The Geek\’s Lab

Each year, I am required to take a database (MS Access) that contains every piece of hardware and software that the school owns. Anything that has been moved to a different location, room, or maybe transferred to the district warehouse has to be updated or removed. Any new hardware has to be added to the database along with any software — even software that was pre-installed on new PCs, that is, if it had a license purchased for it.

I rarely enjoy approaching this task. In fact, I dread it. I did not create the database that we are using. I inherited it. In my opinion, when it’s compared to the size of our school, it seems unusually large. So this year, I am considering doing an inventory of the inventory.

The school district has never really made it a point to provide in-depth training on how those of us who are responsible for the yearly inventory should go about getting it completed and turned in on time. So each year, I’m left trying to sort things out on my own, trying to make sure things are as accurate as I can make them, and hoping to get it all done before the deadline.

I have very little support from my colleagues. In the past, I’ve made efforts to collaborate with them, either in person or via email. I even went so far as to create an online forum that, I thought, was easy to navigate, easy to use, and had the potential to grow into a community that anyone in the field of education and technology could benefit from. All for naught… So, when something like the daunting task of yearly inventory comes around, I feel like I’m lost at sea. Asking the people at central office for help rarely helps, as they are small in number and have little time to help with a problem that isn’t a serious or pressing issue.

I can’t help but wonder how many other people are out there that have to deal with this sort of thing — be it the annual inventory or the lack of help/support/communication from co-workers, colleagues, and the like.

Am I alone or are there others out there? If I’m not alone, then what can I/we do to change this? Ideas, anyone? Or am I a falling tree in the woods?

Almost every PC here at school runs on Windows XP (SP 2) and is loaded with Microsoft Office 2003. In fact, we just got a new shipment of PCs in this past month and they all came pre-loaded with Office 2K3. However, with Office 2007 having recently been released, I thought I would install it on my computer to see how it fared and see if I wanted to install it lab-wide.

Well, I don’t.

I think I’m going to stick with what we’ve got for now.

It’s unreal the amount of resources the new version requires. I’ve had 2003 running from the moment it was released. I’ve never once had much of a problem out of any of the programs within the suite. At the most, the only problem I’d ever had was Outlook 2003 running a little behind if I had a lot going on. Otherwise, things went off without a hitch. This is not the case with Office 2007!

It takes well over a minute for Word or Excel to start up. Outlook 2007 is a horse of a different color. For a program with the purpose of increasing productivity, it prevents me from any increased productivity due to the amount of time I spend waiting for it to start-up, open the compose message window, or to shut down.

My friend Chris hasn’t had a lot of positive experience with this latest version either.

Why, MS, why?