Monday, May 04, 2015

Tech Blech

Virginia Tech's computer system is so user-hostile, so badly designed, it arouses feelings of nausea when I try to get into it. Misleading, badly laid out, pages with almost identical layout that are actually different (for example, one is QuikPay, and one is QuikPayr). Even the damn MENUS are not in alphabetical order.  It feels like a pile of crud first designed in 1972, and accreted ever since.   I'm always amazed when it works.  And not surprised when it doesn't.

Latest thrill:
ENTER ID
no idea
ID NOT FOUND.  DO YOU WANT US TO SEND YOU YOUR ID?
yes
SENT
(received ID)

ENTER ID
entered
ENTER PASSWORD
entered
PASSWORD NOT FOUND.  DO YOU WANT US TO SEND YOU YOUR PASSWORD?
yes
ID NOT FOUND.

 How shall I put it?  Their computer system blows chunks. 


3 comments:

Tabor said...

Oh, dear, I worked with the system they designed for their libraries and it seemed to work good, but that was years and years and years ago. They did not evolve!

RozWarren said...

Our library has an adequate computer system, thankfully.

But the self check-out is a total piece of crap.

It's so awful that my boss has forbidden me to speak about it to the patrons.

Cerulean Bill said...

My wife refuses to use the self-checkout, because you have to reach up the the top of the screen and key in a PIN. Anyone standing behind you can easily read it. Keyboard? We don't need no stinkin keyboard.

As for Tech - well, I guess they know their system sucks, but they're used to it. And THEY know where everything is, right? Thats all that matters.