12/20/2000 --

To: Santa Claus

Subject: My IT Wish List

Hi there, Santa!

This year, I don't want the latest technical gadget (but if you gave me a Compaq iPaq Pocket PC I wouldn't complain!), I don't need yet another Windows upgrade, and I certainly have no need for any more NT 4.0 books. But there are several things I'm hoping you can help me with. And so, in no particular order, here is my IT Wish List:

• What happened to the GUI version of Telnet? Windows 2000 offers a command line version, which lacks many of the features (especially session logging). Bring back the GUI!

• I want a law passed that requires all e-business Web sites to clearly state exactly what they do. Do they provide a service? Software? Are they an information portal? (For an example of this check out www.niku.com -- if you can figure out what they do, let me know).

• Why can't the tech support engineers for SBC, the DSL provider Pacific Bell contracts with, figure out the difference between a localized system problem and a wide-area network outage? I called in the other day because one of their Los Angeles routers was down (something I ascertained with a simple trace route command). What did the clueless tech person want to know? What operating system I'm using! I asked him if he was aware that a router was down and he said yes -- yet he still insisted on knowing what my system configuration was.

  And while we're on the topic of broadband network providers, can you do anything about my cable modem service (recently acquired by ATT)? When one of their customers put a Linux box up, complete with a DHCP server daemon running, it wreaked havoc with my connectivity. I figured out what the problem was, even sent their tech support a tech note I found on Red Hat's Web site a description of the exact problem, and they still maintained that the problem was with my network setup. Please, Santa, make broadband Internet providers hire tech support folks who know a little about networking!

• How about a Windows FTP server that really works, just like an FTP server is supposed to? Microsoft made all sorts of improvements to the Web-serving aspect of IIS, but seems to have all but ignored FTP. Oh, never mind Santa, I just discovered the FTP server from IPSwitch. I installed it, configured it, and had it working perfectly in less than 15 minutes.

• Let's not stop at FTP -- Microsoft's SMTP server needs a lot of help as well. Can you please find me an SMTP server for Windows that is fast, configurable, doesn't require IIS -- and, oh yeah, that's simple! (After all, the S in SMTP stands for Simple, right?)

• I know I'm hitting you up for a lot of things, Santa; I've got just a few more. Like networking and Internet infrastructure vendors. Why is it so hard for their sales reps and engineers to answer a direct technical question with a direct technical answer? When I asked a group of Cisco engineers (from Cisco and a local reseller) to quantify their recommendation for high-end 6000 series switches, they talked about features: it supports Layer 3 with an RSM card; it has a 32 Gig backplane, upgradeable to 256 Gig; and on and on and on. I casually pointed out that even at triple our projected volume, we still were not even close to the capacity limits of our existing 3500 series switches. One Cisco engineer finally agreed that our existing switch infrastructure would easily handle our needs.

• Can we talk about SCSI for a bit? At last count there are at least six different connectors and even more standards. All I wanted to do was connect an external SCSI CD burner to a Compaq server. With all the cables and adapters I had lying around, I still could not connect the burner. Santa, can you order everyone to stick to a common form factor for SCSI connections?

• OK, my last one. And it's the most important one of all. Santa, can you make the SPAM stop? I get e-mails from lotto sites. I get e-mails telling me how to get rich. I get e-mails warning me about viruses that don't exist. I get e-mails complaining to me about the fact that there are too many e-mails. Please, Santa, no more unwanted e-mails!

Thanks for hearing me out, Santa (assuming YOUR anti-spam filter hasn't deleted this before you read it). You know where to reach me!

What technical improvements would you like to see in the new year? Post your wish below!