Subject: Re: Plagued by PPTX again

From: [email-masked] (Noel Chiappa)
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:33:43 -0500 (EST)

> From: Nick Hilliard <[email-masked]>

    > 12 computing environments, all of which are out of date by at least
    > 3 years, and you can only afford one week every year for managing
    > updates - which is enough time to update exactly one installation.
    > ...
    > Please excuse my naivety.  I'm new around here.

If there's any activity more boring, and less truly productive, than
updating to the latest rev of a software environment, I'd like to know
what it is.

I have a long list of things that seem to me like a better use of my time,
including:

- working on new networking architectures
- going for a walk with my dogs
- studying woodblock prints to update the online catalog raisonnes I'm
	working on for a couple of major Japanese woodblock artists
- listening to music (baroque, jazz, etc, etc)
- etc, etc, etc, etc.

Somehow I doubt that on their deathbed (to paraphrase an old aphorism)
anyone's going to be saying 'Gee, I wish I'd spent more of my time in this
realm installing Service Pack 7 of Microsloth Defenstrator'.

<Stomps off.>

	Noel

---

From: Nick Hilliard <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:34:16 +0000

> updating to the latest rev of a software environment, I'd like to know

Exquisitely boring, yes.  But if refusal to upgrade causes current
compatibility problems, then it is actively interfering with your
productivity and that's probably worse than dealing with the 1/2 hour of
tedium associated with upgrading the software every several years.  At
least it is for me - your set of requirements may be different.

> I have a long list of things that seem to me like a better use of my time,

I have a list like that too.  But it doesn't mean that my living room
carpet doesn't need to be vacuumed every couple of years, regardless of how
unproductive and tedious that is.

Nick