fine whine

Those who have never piloted a desk before or faced confimement in a cubicle often don't realize the politics involved in so many people's daily dealings. Turf wars are much more common than they really should be.

I'm somewhat in the middle of one right now, and unfortunately there's not going to be any possibility of resolution for at least a few weeks. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The issue at hand here, the one with company-shaking implications, is a tale of two drawing programs.

The system we use to issue our garment specifications is horribly out of date. Its version number is so low that we don't dare utter it in the presence of our fellow captains of industry, lest we face the inevitable scorn, derision and painful ridicule.

One component of this system is the drawing program everybody loves to hate*, which is also of a version so old the comany that made it has been bought out, run into the ground, and now exists only in rumor.

That said, we have some sort of support contract, but I think it's with a company that pities us more than actually providing any useful help beyond the standard (and completely applicable) answer of "That's been fixed in the newer version" to which we respond with great gnashing of teeth.

But we knuckle down, and continue fighting with the program to get our work done. This is the way things have been since the software was't out of date, and this is the way it will continue until another software package becomes obsolete, at which point we will adopt that. I've been brushing up on Adobe Illustrator's third most recent version, which is probably what we will ultimately end up using, if the past is any indication.

That's not how it seems to be working lately, though. Two of the newest hires (the continuing saga of the turnover in my area is the subject of a post someday) have the newest Illustrator on their computers. Last time I checked it cost in the neighborhood of five hundred dollars. The price doesn't matter so much to me as the fact that the program isn't compatible with anything the rest of us are using.

Well, except me. I've installed (against the rules) a tryout version of Illustrator, and have had some modicum of success (after much failure) converting and using the renegade drawings.

I've also stirred up some trouble by mentioning the situation to some controversy-loving co-workers. This is an issue that needs to be resolved, and I know that only with the complaints and feedback from people more senior than me will any discussion happen or decision be made.

So on one hand I'm helping one group of people to use software they probably shoudn't, do do things they're not supposed to be doing. On the other I'm riling up others to be indignant at what's happening. It seems almost like I'm playing one side against the other, setting up some sort of final confrontation (a la Yojimbo -- remade as A fistful of dollars and Last man standing) except that I'm not really interested in the aftermath either way.

I think I just like stirring up trouble, even over something as menial and dull as this. Too bad the meetings to discuss this won't happen for another two weeks, and until then I'm more or less stuck in the middle helping out both factions, by assisting the new people in working with Illustrator and converting it to what the rest of us can use, and then leveraging what I learn from doing that (i.e. complaining about it) to the rest.

* Microsoft Word is also tightly integrated with portions of the system, or perhaps vice-versa. It is worth noting, I suppose, that this is not the most painful aspect of the system.