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[#] Sun Dec 05 2021 18:34:56 EST from Nurb432

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One reason became really clear last week: It detects if you are buying something then automatically offers a payment plan..



[#] Mon Dec 06 2021 21:45:06 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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I love that a Linux guy thinks Exchange was so difficult that only Microsoft could reliably run it. 

I loved it. Totally scalable, easy to support, easy to restore. You just have to put a lot of effort into *learning* it... but once you do... it is SUPER powerful and convenient. I could make Exchange do *anything* I wanted it to do. 




Sun Dec 05 2021 18:11:37 EST from IGnatius T Foobar
so now edge says bad things when you try to download chrome....


Who would have thought that the end game for Exchange would be "this software is so unstable that we can't let you run it anymore; just pay us forever and we'll run it for you."

 



[#] Tue Dec 07 2021 09:07:24 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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...and it crashed and corrupted if you even breathed on it. I spent a lot of time in the late 90's and early 00's fixing Exchange servers for customers that just fell over and died for no reason.

I could write a better mail server in my spare time. Oh wait ... I DID.

[#] Tue Dec 14 2021 23:02:19 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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It didn't - if you knew how to manage it. The problem is that most Exchange servers were not managed or administered correctly. I'd give you the argument that it was so complex that managing it correctly was a nearly impossible task... 

But - once you gronked it - it was excellent. I administered a 250 user Exchange server for 5 years. Heavy volume users. Lots of medical data. Never had a single problem with it after I spent... I dunno... seems like it was probably a 6 week week period building, destroying and rebuilding test servers until I knew it inside and out. 




Tue Dec 07 2021 09:07:24 EST from IGnatius T Foobar
...and it crashed and corrupted if you even breathed on it. I spent a lot of time in the late 90's and early 00's fixing Exchange servers for customers that just fell over and died for no reason.

I could write a better mail server in my spare time. Oh wait ... I DID.

 



[#] Wed Dec 15 2021 09:58:14 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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How much did Microsoft pay you to say that?

[#] Wed Dec 15 2021 17:24:10 EST from Nurb432

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lol

Wed Dec 15 2021 09:58:14 AM EST from IGnatius T Foobar
How much did Microsoft pay you to say that?

 



[#] Fri Dec 17 2021 00:06:36 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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They actually ended up bringing Diloutte and Touche in and fining us around $750k for license violations that I warned the C level staff we needed to fix. 

We negotiated down and settled to the tune of $250k. 

I had been tempted for years to turn the company in and collect the reward. I wonder which one of my staff actual did act on that thought. 

 

Wed Dec 15 2021 09:58:14 EST from IGnatius T Foobar
How much did Microsoft pay you to say that?

 



[#] Fri Dec 17 2021 06:49:03 EST from Nurb432

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We got fined by both them and a network monitoring company where im at now, perhaps 15 years ago ( net-something or other ) The net* company agreed to let the fine go if we renewed, as we planned on dropping them.

 

MS tried to audit a company where i was the CTO, and *knew* i was compliant. i told them to F-off unless they had a court order.

 

Fri Dec 17 2021 12:06:36 AM EST from ParanoidDelusions

They actually ended up bringing Diloutte and Touche in and fining us around $750k for license violations that I warned the C level staff we needed to fix. 

We negotiated down and settled to the tune of $250k. 

I had been tempted for years to turn the company in and collect the reward. I wonder which one of my staff actual did act on that thought. 

 

Wed Dec 15 2021 09:58:14 EST from IGnatius T Foobar
How much did Microsoft pay you to say that?

 



 



[#] Fri Dec 17 2021 19:14:09 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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They actually ended up bringing Diloutte and Touche in and fining us

Diluted Douche made Microsoft pay you to praise Exchange? No wonder your perspective is so skewed.

The truth remains ... Exchange is LEGENDARY as an unstable piece of crap that gets corrupted and stops working if you even breathe on it wrong. Then they kept it that way by sending out armies of people who bought their Clown College Diplomas (MCSE) to keep it propped up. Now, they discourage you from running it yourself, so instead you can just pay them month after month forever to run it for you.

Then they added Sharepoint, which existed only because Exchange was so unmaintainable that they couldn't even add any major functionality to it without it exploding entirely.

It's likely that Exchange 365 doesn't even share any code with on-prem Exchange.
They probably drew upon the non-suck world's existing code base, scaled it out with some directory services, and added Exchange-compatible protocols on top.

[#] Fri Dec 17 2021 19:36:31 EST from Nurb432

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I believe ours does. I know we have both. 

But i'm not in that world now, thankfully. I stopped supporting exchange when it still had real version numbers and not dates. ( 5.5 rings a bell.. )

Fri Dec 17 2021 07:14:09 PM EST from IGnatius T Foobar
It's likely that Exchange 365 doesn't even share any code with on-prem Exchange.

