(no subject)

Ah, the joys of penny-pinching.

The firewall at work is down. As in, "It's dead, Jim!" The support contract/warranty expired yesterday.

This means that almost all computer connections from our inside network out (and vice versa) is completely down, as well (email, websites, remote connections, etc.). Unfortunately Fortunately, it doesn't affect my VPN connection or my IP phone connection, so I can still work somewhat.

Of course, most of the stuff I am working on right now involves the web server and database server that is in our DMZ - and only accessible through the firewall (even from the inside).

We've been trying to get a new firewall, since this one is an older model (and in any case it's good to have a backup), but the people holding the purse strings have been extremely reluctant to let us spend any money. These guys are the poster-child for the disaster-recovery consulting industry.

The latest update from my buddy C (the network admin) is that we may not be able to get things back up until tomorrow.

*whopee*

(no subject)

In other work related news, this time more positive...

We use a product called Goldmine as our Customer Relationship Management software. It's a decent product with a few quirks. The quirks become quirkier when you add in the messed up business rules that my company likes to use.

Anyway, the web-based interface that comes with the product sucks, to put it nicely. So I wrote my own inteface for it.

My buddy C (our network admin) demoed it to the guys at the consulting company that helped us with our installation and handle our support for Goldmine. Apparently, they absolutely loved it and were practically drooling over it.

They want to work out a resale and licensing deal with us so they can sell this to their other customers. We would get royalties/residuals/kicjk-backs/whatever-you-want-to-call-them for each sale. They would handle marketing, selling and all first-level support for it. I would never have to deal with their customers - they would just funnel questions and feature requests to me.

Hopefully, any money earned would stay in the IT dept and boost our budget, but I have my doubts. Too bad I can't work a deal with this on my own, without involving the employer. I don't remember signing any intellectual property agreement, but I'm sure it's there somewhere.

But anyway, *yay me*!