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ct on 2002-08-26T21:46:48

White background, close in on a fat pale midwestern white guy, slightly off center in frame.

"Hi," he says, "My name is Chris, I'm a PC user from way back. I've worked as a PC service tech, as well as a Unix developer and Infrastructure person, and I switched to Mac about six weeks ago."

Frowning, he continues. "I upgraded to 10.2, and almost switched myself out of a job."

See, they don't make commercials like that, but they should. Right now I'm so livid I'm just beside myself.

To burn a CD under OS X (Or Mac OS X, or X.2 or Mac.NeXT.X.10.2.bork.bork.bork, or whatever Pudge wants us to call it.), you stick a blank in, it asks what you want to call that CD Volume and what type of CD you want to make. You drag and drop files onto the CDR icon, and, when done, drag the icon to the trashcan icon, which has helpfully turned into a Burn icon.

That's it. No muss, no fuss. Sort of.

I upgraded to Jaguar on Tuesday. On friday I was contacted by management. They needed a copy of a CD I'd created with a demo of our product. I had created probably 50 of these CD-R's with 10.1.5 without a hitch. They worked everywhere. So I did the same thing under 10.2. And they shipped the CD off, overnight, to Puerto Rico, where a sales rep is doing a demo for a bunch of schools Tuesday morning.

Just an hour ago I was perusing MacMinute and found a reference to a problem. I tested it out and was absolutely horrified.

MAC OS X 10.2 BURNS CDS THAT CANNOT BE READ BY WINDOWS MACHINES

You can only see the top level of the CD, and cannot change into any subdirectories. So, I had to go in to the VP's office just now and tell her that the CD that we shipped to Puerto Rico for a massively important demo Tuesday was completely bogus because I had used my Mac to burn it, and there was no feasible way to get another CD to Puerto Rico on time.

She was visibly upset. And had a right to be. She told me to not use the "Frigging Mac" anymore.

When she calmed down, we did manage to figure out a way to get the files to this sales person, and I wasn't fired, but I definitely created myself some problems which WILL come back to haunt me at my next review.

My name is Chris, and I'm a Financial Aid Product Manager.

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That Sucks :/

pudge on 2002-08-27T03:51:58

I do feel bad for you, but the Mac is not the problem as much as your process is. Don't use a newly upgraded machine for such a thing, or at least find a way to doublecheck the work before assuming it worked properly.

Not that most of us wouldn't have made the same mistake, but I do believe it was a mistake on your part moreso than a bug in Mac OS X. That is, it is a bug in the OS, of course, but the bug didn't put you in the situation you're in is more a problem of the process than the OS. Heck, this could have happened on Linux or Windows after upgrading to a new version of burner software or hardware, too.

Re:That Sucks :/

ziggy on 2002-08-27T15:08:43

Yep. Always check your work. Always doublecheck anything important. Always triplecheck anything critical.

I always remind other people to do that. Eventually, I may even remember to do it myself. :-)

Even With The New-Stuff Gleam

chaoticset on 2002-08-27T04:19:06

...that's a pretty harsh way to find out.

Pudge has a point -- never rely on new stuff when it's this important. Of course, personally, I'd be more than a little angry even in a non-production situation.

Screwing up a burned CD because I was running lots of programs -- my fault, and I should have known better. Having a burned CD that won't work on another major OS -- their fault, but I still should have known better.

This makes me feel better that the school where I'm going to be doing my internship isn't going to be upgrading to Jaguar before I get there.