This Should Be Fun...

Well, let's see how tomorrow goes...

Yes, it's a Monday, but I've been getting alerts on my work computer over the last two weeks reminding me that soon I shall be receiving a notice that I will have to apply a rather large software update to it.  I am apparently the trailing edge on this project, because a number of team members have experienced this update so far.  

It takes five hours to apply, so we've been directed to do it at the end of our work day.  So we'll see how this goes.

Being a former IT dork, I know deeply that these things can be far more complex than anticipated.  And I do remain in deep respectful awe of my employer's IT department.  Two years ago, when this whole pandemic thing rolled up on us, they had about two weeks to arrange for those of us who worked from offices to work from home.  

Mind you, when I was an IT Guy, this was something that was rather unheard of.  I had an employer who did offer some employees the option to work from home, but those who had that option had a number of ... well, let's just say other requirements.  Most of them were the sort of revenue-generating folks who were rather highly compensated.  And as such, they had the opportunity to take advantage of this "broadband" thing that was slowly becoming available.  I had it, because, well, I was an IT geek who had really, really wanted and needed it, but it wasn't available in the apartment complex I'd lived in for ten years.  On the week which we vacated the place, the local telephone company was in the process of wiring the building for DSL, as we were less than a half-mile from their primary switch location.  And about 200 yards from the corner where their nearest local switch stood.

So of course it took for bleeping ever.  

But back to the present, the number of employees who were told to download an app to their cell phones, pack up their desktop computers and head home and get everything ready to log in on Monday - well, yeah.  That was pretty impressive.  I was lucky in that I had an extra long CAT5 cable I ran across the living room into the dining room for my temporary setup, which lasted for a week, then I moved into the basement, then moved again.  Now I've got a rock solid setup in the corner of the basement with some cell phone service, but everything else is fine.  

As for my pending Windows Update, my major concern is regarding the instructions which state that prior to initiating the upgrade, I must remove all USB devices from the computer.  As we're a bit beyond 1984, the desktop computer which I've been using for nearly a year now is exclusively USB, except for the video and network connections.  I'm not exactly sure how I will be selecting and adjusting choices from the selections I've been told to do without working keyboard and mouse connections.  I do not have any PS2 connections on the machine, I don't see any other sort of input port, so ... Looks like I will end up violating the rules of upgrade because step 3 requires me to make choices from a menu.  Without input devices, the choice to start the upgrade will be impossible.

So it looks like I will try the age old "has to do what I has to do" option - after selecting the appropriate options, I shall unplug the USB devices, and then have dinner.  As it will start at the end of tomorrow's work day, I may not know before I go to bed.  But we'll see what we see when we see it...  Fingers crossed.

Sure would like to see someone take the time to proofread some of these instructions and realize that oh, hey, you're gonna need that...  But they have a lot of other things on their plates.  So it goes.