mac users: why (your higher power) created beer

[heinousbitca.livejournal.com]

standard disclaimer: i'm not a lifelong Apple user, but my primary platform has been MacOS of some flavor since 1997. in other words, before you squeal about how i'm platformist or some bullshit statement like that, consider that this comes from familiarity. familiarity breeds contempt.

mac users, as previously discussed, come in four kinds:

1)The Power Fool with a Power Tool. Middle-aged to old, usually male, assumes girls know nothing about computers. Always wants to speak to someone "more technical." We've discussed the PFWAPT before. He's the worst kind of Mac user since you get interrupted every time you speak. Likely has no friends, is somewhat intimidated by girls. Never takes directions, complains about macpression constantly. Always wants to talk to a person immediately, never leaves voicemail ever ever, and won't work with e-mail. He generally will talk a wonderful game but knows very little and reads books by someone named Robin Williams to get all his wonderous Macintosh learnings. He assumes Robin Williams is a man.

2)I Know Nothing And That's Why I Have A Mac. IKNATWIHAM is actually pretty easy because they tend to take directions and Macs are pretty easy to use. Often very easy to deal with because they want to learn. Can be very satisfying to work with even if they're slow because they're always happy in the end; generally worth the frustration for how well it works with some hand-holding.

3)Angry Artist Person. Hates PDFs ("there's too much possibility of graaaaaiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn"), doesn't understand font embedding. Can be easy to confuse with TPFWAPT in males. Whines. Thinks they're an artiste because they own Photoshop AND Illustrator. Doesn't understand why things don't work their way all the bloody time. Also hates e-mail transactions because everything must be fixed RIGHT NOW because it's due RIGHT NOW. Tends not to understand that the whole "tech support department" is me. Tends to like to ask if we're in India. (me, within my head:Sir, i wish. i'd entirely kill to be chilling out at my cousin's in Chennai right now, actually.) Thinks they're funny for making snippy racist comments about Indians or Filipinos.

4)I Use A Mac Because I'd Rather, Thanks. i'm one of these. i like my command line. i have friends, though. i don't whine about computer shit. i know the trade-off chosen in using a Macintosh. i like my Macintosh for exactly what it is. i'm fine with the trade-offs and the limitations on having the latest and greatest FPS. i really don't give a crap about the FPS; i have a gaming console for games, thanks. The computer is a means to an end. A Mac gets me to those ends in a manner i am comfortable with. The end.

Today has been all 1 and 3.
Generally with a major bad attitude.
Kingfisher, take me away.

Quick Survey For The Techs

[thewrabbit.livejournal.com]

You are the IT department of a small college, someone very helpful calls you up to tell you that your MX records are screwed.

Do you:

a) Sound completely uninterested

b) Do nothing to fix it

c) Thank the caller very nicely, and then go and update your DNS records/shout at your secondary MX provider.

d) Both a) and b)

Is it just me that gets hacked off when people we should be able to have an adult conversation with (fellow techs) completely brush you off, and an organisation that should know better can't configure things.  A user contacted me because an e-mail had bounced.  5 minutes checking with telnet ruled out any issues at our end and pointed it firmly at a primary MX having been down temporarily and secondary MXes that were either mis-configured or incorrect DNS entries.  Their secondary MX refuses all mail for their domain and their third MX looks like it's a POP3 server - not an SMTP one.

Phoned up their IT department to get the brush off - and 3 days later it's still broken.  Unfortunately for me this is someone our users e-mail a lot - so chances are we're going to get recurring tickets about it.  At least I'll be able to close them quickly.