All those who have spent innumerable hours waiting 45 minutes, rejoice! For the end is nigh.

There is now actual physical evidence (well, electronic, but you get my point) here (www.mcmaster.ca/uts/systemsrenewal/aug-2012-backgrounder.html) and to some extent, here (www.mcmaster.ca/uts/staff/johnkearney/docs/Vision_2020.pdf) to substantiate the long-awaited rumour that SOLAR will be replaced, POTENTIALLY as early as fall 2013 (though I personally won't be holding my breath on the timeline).

For those of you not wishing to parse the execu-babble, here is a brief summary:

1. The university has about 20 different systems, each dealing with a specific "thing", e.g. Financial things, registration, scheduling, etc.

2. Most of these systems are reeeeeealy old, proprietary dinosaurs, that make MS-DOS look like the iPad, in comparison. As far as I understand from the above sources, the guts that make SOLAR tick (read: wheeze) are from the early 1980s. No, really.

3. All these systems don't really like talking to each other. Some will do it grudgingly (e.g. SOLAR and the one that actually makes pdf timetables), others require humans to act as go-betweens, which kinda defeats the whole purpose, don't ya think?

4. These systems cost a boat-load o' money to run and maintain. The people who actually wrote the systems originally (in-house, no less) are mostly either dead or retired, or both. The systems themselves require a lot of juice to run, a lot of bandwidth to talk and a lot of praying to keep working. That, and they haven't made replacement parts for some physical systems since most of us have been on this planet. So it's kind of a spend money to save money dealie.

5. The university signed a contract with the good folks at Oracle for some of their brand-new, snazzy software. Yay!

6. UTS REEEEEALY likes acronyms.


So, there you have it. Your days of cursing the day SOLAR was conceived (now known to be some time in the early 80s) are semi-officially numbered.

So, comrades, rejoice! For the dawn of a new era is upon us! The people have spoken (grumbled, cursed, threatened, cried, etc.) and finally, comrades they have listened! Power to the people! (Paid for by the Communist and Marxist-Leninist parties of Canada. Not really.)

In closing, my friends, take heart. For it can't possibly be worse, can it?

F that. I'm graduating before that. lol.

Originally Posted by Litfincq

5. The university signed a contract with the good folks at Oracle for some of their brand-new, snazzy software. Yay!

Hmm, since IBM hates Oracle, and I hate IBM - I guess this is a good thing!

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Hmm, since IBM hates Oracle, and I hate IBM - I guess this is a good thing!

The enemy of my enemy is my friend...

But how can you hate IBM?! Thinkpads!

Originally Posted by Andrew A

The enemy of my enemy is my friend...

But how can you hate IBM?! Thinkpads!

I think he said in some other thread to Afzal that he hated the last part of his internship or something at IBM because he didn't do anything (productive?).

One last kick in the face, thanks Mac =___=

Had to have my whole undergrad course choosing be a pain (and end up taking and paying for courses I flat out didn't want) and letting me know some of my funds have gone to a new system to fix all that AFTER I'm gone.

*rant rant rant, ranting some-more*

Originally Posted by Andrew A

But how can you hate IBM?! Thinkpads!

I think you mean Lenovo Thinkpads.