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kizayaen.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
techrecoveryI just spent ten minutes arguing with a woman about replication in Lotus Notes.
WOMAN: "I can't see my email when I'm not on the Internet even though I connected to the Internet and checked it this morning."
ME: "Did you replicate this morning? You have to download it or else you'll only be able to see it when you're online."
WOMAN: "Replicate? What's that mean? That sounds sort of stupid. I never had to do it before."
ME: "When somebody sends you email, it all gets stored on a mail server. When you open up Lotus Notes in Office mode and you're online, then you're actually looking at the mail on the server. You need to replicate in order to copy the mail from the server and put it onto your laptop, or else you won't have any way to see it later when you're offline."
WOMAN: "I never had to do that before. Plus my boss says that all he has to do is read his mail once and then it's automatically on his computer any time he wants to see it later."
(I refrain from calling her boss a fucking liar. Well, okay. I refrain from doing it outright.)
ME: "Sorry, Lotus Notes doesn't work that way. You need to replicate."
WOMAN: "That's what somebody else told me, but then they said that I only had to do it one time and then I'd be good to go and never have to do it again."
ME: "Sort of. You'll never have to do it again for that day's email, but then you'll need to do it again every day to see the new emails you get."
WOMAN: "Well that seems stupid."
Yep. It sure is stupid to think that if you want data from an internet-based server, when offline, you'd need to copy it FROM that server.
Goddamn retards.
I especially liked the way that her story about why she shouldn't have to replicate kept changing. First she never had to do it before, then her BOSS said, then her FRIEND said... did she think that we have a secret way to transmit email via thought alone and that all she had to do was wear us down and we'd share it? What the hell?
WOMAN: "I can't see my email when I'm not on the Internet even though I connected to the Internet and checked it this morning."
ME: "Did you replicate this morning? You have to download it or else you'll only be able to see it when you're online."
WOMAN: "Replicate? What's that mean? That sounds sort of stupid. I never had to do it before."
ME: "When somebody sends you email, it all gets stored on a mail server. When you open up Lotus Notes in Office mode and you're online, then you're actually looking at the mail on the server. You need to replicate in order to copy the mail from the server and put it onto your laptop, or else you won't have any way to see it later when you're offline."
WOMAN: "I never had to do that before. Plus my boss says that all he has to do is read his mail once and then it's automatically on his computer any time he wants to see it later."
(I refrain from calling her boss a fucking liar. Well, okay. I refrain from doing it outright.)
ME: "Sorry, Lotus Notes doesn't work that way. You need to replicate."
WOMAN: "That's what somebody else told me, but then they said that I only had to do it one time and then I'd be good to go and never have to do it again."
ME: "Sort of. You'll never have to do it again for that day's email, but then you'll need to do it again every day to see the new emails you get."
WOMAN: "Well that seems stupid."
Yep. It sure is stupid to think that if you want data from an internet-based server, when offline, you'd need to copy it FROM that server.
Goddamn retards.
I especially liked the way that her story about why she shouldn't have to replicate kept changing. First she never had to do it before, then her BOSS said, then her FRIEND said... did she think that we have a secret way to transmit email via thought alone and that all she had to do was wear us down and we'd share it? What the hell?
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no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 03:04 am (UTC)So, yeah. He "reads his mail once" i.e. connects to the server and replicates while looking at it and there it is later.
If you replicate regularly and don't make a lot of changes, it's a fairly fast process.
But I feel you on explaining what's really happening to people who are already belligerent. It sucks.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 11:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 11:30 am (UTC)We've run out of three-letter acronyms.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 04:31 am (UTC)Still didn't entirely stop people calling us, but it did cut down on it a lot.
I'd love to see an application which ran on corporate machines, updated itself from a central database every so often, and answered user-language "how do I" queries for a large chunk of the corporate technical and policy setups, as well as standard computer issues. It'd have to be almost AI-level to get anywhere, though.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 04:51 am (UTC)*RIIIIING*
"Helpdesk, how can I help you?"
"Hi, my helper application says to 'click here to apply the fix,' what does that mean?"
*thud*
"Hello? Hello?"
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 07:43 am (UTC)"It means you need to check with your manager before calling TS. Thank you for calling."
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 11:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 08:52 am (UTC)ToIP!
Telepathy over Internet Protocol
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 12:52 pm (UTC)(and turn on scheduled replication for the numbskulls!)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-26 01:27 pm (UTC)Seriously, supporting that application is just painful.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-27 01:32 pm (UTC)My god the waste of time and money is just scary!