Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!ultra!shj
From: shj@ultra.com (Steve Jay)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Single user vs. shared
Message-ID: <1990Mar21.055621.6840@ultra.com>
Date: 21 Mar 90 05:56:21 GMT
References: <51771@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <100598@convex.convex.com> <52661@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <1990Mar18.023523.4034@ultra.com> <52817@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <2165@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> <1990Mar20.174931.2202@utzoo.uucp> <1990Mar21.010346.6552@ultra.com> <34853@news.Thin
Organization: Ultra Network Technologies
Lines: 31

barmar@ (Barry Margolin) writes:

>How do you ensure that backups are performed without forcing
>every user to go through the hassle of upgrading their systems?  What do
>you do about the users who don't feel like upgrading just yet (perhaps
>they haven't gotten around to getting the upgraded version of some
>application so that it will work with the new system)?

The next words in my previous article were "Not easy, but possible".

I don't claim to be able to answer these questions in all cases, but
I think "central administration, single user workstations" can be
handled most of the time.  For the specific example, you can do network
backups without requiring the same OS verison on all machines.  In fact,
you can do network backups of machines from different vendors. The key
is probably mutual trust & cooperation between the user & administrator. 
Oops, I just shot my original argument, which was that users want
single user systems because they can't get what they want from their
administrator.

The bottom line is that both central servers & single user worksations
are likely to be around for a long time.  Tastes great, less filling.

Anyway, we've kind of drifted off of a subject for comp.arch.   It's
an interesting issue.  Is there a more appropriate newsgroup for it?

Steve Jay
shj@ultra.com  ...ames!ultra!shj
Ultra Network Technologies / 101 Dagget Drive / San Jose, CA 95134 / USA
(408) 922-0100 x130	"Home of the 1 Gigabit/Second network"