This is probably funny to me only.

NuclearNed

Raconteur
May 18, 2001
7,873
364
126
As some of you know, I'm a specialized software administrator who deals mostly with my company's financial software, among other things.

Right now I am neck-deep upgrading from the five-year-old version of the financial software that we are currently using to the most recent version available. This software is from a company that we'll call "Ginormous Financial Software 5000", or "GFS5000" for short. Let's just say that the software that GFS5000 produces is 1) Ginormous, and 2) buggier than the local Mexican slop house.

During a recent testing session, we found that one of the windows in the application has really bad refresh issues. The problem originates in the fact that it is a really tall non-resizable window that won't all fit on the screen at once; to see the parts of the window, the user is forced to scroll. As long as the user contents himself with clicking and dragging the thumb along the scroll track, everything is peachy-keen, bluebirds sing their merry little songs, and the sun shines brightly on the world of men.

Here where I work, we pride ourselves on standing right on the bleeding edge of technology. For this reason, we have splurged on our users and made sure that each of them has this new-fangled device we like to call a "wheel mouse." Without going into great detail about what one of them is, let's just say that one is just like a normal mouse but has a "wheel" that makes scrolling much easier and more convenient.

Full of woe and despair is the user who in a moment of inattentiveness accidentally bumps the "wheel" and scrolls the window I previously mentioned. The window does a HAL 9000 and carefully mangles then discards each bit of data that has been entered since the window was opened. Streaming tears and language your mother wouldn't like ensue shortly thereafter.

My coworkers and I jokingly wondered about how GFS5000 would respond when I reported this problem. I laughingly made the comment that the fix would probably come in the mail: a roll of GFS5000 branded duct tape, along with a message to "carefully secure the wheel in a manner so that it can't be used." How we laughed at the prospect... at the time.

I got GFS5000's official problem closure message today. Their fix: "The workaround for this is to use the scroll bar."

Me slaps forehead in disbelief.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
99,385
17,555
126
omfg, send them a poster of Red Green. Who the hell does that to software???
 

hanoverphist

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2006
9,867
23
76
Originally posted by: NuclearNed
50+ views but only 1 reply? I guess this really IS unfunny...

no, its funny. and expected from software companies. i was told by linksys that i was able to print from my wireless laptop to my wired printer by enabling printer sharing in windows. despite every effort i made to explain that on the wireless router i own there was no way to change the subnet to include both the wired and wireless sides in the same subnet, and no way to assign the third octal to both wired and wireless DHCP. the final email said to enable file and print sharing in windows.
 

pyonir

Lifer
Dec 18, 2001
40,856
321
126
hahahaha...

I used to have to work with a company that gave solutions like that. They had issues with their system (it was a contractor) but wouldn't make coding changes to their system unless we identified and sent detailed instructions on how to fix the coding issue. Problem was...none of us knew anything about their proprietary software. :roll: needless to say we threatened to dump them, and then they started helping more and working with us to make changes. lol.
 

NuclearNed

Raconteur
May 18, 2001
7,873
364
126
Originally posted by: Beev
Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Originally posted by: Beev
Might I inquire as to what financial software you use?

Sure - inquire all you want.

Thanks, what is said financial software?

"Sorry, but due to the sensitive nature of our business, I must decline your request for information."

Seriously - I can't and won't divulge that information - sorry.
 

Beev

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2006
7,775
0
0
Really, they won't even let you say the name of the program? Have you ever said where you work?

For example, I work for Schwab, we use PortfolioCenter :p
 
Feb 6, 2007
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It's funny. I love when tech support's response to a problem is "well, just don't do that anymore, and then it won't be a problem."
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
61,838
17,551
136
That's a feature, not a bug. It prevents accidental data loss when the mouse wheel is used.
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
99,385
17,555
126
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
That's a feature, not a bug. It prevents accidental data loss when the mouse wheel is used.

you obviously missed the part where the data is lost when the wheel is used...
 

MmmSkyscraper

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2004
9,472
1
76
Originally posted by: sdifox
Originally posted by: nakedfrog
That's a feature, not a bug. It prevents accidental data loss when the mouse wheel is used.

you obviously missed the part where the data is lost when the wheel is used...

Facepalm.
 

mundane

Diamond Member
Jun 7, 2002
5,603
8
81
As usual, the presentation quality is impeccable. The subject, however, is nothing extraordinary.