" and able to be operated by a 2 year old chimpanzee."

Are you going to use one of your existing chimps, or are you hiring a
new one?  I have an acquaintance in the mainframe department that's
tired of being a tape monkey...

-----Original Message-----
From: John Cook [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 9:05 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: Way OT help

But how do you really feel? Wow, thanks for that, scratch one option. We
need color photo printing, two sided info, RFID optional and able to be
operated by a 2 year old chimpanzee.

----- Original Message -----
From: Ben Scott <[email protected]>
To: NT System Admin Issues <[email protected]>
Sent: Thu Apr 01 09:59:48 2010
Subject: Re: Way OT help

On Thu, Apr 1, 2010 at 9:31 AM, John Cook <[email protected]> wrote:
> For those of you that have companies that use name badges
> what systems do you use ...

  Are you looking for just names, or photos, or full-blown
magstripe/RFID/etc cards?

  We invested in a system of the "full blown" variety last year.
Currently sold by "Honeywell" as "NetAXS".  It used to be the "NS"
series from "Northern Computer".  I guess Honeywell just bought
Northern and started stamping their own name on it.  Uses software
called "WIN-PAK".  The printer is a "Tango" from "Ultra MagiCard".

  It's been a fiasco.

  About the only parts that work right are (1) printing the badges
themselves and (2) unlocking doors when you swipe a badge.

  The software logs spurious alarms and other weird messages
constantly.  To the tune of 100s per day, sometimes.  Good luck
actually getting useful reports or notifications on things like
propped doors, forced entry, etc.

  Configuring it to actually unlock the right doors for the right
people on the right schedule, and not otherwise, is also less than
ideal.

  I think a large part of that is the reseller/installer did a crappy
wiring job, and their tech guys don't really understand the system
that well.  That's what we get for going with the lowest bidder.

  But the system itself is crappy, too.

  The web UI built-in to the hardware is slow and flaky.  It's not
good for much, so you need to use the WIN-PAK software for most
anything.

  The WIN-PAK software is also slow, and even flakier.  And requires
admin rights.  And must run foreground as a logged-in user.  And has a
cumbersome UI.  And occasionally hangs when talking to the hardware.
And takes an hour to update our 6 control units (~20 doors).

  The printer driver causes weird spooler error messages and hogs the
CPU and must pop up obnoxious windows when you print.

  We've even had a mfg rep in a few times.  He couldn't answer a lot
of our questions.  He's stopped returning our calls now.

  "Would not buy from again."

-- Ben

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

CONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENT: The information transmitted, or contained or
attached to or with this Notice is intended only for the person or
entity to which it is addressed and may contain Protected Health
Information (PHI), confidential and/or privileged material. Any review,
transmission, dissemination, or other use of, and taking any action in
reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient without the express written consent of the sender are
prohibited. This information may be protected by the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), and other Federal
and Florida laws. Improper or unauthorized use or disclosure of this
information could result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
 Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you
really need to.

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

Reply via email to