[BC] Maintaining old transmitters (IT guys)

[Sid Schweiger]

Tom Taggart writes:  "One other point of frustration and expense with the computer "upgrade cycle" is planned obsolescence. Am reluctantly replacing main air computer, but it is 5 years old."

As an IT person who also works the engineering side of the street, I must agree.  Unfortunately, the increased functionality that often accompanies new computer equipment doesn't take into consideration the often huge investment broadcasters and others have in infrastructure over and above the computers themselves.  No one who pays hundreds of dollars for a professional sound card is going to want to give it up after the typical three-year life of a PC.  More unfortunately, with Microsoft leading the charge, almost the entire personal computing business has bought into the planned obsolescence thing.  We still see some PC's with PCI slots, but they're becoming increasingly scarce, and those system boards that have them often have only one.  If you still need an ISA slot, fuggedaboudit.

I have noted, however, that Windows 7 is good for at least one thing:  an increased level of security when it comes to installing programs.  If you keep User Account Control on, it virtually eliminates the drive-by downloads that so many purveyors of scumware use, because it will stop the machine and ask if you want to install, where the same malware would blow by XP's non-existent security and install itself without any intervention.  But, no sooner did Windows 7 hit retail then Microsoft started development on Windows 8, which is now in alpha testing, and here we bleeping go again.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040