unicornucopious

The title is facetious, but it got your attention, no?

My day job is in a hard-core Windows shop. How hard-core? A visiting exec recently told us in a meeting that once chaired a committee whose purpose was to "advance the spread of Microsoft technologies throughout the enterprise".

Yesterday the consequences of this culture were set in sharp relief by this conversation. For context, SSIS is a technology used mostly for loading flat files into databases, and it's meant to be a replacement for the older DTS platform.

Erik: Hey, Lydia, can you help me with this SSIS error?

Lydia: Maybe. I've played with SSIS, but usually I'm in a hurry so I bust out a DTS package instead.

Erik: I feel better to hear you say that. Everytime I change an SSIS package, it takes hours and hours. It's so over-engineered. I think Shane originally pushed for us to use this instead of, say, a BULK INSERT.

Lydia: Oh no, Shane wouldn't have done that. The last time I mentioned using SSIS, the whole team (and Shane) told me not to go there [stop-sign hand gesture], that we don't need the complexity.

Erik: I see. Well, if I can't get around this error, could I convert this to DTS or a BULK INSERT?

Lydia: If we have to, we can. But really, we should be using SSIS. Eventually, DTS will be retired, so we should use SSIS instead. Use SSIS if at all possible...

See how that works? We have a proven technology that we like and can work in very quickly. But the vendor is taking it away, so we really should use the over-engineered, non-productive solution, since eventually we'll have no choice.

As the token Linux guy in the office, I get pigeon-holed as a Microsoft-hater. I'm not, really, but that's the stereotype. Exchanges like this, though, hardly make me want to "advance the spread of Microsoft technologies".