Gawker: valleywag, tech support

9 out of 10 IT workers willing to steal company data

Alaska Miller — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Always been a bit suspicious of your company's IT guy? A study says 88 percent of sysadmins and support desk jockeys surveyed would pilfer company secrets and data if they were ever fired. So how do you get the best out of your IT crowd without getting your secrets sold? The security firm that conducted the survey suggests routinely updating account logins and passwords, especially after you fire someone on a Friday afternoon. [Ars Technica]

Microsoft now offers Ultimate support

Alaska Miller — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Microsoft's money comes largely from its corporate clients. But they're the ones dumping Vista every chance they get. So Microsoft is trying other tactics to woo them. First, an "Ultimate" option for customer service focusing on proactive support instead of just fixing problems once they're called in. Microsoft Services Premier Ultimate is said to maintain a company's "IT health." Secondly, Microsoft is relaxing its licensing agreements to let companies reuse applications on multiple servers. [Ars Technica and CNN]

While you were sleeping: Here come the "0verstock" jokes

Nick Douglas — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 11:54:16 EST

Bill Gates goes in with a Saudi prince to offer $3.7 billion for the Four Seasons. Or as someone put it on Reddit, "Gates uses monopoly money to buy hotels." [Washington Post]
Newsflash! USA Today says that in this world of increasing gadgetitude, people don't like tech support! Actually, the stats are disturbing: "About 85% of those polled said they've become so flustered, they've ended up swearing, shouting, experiencing chest pains, crying or smashing things." [USA Today]
What do you do when your company's stock price plummets from over $77 to under $15? Well, if you're Overstock.com, first you sue a hedge fund and a research firm for bad publicity. Then you admit your site's no good. And then you announce that you may soon ask for more funding. [NY Times]
PayPal, sick of supporting eBay while divisions like Skype sucked all the money from the company, says it will offer $100 million in holiday rebates and free shipping. It's a Christmas thank-you to all the customers who didn't bomb their HQ. [LA Times]

Oh my god! You can fix my e-mail!

Nick Douglas — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:32:38 EDT

Techies' frustration at people asking for free tech support is so common that now it's a t-shirt. Because explaining why you can maintain a million-item database but you can't fix your friend's e-mail is such a pain, someone else does it for you in the Daily Princetonian. A Com Sci major writes:

Asking a computer science major to fix your computer is like asking a premed to prescribe you medicine or asking a history major what he did last night. They might know the answer, but it might also be a pretty bad idea.

Next time a barmate asks you to come over and make Counterstrike work, just slap 'em with this page — or, if they're datable, brush up on Windows for Dummies.

I'm a computer scientist, not your tech support [Princetonian]