workaround: Freakin' UPS World Ship does not support XP

Hi All,

I replaced a Linux file server at a company last month.
Both server had to be active at the same time, so the
new server got a new name.

The customer client computers are all XP still. The machine
with the client UPS World Ship stopped working as it
kept looking for the old server. I replaced every instance
of the old server's name with the new server in the registry.
That did not work. Checked all the INI files and there was no
server path in any of them (superfinder XT).

I called UPS' tech support and they refused to help until
we upgraded. They said to use the web edition until
then. I added "and FedEx too". That startled them.
They deserved that.

Then it occurred to me, now that the old server has been
retired, I could take advantage of Samba's

netbios aliases

feature. I aliases the new server with the old
server's name. Windows Explorer now shows two servers
in network.

And, problem solved. Chuckle.

The customer should upgrade anyway, as M$ is playing such
hardball that who knows what else will stop working in the
future.

-T

T wrote:
Hi All,

I replaced a Linux file server at a company last month.
Both server had to be active at the same time, so the
new server got a new name.

The customer client computers are all XP still. The machine
with the client UPS World Ship stopped working as it
kept looking for the old server. I replaced every instance
of the old server's name with the new server in the registry.
That did not work. Checked all the INI files and there was no
server path in any of them (superfinder XT).

I called UPS' tech support and they refused to help until
we upgraded. They said to use the web edition until
then. I added "and FedEx too". That startled them.
They deserved that.

Then it occurred to me, now that the old server has been
retired, I could take advantage of Samba's

netbios aliases

feature. I aliases the new server with the old
server's name. Windows Explorer now shows two servers
in network.

And, problem solved. Chuckle.

The customer should upgrade anyway, as M$ is playing such
hardball that who knows what else will stop working in the
future.

-T

Part of the reason things stop working is... Visual Studio.

Smart home developers "freeze" their version of Visual Studio,
so their compiled creations continue to be compatible with
a wider range of Windows OSes.

Dumb developers go for "new and shiny" Visual Studio, with
"support". And the output of such, can be less than desirable
for legacy users. It's all too easy, for the output from
your build having a VS redistributable dependency,
a .NET 4.7 dependency (not available on WinXP),
or be "trapped in the Windows App store".

There are as many traps to fall into, as days of the week.

Paul