ECF website – service update

[Carl Hibbard]

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-webs ... ce-update/

Does not mention the other place but some good news to report for a change

[MartinCarpenter]

It definitely is good news

[Michael Flatt]

The announcement shows good intent but it does rely on having sufficient manpower to maintain the existing site and develop an entirely new one in parallel.

[JustinHorton]

"We have decided to migrate our main websites to a dedicated server solution."

Is that Phil Ehr, do you think, or is there anybody else who writes English like that?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Is that Phil Ehr, do you think, or is there anybody else who writes English like that?"

Sadly, such gibberish is all too common. For example, "transition" as a verb, people saying "going forwards, we are going to..." Why say "going forwards"?

I assume they think they look clever, but the reality is that they are obscuring the meaning of what they are saying.

[Roger de Coverly]

"We have decided to migrate our main websites to a dedicated server solution."

Is that Phil Ehr, do you think, or is there anybody else who writes English like that?

Standard IT speak, I should think.
"migrate our main websites" means "copy the files"
"dedicated server solution" means "to another computer"

So they are moving the websites somewhere else in the hope that the whole package, ECF main site, grading and forum will work a bit better, particularly when the new grading lists come out.

[David Robertson]

"We have decided to migrate our main websites to a dedicated server solution."

Is that Phil Ehr, do you think, or is there anybody else who writes English like that?

There's nothing egregously wrong here. It's a bit clumsy and jargony, but the meaning is abundantly clear. I even like the use of 'migrate' in place of the prosaic 'move'. Sometimes language use benefits from different metaphors. My stylistic preference - and that's all it is - would be:

Our solution is to migrate our main websites to a dedicated server. Anyone happier or better-informed now?

[JustinHorton]

The English language and I are both grateful to you.

[Brian Towers]

Standard IT speak, I should think.
"migrate our main websites" means "copy the files"

With the benefit of 35 years experience as software engineer I can tell you it means a helluva lot more than that.
The implication is that the different websites are on different machines with almost certainly different implementations. Some files will just be able to be copied but others will need to be rewritten and new files/programs developed to knit the whole lot together.

"dedicated server solution" means "to another computer"

Again there is a lot more to it than that. "Dedicated" implies that the server will only be used for the websites and will not have other, perhaps related, software running. "Server" does not equate to one computer. If it is a robust solution then it will consist of a cluster of computers which will work together as one fault tolerant computer so that if one computer or hard drive crashes then automatic failover will occur and users will notice no more than a temporary glitch. [/quote]

So they are moving the websites somewhere else in the hope that the whole package, ECF main site, grading and forum will work a bit better, particularly when the new grading lists come out.

On second thoughts, given the likely level of budget and expertise perhaps you are right.

[Carl Hibbard]

They will have purchased a dedicated server from a service provider so the work will be done by that company so I do not see it as an issue.

[Michael Flatt]

The proposed solution has been approved by the Finance Committee and is within budget.

So, problem solved!

[Angus French]

So what was the cause of the problem and how do we know that it's addressed by the chosen solution?

We don't know either of these things, do we? For all we know, those making the decision are taking a punt that a hardware upgrade will provide a fix.

One thing I'm curious about is that a couple of years ago, the grading website used to be able to take whatever was thrown at it. It didn't fall over (so far as I recall) when a new grading list was published. Now the grading website or the forum website appear to fall over when encountering a slight volume of traffic. So what's changed? Or is it my perception that's incorrect?

[Michael Flatt]

Quite right, Angus.

We don't have any details and have to rely on blind trust.

Strictly, this should have been discussed at the last Council meeting, where Communications was the last item on the Agenda and got dropped owing to lack of time. These plans must have been known about or under consideration at that time.

[Mike Truran]

Strictly, this should have been discussed at the last Council meeting

Why? This is an entirely operational issue. Why should Council need to be involved?

For all we know, those making the decision are taking a punt that a hardware upgrade will provide a fix

And for all we know, maybe those taking the decision aren't taking a punt. Why don't you actually contact those making the decision and ask them?

[Carl Hibbard]

I am in agreement this time with the powers that be.