alan little’s weblog

installation day

8th August 2003 permanent link

Thursday was Day One of a new consulting gig - actually not so new, back with a client I’ve done work for a couple of times before. Go and visit the old team; learn interesting & useful German phrases such as der Täter kehrt zum Tatort zurück (“the criminal returns to the scene of the crime”). Nice to know one’s work has been appreciated in one’s absence. Apart from this absolutely job-relevant cross-team liaison activity, it’s Software Installation Day. Hurrah. It’s a Windows shop. I do so enjoy watching Windows reboot. (Good job I have the new phone to play with). At least they’re on Windows 2000 now - last time I was here they were still using NT.

So, what are the basics that we need for a minimally civilised existence in Windowsland?

• Mozilla Firebird. Check
• ActiveState perl. Check
• Oracle client. Check
• Apache. Check
• UltraEdit. Oops. Since I ditched my own Windows box in favour of a Mac my UltraEdit license has expired. Will have to get a new one - Mr. Mead deserves to get paid for his excellent work.
• Java SDK. Oops
• ... Java SDK refuses to install without having local admin rights to set JAVA_HOME. This company has a policy of not giving anybody local admin rights without a long & tedious struggle with bureaucracy. Reasonable enough for everyday users I suppose; but as a developer how on earth do they think you’re supposed to be able to do your job without admin rights on your own PC? Try the old favourite NT logon screen admin rights hack (probably the easiest root hack ever to work on any OS, go Microsoft) - doesn’t work on 2000. Mentally prepare for long & tedious struggle with bureaucracy.
• TOAD. Not free & not cheap, so also requires long & tedious struggle with bureaucracy in the form of a purchase order. Get manager to place purchase order. Meanwhile find former colleague who has working version on a CD - strictly an interim measure, the people at Quest Software also deserve to get paid for their efforts.

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