 



[#] Fri Dec 17 2021 19:37:44 EST from Nurb432

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Ok ignore that last post.  I shouldn't post when drugged.  I thought you said "data" not "code".  

 

sheesh.  im done. cya all tomorrow. before i make a total fool of myself



[#] Sun Dec 19 2021 01:03:21 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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5.5 was what I was God tier on. I had one of my guys migrate to the version after that - and all I know was that it was even better. 

And for corporate e-mail - Exchange 5.5 was rock solid - if you actually *knew* Exchange. 

 

Fri Dec 17 2021 19:36:31 EST from Nurb432

I believe ours does. I know we have both. 

But i'm not in that world now, thankfully. I stopped supporting exchange when it still had real version numbers and not dates. ( 5.5 rings a bell.. )

Fri Dec 17 2021 07:14:09 PM EST from IGnatius T Foobar
It's likely that Exchange 365 doesn't even share any code with on-prem Exchange.

 



 



[#] Sun Dec 19 2021 16:30:13 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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And for corporate e-mail - Exchange 5.5 was rock solid - if you
actually *knew* Exchange. 

...and if you shut down the server right after installing it, and kept it that way.

But if you actually tried to keep it running, it would crash at the drop of an electron.

[#] Sun Dec 19 2021 16:33:17 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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In other news, Microsoft's "Cascadia Mono" font looks better on the Linux KDE console than it does on Microsoft's own Windows Terminal. Not just marginally better either; it really pops.

[#] Sun Dec 19 2021 16:49:24 EST from Nurb432

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lol



[#] Sun Dec 19 2021 17:33:01 EST from Nurb432

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I honestly dont remember much trouble with mine.  However, we were a small shop. Perhaps 100 local mailboxes ( most of our employees worked in the plant, didnt need mail ). It 'just worked'.

 

I *do* remember when the i-love-you virus came out and it was when i was babysitting the 5.5 install ( i was it. the entire IT staff ).  I unplugged from our corporate network as fast i humanly could.. For a good 3 days until the rest of the world got it under control.  Funny story but it culminated with me noticing the incoming Q filing,  reading it, "oh crap attack of some sort, the president... arrgh!'   running thru the office and unplugging our president's PC "then running back to computer room and yanking the network cable out of my exchange server. Broke the wire actually, the connector was still in the server. Then i shut down the ISDN line, not as forcefully :) Everyone knew something bad had just happened, i dont run.. panic, or do things like that out of the blue.  President just sat there at his desk patiently, waiting for me to return to explain.  He was Japanese, and was just about to click on a message from an Indian at another division. I could see it in his in box and his mouse over it as i grabbed the power. Language barriers, they never thought twice about the subject being odd, like we would.   Couple other people came up afterwards, "um, what just happened, are we ok? "

Was running CA backup "something-or-other". ( its what was there when i started. it worked. didn't bother shopping for something else )  Also ran CA antivirus, which at time worked on the English PCs fine, but not so well on the Japanese ones. ( funny story with that. remind me later )

Dude before me liked trek: He named all the servers and print Qs after star trek characters.   Printer out in shipping = Worf.  PDC = Picard, primary file-server = Kirk,  Exchange = Enterprise ( in a strange way, to me that fit. i actually left it alone after i re-did the rest ).  I of course named them to things like "shipping Printer"  i'm boring :) 

When it came time to replace the file servers it was of course going to break 1/2 the excel sheets and shortcuts in the place unless i rebuilt with the same stupid-ass name. Everyone used unc path instead of drive letters  ( which was refreshing for a change, BUT it broke the easy-out ). I dont know if it can do it now or if it was just a hack i ran across and didnt realize it was not 'supported', but i setup a redhat ( it was still free back then.. ) SAMBA server that had 2 net-bios names. i needed to rebuild a 2nd file server too. ( it actually had a decent name, just full ). Let me collapse both into one, and gave people forever to migrate names, or not, it didnt matter. For the primary stupid named server, when it got full instead of adding space, he added a new server with a new name and no migration plans.. really?  Yes i might have been able to do it with DNS records, but from what i remember i tried that, and something didnt work right. Been too long now, some 20 years and i dont remember details.

Used to crack and email everyone's passwords to them once a month "Ok, here is what you used, try to do better next time".

Or the guy that was surfing porn at night after i got us "real" internet. "dude, look i dont care that you are doing if off hours, as bandwidth wont hurt us, but i have to give logs to HR.. you need to quit doing it"  couple of weeks later "ya, um i got yelled at, i know. i'm a dumbass"

We were all in our mid/upper 20s too..  and no rules against fraternization with coworkers..  I miss that place. Fun times. Only place i ever liked working at, planned on staying forever. Until "the destructor" came and blew the place up, they ended up having to file bankruptcy a year after i was gone he did so much damage.. Been in business some 10 years prior. and was making money.

