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Subject:Re: Tech writing data storage pet peeve From:Scott Havens <SHavens -at- ELCOTEL -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 31 Mar 1999 09:31:12 -0500
Darren sums it up pretty well: unreliable networks, file corruptions
and unacceptably slow speeds. Things have improved quite a bit from
what they were a few years back, but it's hard to get over old (CYA)
habits that you learned years ago. My inclination would STILL be to do
it the way Darren mentions (i. e., download in the morning, then upload
the new versions in the afternoon), mainly because those problems still
happen, albeit with less frequency nowadays. In fact, that's
essentially what I did as a contractor for my present employer (only in
that case I was coming in only once a WEEK, so I worked at home [with
backups to those # -at- $% floppies] and did weekly uploads to the common
server in the office).
So don't get so irritated, Beth. People should obviously make sure
their documents are properly backed up and available to other work group
members. If they don't, you have every reason to be upset, but as the
man says, they may have good (but possibly outdated) reasons for what
they do!
Have a nice holiday weekend.
SRH
> In the past, I have used the opposite process to you - copy the files
> from the server to my computer in the morning, work on them through
> the day, then copy them back at the end of the day. It's just too
> annoying when you're working on a file across the network and you lose
> the server connection. ...sometimes the file would be corrupted.
> ...Speed was also an issue...
>
> Have you asked the people why they work that way? There could be a
> valid reason, or they may have ungrounded fears you could dispel.
>
> Darren Collins
...
> > -----Original Message-----
> > I am really irritated with tech writers who refuse to
> > store/work with their
> > docs on the server everyone is supposed to be using.
> (snip)
> > My process: I work off the server, and at the end of each
> > day, I save a copy
> > of my docs folder to my hard drive.
> (snip)
> >
> > Beth Kane
>