[orionblastar]

Bad news if you use it at work. Management will see all the search queries using the Internet and think you are doing a lot of surfing.

This is basically like those old Technet and MSDN programs for Windows, they searched the online Microsoft database for new content. I found that out the hard way when I was asking why I was using so much Internet and then I found out it was my MSDN lookups when encountering bugs in the Windows API calls etc and even if business related, management was counting them. Management didn't know the difference between MSDN and MSN even if they paid a lot for my MSDN subscription. Management was constantly searching MSN for stock quotes and news items BTW because it was the default web page in Internet Explorer.

[yen223]

I wouldn't want to work for a company that restricts access to StackOverflow, or MSDN for that matter.

[orionblastar]

Neither would I, but this was back during the Dotcom crashes when jobs were hard to find because the market was flooded with people looking for work.

You also don't know it until after you are hired, and you find out they install remote access trojans on your Windows workstation, and count the number of characters you type, and monitor your Internet use and don't know the difference between a work related site, a non-work related site, or just accessing ASP rendered pages on the Intranet I was developing for them. Basically it was a Big Brother type of organization, a law firm in downtown Saint Louis MO.

[hooo]

That doesn't sound like a good work environment.

[orionblastar]

It was very stressful, the IT department at the law firm I worked at had a 90% turnaround for over four years that I worked there. They treated us like dirt/crap. For example I had to call Seagate Software for Crystal Report issues and their tech support number was in Canada. Everything a law firm does is tagged to a client and matter number for accounting purposes. I used the office numbers because it was business related. Since it was in Canada there was no 1-800 or toll free number, so they took the cost of the calls (what they usually bill the clients for LD calls) out of my paycheck because it was Canada. I asked to be reimbursed because it is business related, and they refused, telling me not to call Canada anymore as they only want to deal with US based companies. Keep in mind that Crystal Reports was bundled with Visual Studio 5.0/6.0 back then and they paid for Crystal Reports 7.0 to give everyone that nifty Web based server that gave them RTF, Word, Excel, and PDF files on the fly. It had a lot of bugs, and you had to talk to Seagate (I think they changed names or got bought out since there, Business Objects, SaS, whatever) which was located in Canada. I got so upset that I bought a LD calling card to make those calls.

Moving from Windows 95 and Office 97 to Windows 2000 and Office 2000 was a nightmare, because there were bugs and I was told Microsoft was aware of it and will fix it in the next service pack. We had gone to the latest and greatest of Microsoft's software instead of waiting for service packs to be released to address bugs so it is more stable. My Fax program used a Word Object to copy RightFAX codes into a document and print with a RightFax printer driver to fax out documents. Problem was Word 2000 had a bug that messed up the toolbar after a document was closed using the Word object in Visual BASIC. Microsoft admitted the bug, but didn't release a service pack to fix it yet. Management didn't understand that and had me search MSDN for a solution or maybe a beta service pack to address the issue. Then I am chewed out for wasting five hours searching the MSDN knowledgebase for a solution. I forget how we fixed it, but the work-a-round from Microsoft was to minimum Word 2000 and then restore it and the toolbar bug went away after that. After the service packs were released the bug went away.

While working for that company I suffered a nervous breakdown from the abuse and stress, and ended up on short-term disability, when I returned I was fired two weeks later for having a panic attack at work. They had moved me to an open area, no more cubical, near a bookshelf, and people mocked me and laughed at me as they walked by.

I had the right to sue, but because I am mentally ill, no lawyer would take the case. I am considering writing an ebook on the computer industry, as well as another ebook on what lead up to me becoming mentally ill and no longer able to work as a result.

Yes it was not a good work environment, it ruined my life and career.