 

aaaannnnddd im rambling.  sorry folks.

 

Sun Dec 19 2021 04:30:13 PM EST from IGnatius T Foobar
And for corporate e-mail - Exchange 5.5 was rock solid - if you
actually *knew* Exchange. 

...and if you shut down the server right after installing it, and kept it that way.

But if you actually tried to keep it running, it would crash at the drop of an electron.

 



[#] Sun Dec 19 2021 23:25:21 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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I'm pretty sure Ig just wasn't a very good Exchange admin. ;) 

It's ok. I'm terrible at writing code. 

 

Sun Dec 19 2021 17:33:01 EST from Nurb432

I honestly dont remember much trouble with mine.  However, we were a small shop. Perhaps 100 local mailboxes ( most of our employees worked in the plant, didnt need mail ). It 'just worked'.

 

I *do* remember when the i-love-you virus came out and it was when i was babysitting the 5.5 install ( i was it. the entire IT staff ).  I unplugged from our corporate network as fast i humanly could.. For a good 3 days until the rest of the world got it under control.  Funny story but it culminated with me noticing the incoming Q filing,  reading it, "oh crap attack of some sort, the president... arrgh!'   running thru the office and unplugging our president's PC "then running back to computer room and yanking the network cable out of my exchange server. Broke the wire actually, the connector was still in the server. Then i shut down the ISDN line, not as forcefully :) Everyone knew something bad had just happened, i dont run.. panic, or do things like that out of the blue.  President just sat there at his desk patiently, waiting for me to return to explain.  He was Japanese, and was just about to click on a message from an Indian at another division. I could see it in his in box and his mouse over it as i grabbed the power. Language barriers, they never thought twice about the subject being odd, like we would.   Couple other people came up afterwards, "um, what just happened, are we ok? "

Was running CA backup "something-or-other". ( its what was there when i started. it worked. didn't bother shopping for something else )  Also ran CA antivirus, which at time worked on the English PCs fine, but not so well on the Japanese ones. ( funny story with that. remind me later )

Dude before me liked trek: He named all the servers and print Qs after star trek characters.   Printer out in shipping = Worf.  PDC = Picard, primary file-server = Kirk,  Exchange = Enterprise ( in a strange way, to me that fit. i actually left it alone after i re-did the rest ).  I of course named them to things like "shipping Printer"  i'm boring :) 

When it came time to replace the file servers it was of course going to break 1/2 the excel sheets and shortcuts in the place unless i rebuilt with the same stupid-ass name. Everyone used unc path instead of drive letters  ( which was refreshing for a change, BUT it broke the easy-out ). I dont know if it can do it now or if it was just a hack i ran across and didnt realize it was not 'supported', but i setup a redhat ( it was still free back then.. ) SAMBA server that had 2 net-bios names. i needed to rebuild a 2nd file server too. ( it actually had a decent name, just full ). Let me collapse both into one, and gave people forever to migrate names, or not, it didnt matter. For the primary stupid named server, when it got full instead of adding space, he added a new server with a new name and no migration plans.. really?  Yes i might have been able to do it with DNS records, but from what i remember i tried that, and something didnt work right. Been too long now, some 20 years and i dont remember details.

Used to crack and email everyone's passwords to them once a month "Ok, here is what you used, try to do better next time".

Or the guy that was surfing porn at night after i got us "real" internet. "dude, look i dont care that you are doing if off hours, as bandwidth wont hurt us, but i have to give logs to HR.. you need to quit doing it"  couple of weeks later "ya, um i got yelled at, i know. i'm a dumbass"

We were all in our mid/upper 20s too..  and no rules against fraternization with coworkers..  I miss that place. Fun times. Only place i ever liked working at, planned on staying forever. Until "the destructor" came and blew the place up, they ended up having to file bankruptcy a year after i was gone he did so much damage.. Been in business some 10 years prior. and was making money.

 

aaaannnnddd im rambling.  sorry folks.

 

Sun Dec 19 2021 04:30:13 PM EST from IGnatius T Foobar
And for corporate e-mail - Exchange 5.5 was rock solid - if you
actually *knew* Exchange. 

...and if you shut down the server right after installing it, and kept it that way.

But if you actually tried to keep it running, it would crash at the drop of an electron.

 



 



[#] Sun Dec 19 2021 23:46:20 EST from ParanoidDelusions

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As for the rest of your story - reminds me of my early days at MCI, Legato/EMC and Intel. At Intel they hired me for this team that was tasked with turning the company entirely eBiz by 2003, starting in 2000. They didn't care about our education, they didn't care about our specific experience, and they told us, "The normal Intel P-100 rules don't apply to you - you just need to make this happen by the deadline..." 

