IT Industry Revolutionised By Labour Saving Device

Information Technology departments face global staffing cuts thanks to a staggering new invention that is taking the hard work out of IT.

The 'self-clicking' "next" button is set to revolutionize how computer users 'Get Things Done' -- but a wave of fear is sweeping an industry facing wide spread redundancy.

System Administrators are expected to be the hardest hit, with over 90% of their duties now offloaded to the clever button.

"This is a direct strike at the very heart of our profession," said James Curl, president of the commitee for SysAdmin Advancement. "Our members are deeply concerned. Many of them feel that this is undermining a skill that, in many cases, took years to develop."

The button, available in forthcoming hot fixes to Vista and XP, has recruitment firms recommending that now is the time for many IT 'professionals' to start broadening their skill base. "If you're a System Administrator," said Michael Jones of RecruitingPlusForce, "or if you're a Network Administrator, a Database Administrator, a Security Administrator, a Web Administator... basically if you work in IT and have the word 'Administrator' in your title, then this device is the wake up call you've been waiting for."

A developer we interviewed said that he was not personally worried about the invention. "There's two types of people in IT," said Eric McCall, "There's people who tell the computer what to do. And there's people who do what the computer tell them to do. It's only the second group who have anything to worry about. Well, I'd better get back to it. This coffee isn't going to drink itself... yet"

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(Sorry sysAdmins... that one was dedicated to experienced Next-Clicker Ben Parker (C; )

'pax' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:31:09 GMT, sez:

Youre trivialising it. Sometimes clicking next is tricky. Like you might have to first tick a check box to accept some license terms or something and only then is the Next button enabled.

Skills like that take time to master. I don't think software will ever quite click a button as good as I do it.

'M.Fanboi' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:35:50 GMT, sez:

In soviet russia, button next clicks you.

I meant to say, in safari, you can create a javascript favelet that will locate a next button on a webpage and click it for you. This saves you scrolling down the page.

(click my name for an e.g.)

'Jon' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:45:23 GMT, sez:

Of course, this is only applicable to Windows and OS X administrators. Linux/Unix admins are safe knowing that there aren't any shells that automatically type "./configure; make; make install".

'Raj Chaudhuri' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:06:09 GMT, sez:

That isn't the version I saw. The one I saw refuses to be clicked unless it is absolutely sure the clicker knows what (s)he is doing. It uses a different finger from the one shown.

'JosephCooney' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:03:11 GMT, sez:

I'm sure someone from the windows user experience team just threw up in their beret reading this. Fscking awesome stuff.

'JosephCooney' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:05:45 GMT, sez:

Also, I love how the XP-themed arm looks kind of hefty compared to the anaemic Aero-themed arm. These two images would make a great t-shirt.

'RW' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:51:57 GMT, sez:

/passive

'lb' on Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:09:02 GMT, sez:

>These two images would make a
>great t-shirt.

I'm thinking the XP button image could be used as a logo for my little 'NextAction' application.

http://TimeSnapper.com/NextAction/

'OJ' on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:10:06 GMT, sez:

Genius, lb!

'Russell Ball' on Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:12:24 GMT, sez:

Brilliant! Keep up the good work.

'John' on Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:07:24 GMT, sez:

Funny. This has the potential to do to the IT industry what the leans-against-itself shovel did to the construction industry.

'Minhajuddin' on Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:26:21 GMT, sez:

Wow, this is so original and funny!

'Philthy' on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:52:35 GMT, sez:

I think this is a prelude to the self-clicking OK button.

'Jim' on Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:54:40 GMT, sez:

Wrong. It's not "click the next button", its "switch the system off and switch it on again". Almost as funny now as it was in 1996.

'Sivanandhan, P.' on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:01:08 GMT, sez:

Lets demand the installer (software) to integrate CAPTCHA.
Wooooha!!!

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TimeSnapper_{Know thyself!}

TimeSnapper is a life analysis system that stores and plays-back your computer use. It makes timesheet recording a breeze, helps you recover lost work and shows you how to sharpen your act.

TimeSnapper won last year's Developer Competition at Larkware.com, and is used by over 10,000 people.