TL;DR
A reader recounts a story from the early 2000s in which a technician devised an in-house way to reimage thin clients and, by not mentioning a necessary passive keypress, spent days playing a GameCube at work while the process ran. The improvised approach cut reliance on an external £600, six-week reimaging service.
What happened
In a workplace that relied on PCs alongside a handful of thin clients for Windows NT workloads, device images on thin clients frequently became corrupt. The employer kept spare units on hand, but when that cache ran low they outsourced reimaging to a service that charged £600 per unit and took about six weeks to return devices. A technician identified only as "Hannah" learned to boot the thin clients from floppy to DOS and to reflash them over a serial interface. The flashing process took roughly three hours and required a keypress after about two hours to avoid failure. Hannah told her manager she could perform the reflashes but did not explicitly state that she did not need to be present except for the one keypress. Management calculated the economics and accepted the arrangement; Hannah was allowed to bring a Nintendo GameCube to work and spent much of the day playing while the reimages completed, on the basis that the single keypress saved the company the cost and delay of outsourcing.
Why it matters
- Small process changes or informal workarounds can yield significant cost savings compared with outsourcing.
- Operational reliance on external vendors can create slow and expensive bottlenecks that staff may seek to mitigate.
- Lack of formal documentation about required supervision can lead to unanticipated on-site practices.
- Simple human interventions (a single keypress) can be critical to automated or semi-automated workflows.
Key facts
- Incident took place in the early 2000s, according to the account.
- Thin clients were used to access some Windows NT workloads at the organisation.
- External reimaging service charged £600 per thin client and had a turnaround time of about six weeks.
- Flashing a thin client in-house took around three hours; after two hours the software required a keypress to avoid failure.
- Hannah learned to boot units from floppy to DOS and to reflash devices over a serial interface.
- The employer kept a spare stock of thin clients and only sent units out when reserves ran low.
- Management approved Hannah's arrangement and allowed her to bring a Nintendo GameCube to play while reflashes ran.
What to watch next
- Whether the employer later formalised an in-house reimaging process or changed vendor usage — not confirmed in the source.
- If similar low-effort, in-house fixes are applied to other legacy systems to reduce outsourcing costs — not confirmed in the source.
- Whether the organisation addressed potential oversight, security, or compliance implications of informal reimaging — not confirmed in the source.
Quick glossary
- Thin client: A lightweight computer that depends on a server for most processing; often used to access centralized workloads.
- Reimage / Reflash: To overwrite a device's storage with a fresh system image or firmware so it returns to a standard, working state.
- Windows NT: A family of Microsoft operating systems used in enterprise and server environments in the 1990s and 2000s.
- Serial interface: A communication method that sends data one bit at a time over a single channel, commonly used for device firmware updates in older hardware.
- Floppy: A magnetic storage disk used to boot or load software on older computers and devices.
Reader FAQ
When did this happen?
The account describes the events as occurring in the early 2000s.
Did management know about the gaming?
Yes; management approved Hannah's approach and allowed her to bring a GameCube while reflashes ran.
How much money did the company save overall?
Not confirmed in the source.
Were there any security or compliance issues from reflashing in-house?
Not confirmed in the source.
CXO 109 Techie 'forgot' to tell boss their cost-saving idea meant a day of gaming One keypress turned a tricky Windows NT balancing act into a life of leisure Simon…
Sources
- Techie 'forgot' to tell boss their cost-saving idea meant a day of gaming
- Office IT Support Humor – When Engineers Get Called In
- IT employee quietly automated his $90K-a-year job and …
- Engineer Tries To Save His Company Money, But He …
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