So basically what they did was searched around the bay area and hired guys with a reputation for being unmanageable and working outside the parameters of their companies - guys who had a reputation for doing outrageous things and pulling it off. I had developed a reputation as a very non-orthodox "break fix" guy at MCI and Legato... and at the time I was so young it never occurred to me that this reputation was preceding me. We had a security issue at California Firearms Information System at MCI... the boxes were coming back with Doom installed on them, and it was supposed to be locked down. Old Grid boxes - but the big square blocks, not the things with the orange plasma screens. Anyhow... I took one home for the weekend, and fucked around with it until I figured out how they were getting in. The developer was PISSED at me for finding it - because I guess he thought I was an ambitious young kid trying to upstage him and steal his job. I was just trying to help. I mean, the guys at the gunshops weren't exactly world class hackers and keen intellects - and THEY were figuring out the loophole... so it wasn't THAT hard... 

But at Qualix/Legato/Fulltime/EMC - I fixed a couple of things with Fulltime Cluster, Octopus, and a couple other products - and the development teams came asking, "How did you make that work?" I'd tell them and they would go, "That shouldn't work. You're not supposed to do it..." So I'd take them to a lab, and show them. Not knowing what ISN'T supposed to work can be a huge benefit in this industry - because you'll TRY it. 

Basically the same strategy I used to get Citadel up and running. I broke *everything* - and then had to figure out how to undo whatever I had screwed up. 

BUT... I should have seen that clearly there was no long career with Intel for me - or really any of the top-gun mavericks I worked with. We were too far outside the corporate culture of the place - and we would never be a good fit in their regular, highly procedural IT departments. They wanted a black-ops special forces team that would break all the rules to deliver their very aggressive roadmap for going completely online - and they got it. After that they were like, "what the hell are we going to do with these guys?" 

They actually came to me and another guy I worked with and wanted us to try and hack the secure passwords built in on the laptop disks from their Thinkpads at the time. We figured out how to do it, but it was cost preventative. They had boxes and boxes full of them. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of drives -  that they couldn't reuse because the last user didn't give them the password or unlock the encryption when they returned the laptop. 

 



[#] Mon Dec 20 2021 09:03:03 EST from Nurb432

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It helped i was an electrical engineer by training. Understood plant 'business' but I could work along side a lineman, an engineer, or even office people, and have a clue what they were talking about and needed since we were all in the same boat.

Admittedly i learned a lot at my first 'real' job at GM years before ( mainly dealing with the stupid-ass politics ), but i still had the mentality going in. Grew up in a paint/body shop my dad owned.  High school, was involved with my future Father-in-law service shop ( cars ). And came from a family where our first thought was to do it ourselves, not matter what it was.  At GM we were an OS/2 shop ( and IBM mainframe, and some vax thrown in for good measure ) which helped a lot when i ended up at ford as a contractor as it was about the same. Must have been something with that. Donno about Chrysler.

Being only about 300 people total at that last plant ( varied on season and workload out on the floor ) we were a family.  Never really got that anywhere before or since. it was also cool tech. At the time the only company in the US that woudl injection molding of aluminum. Cool stuff

Before that, ( and after GM ) when i was with a contractor, they always sent me to all the 'plant' customers, which i was thankful of.  After that contracting company went belly up and closed down ( idiots profiting off the IPO, killed a 20+ year company, one of the largest service companies at the time .. but i told that story before ) ended up in a company that did PMI insurance sales to credit unions ( still IT .. not selling the insurance. there was so much profit they gave the credit unions free PCs, free servers and us.. ) and hated every minute of it. The customers were great, and my management was really good, but did not like the business. It was a novell shop, and i was a CNE which got me the job, but they were wanting to migrate to windows, and since i was a MSCE at the time too ( and several others, i was the token cert guy at the previous place being senior.), i became the windows guy, ironically. No one else had a clue.. So it was all on me.  ( NT 4 days ).    Also helped them move from dos PCs to windows.. THAT was a culture shock to many.

Was so glad when i found the new plant to work in, ( the one i loved ).   Until it went south. Again, by management that killed it ..  a pattern :(

And now i sit.. in freaking government ..  Ya. How some of us have fallen :(  But at least it wont go under.. if that happens, there are bigger problems to worry about.  Tho i will say my time at GM sort of prepared me for the insane politics.. 

and once again, rambling and things are out of order a bit up there.... perhaps i should just create a blog instead of dirtying up waters in the rooms...

 

Sun Dec 19 2021 11:46:20 PM EST from ParanoidDelusions

As for the rest of your story -  



 



[#] Mon Dec 20 2021 13:29:19 EST from IGnatius T Foobar

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I'm pretty sure Ig just wasn't a very good Exchange admin. ;) 

I am an exceptional Exchange admin, Mrs. McLane. And since I'm moving up to global cyberterrorism you should be more polite.

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