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RE: "somebody needs to blink first"

for

From: Derek Featherstone
Date: Feb 21, 2003 1:24PM

Many people wrote about NN 4.x support and lack of upgrading and then
John Foliot wrote:
> Which begs the question - why? How is it acceptable that
> educational institutions (in particular) would continue to
> use flawed software, especially since a free replacement is a
> download away?
<snip type="various other comments" />

I'm all for the elimination of horribly implemented browsers -- especially
as you say, when a free download is available, or by CD. However, it is not
always that simple...

Two years ago I started consulting for one of these educational institutions
that is standardized on NN 4.x. They are currently running 4.79 as their
standard, and I've been trying to convince them to move things along since
I've been there. First I tried to get them to move to 6.1. Now to 7.0. They
are not in a position to budge at this point, regardless of all the well
thought out arguments I've made.

Why you may ask? Two items, which lead to a third.

1. Roaming profiles. This allows the students to login at any computer and
their profile follows them around. Apparently (so I've been told) this is
not possible in more recent versions.

2. Netscape Calendar. Functionality built into the Netscape 4.x suite of
tools that has excellent group management funcationality as well as group
scheduling of meeting etc. It is already web enabled and allows you to see
anyone else's schedule (not students but faculty, staff etc...)

Both of these lead to the third item:

3. Resources. There are other products out there that would be able to
provide this functionality, however, there are limited resources in any
fiscal year, and an upgrade of this nature would be huge in terms of IT
support/time and it would have a major impact on the entire institution and
the way they do business.

I'm not saying I support their viewpoint. I am saying that they have some
real concerns and something that they have to work through before they can
practically get rid of Netscape 4.x off of their desktops.

Having said this -- some users have upgraded on their own, however they
still rely on Calendar for scheduling for staff. Student don't have
calendar, but they do rely on Roaming Profiles for their email etc...

Best regards,
Derek.
--
Derek Featherstone <EMAIL REMOVED>
Further Ahead Inc.
phone: 613.599.9784;
toll-free: 1.866.932.4878 (North America)
Web Development: http://www.furtherahead.com
Training and Learning: http://www.completelearning.com


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