Saturday, September 16, 2006

MSDN Subscriber Downloads are Down

I just logged on to the MSDN subscriber site to download a version of Windows Server X64 for my shiny new custom built Xeon box (dual proc/dual core). When I try to access the site, I just get an ugly "SERVICE UNABAILABLE" screen.

It turns out the site is down and won't come back until Monday. The reason for the outage, according to the concierge service, is that MS are adding content. In other words, to add content, MSDN need to take the entire site down for the weekend.

Two points:

  • WHY does it take an entire weekend to update content? Surely it's just a matter of a bit of XCOPY??? Better yet, why not do the copy of the actual content then update the database?
  • If you DO need to take the site down for a couple of days, then how about using MOF or ITIL best practice (Release SMF for those in the know), and ensure your users are informed and are OK with the situation.

I have a better idea - how about investing in content management facilities that don't require an entire site outage for 2 days just to update content. We know that Microsoft are dropping MOF, but surely ITIL best practices should be being adopted??

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