perfect operating system – the best since OS/2.
I was wrong, of course, because I wasn't a regular user. Regular users work with many different applications and with the inherent bugs, user error, and usual problems associated with any desktop conglomeration. I was still in business facing the challenges that XP presented to my clients. XP was good, but it wasn't perfect, and once my client base latched onto XP, they didn't want to let it go. Thank you, Microsoft.
I no longer support desktop operating systems. My focus has long since shifted to the data center and then to the cloud. It's been more than 15 years since I labored in the trenches of desktop support, which is the front line of the IT world. I still interface with clients daily, but the stress of having someone watch me troubleshoot while telling me they "haven't changed anything" is something I don't miss. I'll leave that realm to the younger, more patient souls among us.
These days I'd rather deal with the cold blinking cursor that has nothing to say. Working remotely, I can express my frustrations out loud without the fear of someone reacting badly to my bad reactions. Yes, I still get upset when I realize that spelling counts and that computers don't listen well to verbal commands (yet). Support, in any location or setting, is frustrating – even when dealing only with that blinking cursor. Alas, I
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