Message for the State of Oklahoma: Fix your damn computer network! Every other time I go to the tag agency I’m told that they can’t do whatever I went there for because, “The computers are down for the whole state.” I know people who work on computers so I fully realize that 100 percent up time is not possible. But really! Am I really so unlucky that I always just happen to show up on the one day a year when the network is down? My guess is that the state cannot afford either a good computer system or computer techs who are competent enough to keep one running.
And another thing. Why don’t they have a work around? Thirty years ago they managed to issue and renew drivers licenses and vehicle registrations without computers but nowdays if the computers are down they’re paralyzed. You know, there are all these sci-fi movies and books about a future where computers have taken over and rule the world. Well, that future is already here. We don’t have sentient computers yet but they are already ruling the world. If the computer’s down everything stops. Don’t get me wrong. I like computers. I love computers. But they do have problems so we really ought to have back-up plans so that life can go on while the computers are down.
February 26th, 2008 - 8:36 am
“The computers are down for the whole state”?
Sounds kind of fishy to me. I went in Friday and successfully renewed my license (so if the 22nd was one of the days they claimed the computers were down, that was a lie). The only thing that annoys me about my local tag office is that they tend to unpredictably close for long lunches – that happened to me on Friday; they were closed from before noon until after 1:30 or so.
What gets me is when you’re at a store, and the computer messes up, and the human who’s checking you out has no clue how to figure out the correct change for an $18.25 item paid for with a $20 bill.
February 26th, 2008 - 8:44 am
It was yesterday, the 25th.
February 26th, 2008 - 9:20 am
Dang. I’m glad I didn’t put off renewing my license then – I only had until Thursday (maybe the computers go down more in leap years)? and I was lucky enough to have some free time Friday afternoon.
I likely would have panicked had I walked in yesterday, needing to renew my license (I can’t make time today or tomorrow) and be told “Nope, can’t do it, computers are down.”
February 26th, 2008 - 3:38 pm
Got mine done today. I usually don’t wait until the last week but I just noticed on Saturday that it was about to expire.
February 26th, 2008 - 4:43 pm
So we must share a birth month…
February 26th, 2008 - 4:57 pm
My birthday is in May. I haven’t always lived in Oklahoma. I guess that’s why mine is different.