IT Nightmares

Now that I work for the State, certain news items make my stomach churn. Here's one from today's Houston Chronicle:

Sheriff's office e-mail purge catches some deputies off guard

As a former Systems Admin, I know what a pain it is when the storage on the email server is clogged up with all the junk that people just leave laying around in their email inbox. But when staff come in one morning to find all email older than 14 days is gone... AND then it's a headline in the newspaper... it's time to update your resume.

Screwed by the RIAA

For Christmas, one of the gifts I received was a gift card to FYE (a music/dvd shop usually found in malls). I don't usually buy CDs at the music store anymore. My wife belongs to a music club, so we usually get our music through that route. I was in for a shock. CDs were $20! REALLY? $20? That's ridiculous. Of course it's a gift card and I will probably never shop in FYE, so I went ahead and ran out the amount on the card.

I'm still reeling from this. There is absolutely NO reason for the recording industry to be charging that much for a CD. Now, granted, I did get it at FYE and they are probably one of the most expensive places to get CDs, but still. I can buy the same album on iTunes for $7.99! I mean how much does it cost them to cut a CD in materials costs? I bet it's less than a buck. They scream about piracy, but who's screaming about the RIAA committing highway robbery?

Evil.