| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Have you ever been unable to complete a job due to a software malfunction? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
José, as you can see, on and off most translators also have some computer-related troubles (including software/OS), yet the problem really is usually THERE'S NO TIME TO WASTE! That's why we try to diversify and mitigate possible risks) On the other hand, not long ago a friend of mine dropped her notebook and a few week she had plenty of 'software issues', although it was rather a HDD hardware problem, but who cares? She just saw there was a problem with logon--she solved it, there was a problem... See more José, as you can see, on and off most translators also have some computer-related troubles (including software/OS), yet the problem really is usually THERE'S NO TIME TO WASTE! That's why we try to diversify and mitigate possible risks) On the other hand, not long ago a friend of mine dropped her notebook and a few week she had plenty of 'software issues', although it was rather a HDD hardware problem, but who cares? She just saw there was a problem with logon--she solved it, there was a problem with a swap file--she solved it, there were problems with some drivers and installations--she solved it, there were some other minor conflicts--she almost solved it, the HDD worked strangely with frequent slowdowns--she desperately tried to solve it, the BSOD kept her sad--she couldn't solve it, until she got 'SMART is BAD', but couldn't access the HDD any longer. Therefore, she just wasted two weeks and lost even more (both time and cash).
Another working PC may be the best answer, you see? Shortly, such a mitigating approach did work for me and some others, but you are right for it's not a snake oil "cure-it-all". So I consider a virtual machines too. Yet if the question is more about CAT's, then there were rather many cases when I was unable even to start a job due to software requirements, such as very specific 'custom' software, which works under a very specific OS of a specific build with specific patches and updates or requires to remove/downgrade some 'conflicting' software... ▲ Collapse
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Just last week I was delayed because the Studio package sent by the agency had an error. When I shut down the file and tried to reopen it later, or next day, it gave an error and there was nothing I could do with it. I had to send it back to the agency and get them to fix it.
Of course this was a huge job that took 4 or 5 days, so you can imagine the fun I had .... and over the weekend there was nobody at the agency to fix it.
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One time recently my computer konked out on me while I was working, before I could save a copy of the file to work from. My genius tech was able to get it started again in time.
Two years ago my previous desktop crashed irretrievably thanks to some malware that I picked up when I thought I was installing Adobe. That time I had a copy of my work and was able to continue on another computer.
Bottom line: I have had my share of software malfunctions, but I was never *unabl... See more One time recently my computer konked out on me while I was working, before I could save a copy of the file to work from. My genius tech was able to get it started again in time.
Two years ago my previous desktop crashed irretrievably thanks to some malware that I picked up when I thought I was installing Adobe. That time I had a copy of my work and was able to continue on another computer.
Bottom line: I have had my share of software malfunctions, but I was never *unable* to deliver a job, and I was never late. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ivan Czar 
Hungary
Local time: 00:07
English to Hungarian
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I had several cases when my softwares stopped working and I was really close to asking deadline extension, however I always found a workaround. Since then I have 2 separate backups in every hour and backup computer preinstalled and ready to go.
I had one particular project when I had to write a small program in Visual Basic to monkey around with the files as some software mixed up the accents and diacronics and extract the translatable bits and later to inject back the translated bi... See more I had several cases when my softwares stopped working and I was really close to asking deadline extension, however I always found a workaround. Since then I have 2 separate backups in every hour and backup computer preinstalled and ready to go.
I had one particular project when I had to write a small program in Visual Basic to monkey around with the files as some software mixed up the accents and diacronics and extract the translatable bits and later to inject back the translated bits. (character coding issue with messed up XML structure) ▲ Collapse
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Russell Jones
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:07
Italian to English
| A couple of close shaves | May 18, 2015 |
A few years ago my broadband connection failed for several days (eventually traced to a neighbour's overflow dripping boiling hot water on the cable and melting the sheath). Internet resources were essential, so I took a disc to our local public library to finish the job and sent it from there.
On another occasion I got a dreaded blue screen. A local IT repair man managed to recover my file and I finished the job on my wife's laptop.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 19:07
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Of course, I've had software issues | May 21, 2015 |
but I never ever failed to deliver a translation. If the software doesn't work, I will deliver a regular DOC file with the translation, but never blame the software and not do the job.
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