Much Ado About...

Nothing!

Maybe it is just the summer-time lull, but I have not been terribly motivated to write anything lately. Alas, the IIS newsgroup has not been spawning anything interesting nor new in terms of issues either, and my private blog comments are starting to degenerate into "can you help me figure out how application X works with IIS and how to fix it".

You know, it is really hard for me to get excited about those type of questions because I am NOT in product support, nor do I have any idea how application X works through a cursory description of it. Sorry, I do not know how every application works...

Sigh. What I want to do is explain how IIS works and interacts so that you can help yourself figure out what is going on, but clearly many people do not want to learn and just want to use my time to get some answers. Grr...

For example, one very apologetic guy tells me that he followed my blog entry to allow EXEs to be downloadable on IIS6, but other file extensions like .CC2, .VDX, etc were still getting denied by 404s on IIS6. Umm... hello?!? There is a blog entry dedicated to troubleshooting IIS6 linked right off my blog entry, which should have led one to look in the IIS log file for more clues. One should then notice the 404.3 for the request, and a quick search on the Internet or even my blog should locate the solution.

Hmm... maybe it is because I am so close to the issue that I find the steps intuitively obvious, but I suspect otherwise. I think it is just basic common sense and troubleshooting skills one needs to have to survive in a digital world, but I think that progress has made computing so comparatively "easy" that not everyone using a computer or running a server has the proper skills to survive. And, I am not certain that is a good thing to encourage...

I mean, it is like how in the US, people treat driving as a "right" and not a "privilege" and let all sorts of miscreants onto the road with minimal training and supervision. And then we wonder about the insurance and accident rates. Put that in contrast with Germany, where driving is more of a "privilege" than a "right", and we get comparatively better drivers, faster speeds, and less accidents. Ok, the occassional Ghost Drivers, but generally better.

For example, you also see this with Virtual PC/Server users. People ask about how to install Windows 3.1, DOS, or Windows NT4 on Virtual PC when the answers have already been said a decade ago - just need to search for it - and then they get annoyed that Microsoft did not put it on a silver platter for them.

Umm... hello?!? Virtual PC/Server is all about providing a Virtual Machine so that you can install/run whatever software you want. You are still ultimately responsible for figuring out how to do what you want to do.

Anyhow, it is always amusing to see the same user later balk at having to install OS by booting from a floppy. It appears that they s/he never lived through the "earlier" days of PC computing, before there were bootable CDs. It is at this point that one should marvel at the progress in computing and how much more coddled we all are nowadays.

Booting from a CD or USB key? Outrageous! Having drivers automatically detected and installed instead of going into Control Panel? Amazing! We take so much for granted, especially without knowing the basics... and that concerns me.

In my view, one should always start from the basics and build up knowledge from there. Otherwise, one lacks the building blocks to do critical thinking, which condemns one to mindless pattern matching and not mindful problem solving. And we all want problem solvers, right? :-)

Anyways... I think a little elitist is ok; as with everything, just don't go overboard with it.

//David

Comments

• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
  Anybody in IT troubleshooting needs some basic knowledge but more importantly they need knowledge of how to find out information they lack. The art of troubleshooting is following a problem to it's source but some people can't start this process.
  
  My colleague (my former manager) lacks the knowledge on how to do any troubleshooting as he has always passed the work to his assistant. As he no longer has an assistant he's having immense problems solving any issues that arise.
• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
  As an "Old Time" troubleshooter i couldn't agree with you more.  I run into the same frustrations.  Thank you for expressing my feelings also.
  
  I once thought that troubleshooting was an art, but basically it comes down to having the desire to solve an issue, not have someone solve it for you.  Research and trial and error are all part of the process.
• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
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• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
  This post definitely comes of too elitist.  I agree that the key is that people need to have "problem solving skills", but you can't expect everyone to have the same knowledge base as yourself. What are the key "problem solving skills" anyways?  And where is the cutoff for "the basics"? At some point a level of abstraction is necessary.
  
  When you have a 4 year university program there is only a limited amount of foundation that they can cover, and even then there is only a small portion that you will probably use and remember.  
• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
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• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
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• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
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• Anonymous
  June 20, 2006
  Robert - thanks for the thoughts. You eloquently voiced what I had bordered on saying but dropped in my comments. Despite the technological advances and greater productivity, I am even more concerned about survival skills that are lacking and what is taken for granted.
  
  On the one hand, I agree that computers should be more reliable, easier to extend/use, and empower its owner.
  
  On the other hand, I don't want computers to turn into a mindless crutch which actually disempowers its owner.
  
  Sigh. The problem is that the crutch is too simple and alluring. Must... resist...
  
  Ok, for the curious, I went and found the article by John Dvorak:
  http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1787713,00.asp
  
  //David
• Anonymous
  June 21, 2006
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• Anonymous
  June 22, 2006
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• Anonymous
  June 22, 2006
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• Anonymous
  June 22, 2006
  jvierra - Yeah, I look forward to the creativity and transparency unleased by Microsoft's open blogging policy. Along with beta programs which give users early access and feedback mechanism, users today have tremendous access and insight into the development of Microsoft products... from the indivduals themselves, and I believe the more the better.
  
  //David