From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Computer problems at work
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 23:07:36 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2005 10:40 PM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Computer problems at work

[...]
>
> It would have been even nicer if the program had just done the more usual
> "your license has expired" message, with info on how to renew it if you
> wanted to use the program some more.  Of course, if that's the main
program
> you are using at work, running on a 30 day trial license seems...odd.
I'd
> have expected them to just buy a network license and install it as
needed,
> or at least buy a copy for each employee.  Or is this just due to your
> being new?

It was the first I'd heard of it -- I didn't start with a 30-day license --
and it may have been an error committed by one of the rather clueless
people in Production, but these licenses cost several thousand bucks
apiece.  Total Eclipse is a highly specialized court reporting system that
can take direct input from steno machines, and makes extensive use of the F
keys.  It is also prone to a variety of glitches.  The one I find most
annoying is when one is returning the completed file to the floppy -- which
also holds the incoming (unformatted, unproofed and in Word) file.
Normally this will go smoothly, but when a file is over a certain size it
will no longer fit on that floppy.  Rather than flashing a window warning
the user of this, Total Eclipse simply freezes up.

--Ted White