Eric Knorr
Contributing writer

I can’t believe I just did that

analysis
Jun 16, 20083 mins

I've had my share of stupid moments. Abandoning the wrong doc file. Frying a sound card by creating a feedback loop (I think I still have hearing loss from the shriek). Altering a router configuration until Vista considered the router...

I’ve had my share of stupid moments. Abandoning the wrong doc file. Frying a sound card by creating a feedback loop (I think I still have hearing loss from the shriek). Altering a router configuration until Vista considered the router evil and blocked access (this just happened). I’ve never reached the point of frustration that this guy did. But yeah, I’ve made some pretty dumb mistakes.

Fortunately for all concerned, I’ve never been an admin, so my goofs affected me and no one else. For two years, we’ve been poking fun at end-user slipups in our Stupid user tricks series. This time, in Stupid user tricks 3: IT admin edition, contributor Andy Brandt turns the spotlight on the vaudevillian missteps of the beleaguered IT worker.

“We thought it only fair to turn the tables and indulge IT in a little self-loathing,” says Senior Editor Jason Sndyer, who edited the piece. “Call it fratricide, but you have to admit, getting paid to know better than to store Social Security numbers in plain view is no guarantee against doing it. And besides, we’ve all worked with at least one cohort who proved prone to the rookie mistake, haven’t we?”

Good point, Jason. Besides, it’s all about the magnitude of the buffoonery. The bigger the pratfall, the harder the belly laugh; and I can guarantee some precious moments in this year’s batch. As usual, for those of you who insist on being serious, we conclude each anecdote with a moral to ensure the worst doesn’t happen to you, too. But don’t let good advice spoil the fun.

The BlackBerry strikes back

I’m sick of all the gushing about the iPhone. Okay, okay, I get it, it’s revolutionary. Yes, I love the form factor and the UI and the new carrier-subsidized price for the 2.0 version. But can it compare to the tried-and-true BlackBerry for work applications?

Not when it comes to messaging, concludes Senior Writer Tom Kaneshige in Bye-bye BlackBerry? Not so fast. For starters, you tell me how a touchscreen compares to the best thumb keyboard in the biz. Read Tom’s piece to get the whole point-by-point comparison. It’s a must-read analysis for both BlackBerry and iPhone enthusiasts.

And before you flame us for anti-Apple bias, be sure to check out Executive Editor Galen Gruman’s feature, iPhone 2.0: ready for work if you haven’t already. We recognize that the iPhone is an inevitability. But one person’s fab user experience is another’s exercise in frustration. As with humor, how much fun you have depends on who you are.

Eric Knorr

Eric Knorr is a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist. Previously he was the Editor in Chief of Foundry’s enterprise websites: CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. A technology journalist since the start of the PC era, he has developed content to serve the needs of IT professionals since the turn of the 21st century. He is the former Editor of PC World magazine, the creator of the best-selling The PC Bible, a founding editor of CNET, and the author of hundreds of articles to inform and support IT leaders and those who build, evaluate, and sustain technology for business. Eric has received Neal, ASBPE, and Computer Press Awards for journalistic excellence. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a BA in English.

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