I had a much better idea.  I suggested that we configured the two PCs as a small workgroup, meaning that she could leave the desktop turned on, acting as a print server, and would be able to print at her leisure whilst working downstairs in the lounge.  She loved the idea, so I went ahead.  It worked perfectly… until about five minutes after I walked out the door.

Returning to her house, the problem was immediately apparent: the Windows 95 desktop machine was demonstrating the infamous “blue screen of death”.  I reversed my work and apologised for getting her hopes up.  While it should work in theory, in practice the Windows 95 installation on her ageing computer had become too unstable over time for her to rely on this solution.

I was reminded of a fairly basic principle that day: sometimes you have to say no, enough is enough.  With the best of intentions, I had tried to help her to get more value out of her existing IT systems, but I let my enthusiasm and helpful nature get the better of me.  Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 95 at the end of 2001 and in future I’ll be following its example.

Superficially, if you look at these service status pages, it seems that the first organisation has a very reliable service and the second one experiences a lot of problems.  Appearances can be deceptive.  Anyone working in IT, or using IT services, knows that there are occasionally problems.  Trying to cover them up always backfires.  The mark of a professional organisation is one that acknowledges issues and keeps customers well informed while making every effort to rectify them.