IT gurus..HELP, I'm gonna snap!

[Rob LaMoy]

My company just changed operating systes. Any of you that have experienced this know the pains! It BITES! We "upgraded" from a MS-DOS, MRP/ AS-400 system to a...get THIS, FIFTEEN YEAR OLD, windows, 3.1!!!!!!!! It now takes me 45 minutes to do in what I could accomplish in 5 before. OK, so the benefit is????? Any hints IT guys? I'm going to walk into our server room and run a garden hose in there! All I need is some paper and a calculator! I'm done, cant' take it anymore, and it's NOT like I can go fishing this weekend and relax! Guess what I'm doing AGAIN THIS weekend. DATA coversion! ARRARGHGHGHGHGAAGHAGHAHGAHGA

 

[James D.]

Rob, might have an old 3.1 manual for ya ..., I think..... ughhh, ummm, maybe I threw that away ... 10 yrs ago!



I didn't think IT was around back in the 3.1 days. I feel for ya dude. I thought win 95 was bad. just think of all those games you can play now like ..... solitare.



jd

 

[Greg Meyer]

Rob,



You know how old I am... So I was around when that was cutting edge... Course, when that was cutting edge I still had hair and a waist... Now I have no hair and I am a waste!



What on earth are they doing... You can't get "stuff" like programs for 3.1 so anything they are running on it is definitely old application software...



All that is...is a "nice looking" filemanager for DOS 6.22... But, I do have manuals and things... in my "historic" collection... I actually believe I have an unopened set of disks for 6.22 and Windows 3.11... And, I am sure I have a couple of spare 286 12mhz or even one Packard Bell 486 DX2 66mhz machine with I believe 8meg of RAM and a 550meg harddrive....



I gotta know the why...

 

[Jim B]

windows 3.1????? WTF? why would any company do something like that? is your equipment all that old that it cant run a real ans supported os like 2000 or xp? microsoft stopped supporting windoews 3.1 years and years ago heck they dont even support windows nt 4.0 any more. sounds like your company needs to get some IT people with brains.

 

[Bruce Yeaton]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

[Scott Smith]

OK, I read the entire thread, boy do I feel bad for ya....whatever the heck it is your talking about...!!!



And I thought it was a real pain when we switched from Caprice patrol cars to Crown Vic's. WE HAD TO GET ALL NEW KEYS MADE...!! FOR EVERYONE...!

 

[Un-Rob Rasch]

Dear "Real" Rob-



Please let me know the name of your company so I can be sure I don't invest in it. I am an Army Automation guy and I haven't seen 3.1 since early 90's.



Not sure I want to invest in a company that is that far behind.



Seriously though.. there has to be some mistake. You cannot get 3.1 anymore or applications that will run on it. Does your company own proprietary software that will only run on DOS based systems? If so, there are some pretty good advances in software programming languages that will make that software hum if it is re-written in something a little more current (i.e going fom punch-cards to Java or C++).



I don't blame you for being upset. I just thought I had it bad here still working on a Pentium 2. :-(

 

[Mikel Stephens]

It MAY be time to upgrade your resume' Good Luck.

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Hey Un-Rob..I remember punch cards, I worked with punch cards and I remember printing out pics on computer paper with a deck of punch cards.. Some of you are spoiled and never got to use JCL (before DOS) The good news Rob (Blue Star) Windows 3.1 has a DOS icon so you can still do your thing..This is a Joke right..Nobody uses 3.1 anymore right?

BF

 

[Corey Carrico2]

Tell them to spend a few thousand on a faster server and Windows 2000....it'll only increase productivity by 300-400%!



--Corey

 

[Greg Meyer]

Hey Corey...



Nah... Let them keep working on that old stuff... It gives us old guys work... Can't imagine actually calling that an "upgrade" going from an AS400 to Win 3.11.



But, hey last month I did a fix on a system in a graphics shop that had very up to date MACs and three old Win 3.1 boxes handling word processing and some other apps... And, I have a very large lawn service running Novell 3... And, a slew of 3.11 boxes... They can't/won't upgrade because their accounting software is on a 16 bit DOS package and they don't want to do anything that "costs money". I have actually replaced some Pentium boxes with some P3s and loaded them back up with DOS 6.22 and Win 3.11... Do you have any idea how hard it is to get drivers for DOS for an onboard nic...

 

[Rob LaMoy]

That's the kicker! They spent THOUSANDS for this conversion. We had a "team" of people that spent the last 3 MONTHS preparing for this. We all have the latest, top of the line machines more or less. Mine is very quick, and we have a T-1, with our provider only 1 mile away! It's the company's "operating system" that is old. The part that runs our MRP (for those in manufacturing) and allows me to access costing for quote purposes. It drives invoices and demands, shipping documents, inventory, etc, etc! I got quite the frown in "training" when I said, "So let me get this straight! We're "upgrading" to a 15 year old, 3.1 system that is SLOWER than the DOS system we already have that has MEMORY REELS up in Montreal?????" Well the new version will be available come fall once Oracle and Microsoft resolve the legal battle, and guess what.....we get to do this all over again then. I just don't get it. Why not wait until the new one is up, and then just switch ONCE to the system we will be using for the next 20 years! LOL It is really frustrating. I just DON'T see the benefit for me yet or many others for that matter. It's bad enough that they have 2 of us in my dept doing what it takes 5-8 to do in others. Now they tie one arm behind our back????? Geeeesh, I HAVE polished up the resume folks, anyone want a used, but highly successful and experienced sales/marketing director????

 

[Greg Meyer]

Rob,



At least they have a "reason"... I think?

 

[Bruce Yeaton]

Ok, not that I stopped laughing, Rob look at it as a positive, they are going to EVENTUALLY "upgrade" again. I don't understand the move except for the fact of the old software you are running now, but it doesn't explain the move to 3.1 for thousands of dollars. Bad judgement on someones part...

Let me know when you get a 2000 Server, I wouldn't mind moving to Champlain

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Just think of it this way, if Rob posts today, they won't show up on the board till tomorrow!!



TOXIC

 

[Rob LaMoy]

NOPE, wrong againg there Tox! As I said, my machine is fast, and my connection even faster. Just the heart beat of our company has been dramatically slowed.

 

[Corey Carrico2]

Greg--

I spend every day trying to "make it work." This outdated stuff is the root of many a headaches! In the summer I just go fishing and the headache goes away! No idea how I make it through in the winter.....



Here is another one for you though...I stopped into BPS the other day to pick up a JLM reel for the $99 I saw it on the web for. Well Gurnee still has it for $149. I asked themt o match "their" price and they tell me I have to bring in a printout of their webpage so they can match their price! They did not have access to the internet to adjust the price for me. End result I ordered it from the web! ARGGH.



Not a bash on BPS...I was just surprised.

 

[Greg Meyer]

Why am I not surprised? Uhhhh....That's not my department... Maybe... Uhhhh... what's his name does that... But, "I don't think we can do that"; the biggestr mistake phrase in a retailer's lexicon.



Maybe they could have made a phone call.... ya know. But, sometimes it is easier to walk away than swim upstream!