NGD: Don't sweat the small stuff.

Vaylos · 11-10-2007, 02:32 AM

Well, not that bugs on a production system is small, but there's been so many update-broken-bash threads, I figured I'd give you all a leg up, and offer some compliments and praises.

Considering you're a team of 8 people catering to the needs of hundreds (thousands?) of users, bugs can be expected. And I can 100% sympathize with your situation. I work at a university lab as a tech, but on the side I help out our internal ITS department. We may have less than 100 users, but our IT team consists of two official people, one of which is an elderly chinese man, and the other is an ex-military motorcyclist (read: biker) and then me giving a hand on the sidelines when I have time for it. We just recently acquired a blade system, which will be used by our bio-informatics department and their clients, however we will be setting up and maintaining it, and we will very soon be getting a SAN, and a new tape-backup system. Networking is definitely no cakewalk. Especially when one guy is windows oriented, and the other is pure linux. (admittedly I kinda waffle, since I use windows for games and audio production at home, but I also use linux)

I know full well how easily problems can crop up, and that oftentimes the singular base problem can disguise itself as multiple smaller problems. We found that out while setting up a new courier/postfix e-mail server on RHEL5. And, quite frankly, updates are a b*ch. (especially if our admin forgot to backup one of the config files D'OH!)

I think most people around here deep down know that you're all doing your best, and that, given the small size of your team, and the problems QA-ing everything, some rocky roads can be expected sometimes. As for beta, or not-beta, if you ask me, that's just nitpicking and labeling. Who cares? The point is, the game, despite occasinal problems, exists, is playable, and enjoyable. And given the relatively short time it takes these guys fix problems, you just know they have to be busting their cajones getting things done.

In a nutshell: Kudos to NGD, and hats off to you guys for keeping this going relatively smoothly, especially given your limited resources and personnel. I've seen other teams try to do the same thing you guys do (even slightly larger teams) and ultimately they either fail miserably, crash and burn, nosedive off a cliff, or just disappear into the mists of time. :P What makes NGD stand out, is that they are succeeding where many have tried and failed. So, best wishes to you guys. Good luck, and good bug-hunting to you all.

11-10-2007, 02:32 AM	#1
Vaylos Banned Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Coralville, IA Posts: 202	NGD: Don't sweat the small stuff. Well, not that bugs on a production system is small, but there's been so many update-broken-bash threads, I figured I'd give you all a leg up, and offer some compliments and praises. Considering you're a team of 8 people catering to the needs of hundreds (thousands?) of users, bugs can be expected. And I can 100% sympathize with your situation. I work at a university lab as a tech, but on the side I help out our internal ITS department. We may have less than 100 users, but our IT team consists of two official people, one of which is an elderly chinese man, and the other is an ex-military motorcyclist (read: biker) and then me giving a hand on the sidelines when I have time for it. We just recently acquired a blade system, which will be used by our bio-informatics department and their clients, however we will be setting up and maintaining it, and we will very soon be getting a SAN, and a new tape-backup system. Networking is definitely no cakewalk. Especially when one guy is windows oriented, and the other is pure linux. (admittedly I kinda waffle, since I use windows for games and audio production at home, but I also use linux) I know full well how easily problems can crop up, and that oftentimes the singular base problem can disguise itself as multiple smaller problems. We found that out while setting up a new courier/postfix e-mail server on RHEL5. And, quite frankly, updates are a b*ch. (especially if our admin forgot to backup one of the config files D'OH!) I think most people around here deep down know that you're all doing your best, and that, given the small size of your team, and the problems QA-ing everything, some rocky roads can be expected sometimes. As for beta, or not-beta, if you ask me, that's just nitpicking and labeling. Who cares? The point is, the game, despite occasinal problems, exists, is playable, and enjoyable. And given the relatively short time it takes these guys fix problems, you just know they have to be busting their cajones getting things done. In a nutshell: Kudos to NGD, and hats off to you guys for keeping this going relatively smoothly, especially given your limited resources and personnel. I've seen other teams try to do the same thing you guys do (even slightly larger teams) and ultimately they either fail miserably, crash and burn, nosedive off a cliff, or just disappear into the mists of time. :P What makes NGD stand out, is that they are succeeding where many have tried and failed. So, best wishes to you guys. Good luck, and good bug-hunting to you all.