A room full of PC’s in my college are using IE6. That’s ok with me if it’s deliberate and for research purposes or teaching people web design problems / limitations etc… but if you’re using IE6 along with an old operating system and old computer, well that’s just not cool…
And these are PC’s which we’re expected to do work on. Running software to analyse traffic and so on. Things are so bad that i tried to take a screenshot of the image below and save it in MS paint, then copy it to a usb key. I couldn’t. System crashed.
It’s happened before in the same room… i’d be working away on something and the system would freeze up or applications would close without warning. So in 2010, this is the sort of crap we’re putting up with in college, doing an IT course.
The defence? The IT department is moving in to a new building, so all funds and energy are being invested in to that. New equipment, new rooms, new approach… that’s the sales pitch. No doubt it will help lure in future students, but it’s all too late for students leaving this year or that have left over the past few years.
Ok, you can say a bad workman blames his tools but how many of you at home are using IE6 (a dead browser) and a 10/11 year old computer to do IT based work? That’s the problem… we can’t be expected to produce cutting edge work or technology with old tools.
Right now i have to question doing ANY computer based work in college. It’s just not up to scratch. Whether it’s the wireless network or labs like the one i’m talking about, it’s all painful to use. Yet we’re expected to work with this stuff day in day out.