Having just helped a friend who was miffed at the idea of spending money on a new UPS for >$5k worth of networking equipment: do not be surprised.

Penny-wise pound-foolish.

Spending $5k on a UPS is very different from not having backups of your production database which runs your multimillion dollar business. This story just doesn't add up.

You misunderstood the comment. Angersock is saying that the networking equipment cost more than $5k and the friend was unwilling to buy a UPS to protect the equipment.

Unfortunately it sounds perfectly plausible to me.

"Why are we paying for backups? The database has never failed (yet)"!

Super important goal my boss gave me: reduce expenditures...CHECK! Can't wait for that bonus check!!

Sounds completely possible to me - I have worked in a lot of environments and at some places I've seen decisions that make cancelling backups look like an act of genius.

One interesting observation I can make: no correlation between excellence in operations and commercial success!

You would be amazed if I told you how many "vital" services are like the blog writers former employers: One button push from destruction.

Oh? Tell me.

I've seen something like this. It could be a situation where they were transitioning from that backup service to their own server or another service, and the move was never completed due to some hiccup or priority change.

But if no one is watching to ensure the move was finished (or they got distracted), then something many people treat as set-it-and-forget-it could easily get into that state.

If you are transitioning from one backup service to another, shouldn't you only cancel your old service, after you successful set up and tested the new one?

I don't think it is that far-fetched. I've had experience with a well known company that does millions in revenue per week (web based shopping cart) that just FTP's everything with no DVCS. Designers, developers, managers all have access to the server and db.