Taming Change in the New Era of Computing

Article from ADMIN 12/2012

By ADMIN Magazine

By now, you've had a chance at least to look at Windows 8 from a user and from a system administrator perspective. You've probably drawn some conclusions about it, perhaps formed an opinion, and possibly decided to adopt it or forego adoption of it for your company. If I were to offer a bit of sage advice to you, it would be: "Don't be too hasty." I aim that warning at those who either want to be early adopters or who don't want to adopt at all. Your haste, in both cases, will be costly.

System administrators, as an Information Technology ilk, are conservative – even downright stodgy – when it comes to support. We like stability. We like peace and quiet. We enjoy productive, silent users. We like change, but not just for the sake of change. It has to be positive and useful for us and our support realm. Adding a few new features to a desktop operating system is often not a good enough reason to endure the support tsunami that follows. Every new operating system or interface that comes out of the minds of operating system vendors isn't necessarily created with our best interests at heart. At first glance, Windows 8 looks like a system administrator's worst nightmare, with its new interface, no Start button, and unique ways of launching and closing applications.

For example, the lack of the Start button in Windows 8 will generate more support tickets than its presence ever did. Users have had 17 years' experience with the Start button, and now it's gone. Users need time to adapt. They need time to learn.

Whether you're implementing a new Mac OS X version, a new Linux desktop, or the latest Windows incarnation, you're familiar with that thorn, that one thing that makes your job as a system administrator so painful you'd almost rather endure some form of physical torture than upgrade your user base to a new operating system: The user learning curve.

If you adopt a new OS too early, users become less productive, complain endlessly,

...

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).