lulu@ucrmath.ucr.edu (david lu) (06/30/90)
Regarding all the Windows 3.0 installation problems
that has been posted on the net ... (no, I won't point any
fingers, of course) ... Doesn't Microsoft has a telephone
support line for these problems? I don't know if there is
or not --- I am not a Windows user, but I think with all the
hype that MS is generating about Windows, they should have
*some* kind of telephone support (maybe even TOLL FREE???)
Or, could it be that all these people with problems
never (gasp!) *bought* the program?
This is just my speculation, of course. But I think
that if Windows ever *really* catches on, like MS hopes it
would, most people will end up pirating it, just like DOS.
- David
--
---==lulu@ucrmath==--- just another bewildered college undergraduate.
David T Lu, Amateur Thinker: lulu@ucrmath.ucr.edu, {ucsd, uci}!ucrmath!lulu
"After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless."
- Geoffrey James, _The Tao of Programming_axaris@acsu.Buffalo.EDU (vassilios e axaris) (06/30/90)
They do have tech support for all of their products. In fact, they now have a separate channel for MSC 6.0 (before it was for all C versions). From my expe- rience, they are very helpful too. Ok, it is not toll free, but most things in life aren't... :-). BUT: If you call when they are on their lunch break, you get a busy signal...:-). I don't have their tech support number in hand, however this number is listed in their product registration cards. If memory serves me well (that is without parity errors) it is: (206) 404(possibly 8)-2630. Vassilios E. Axaris
cjp@beartrk.beartrack.com (CJ Pilzer) (07/01/90)
In article <7356@ucrmath.ucr.edu>, lulu@ucrmath.ucr.edu (david lu) writes: > > Regarding all the Windows 3.0 installation problems > that has been posted on the net ..[deleted] ... Doesn't Microsoft > has a telephone support line for these problems? [deleted] > Or, could it be that all these people with problems > never (gasp!) *bought* the program? > MS does have a support line, but it is not toll free. There is a long wait for service because they are terribly overloaded. Much of the overload may be coming from people who did not *RTFM*, but also the documentation leaves a little to be expected which one hopes will be imporved in the next edition based on the questions asked in this flurry. Also, it is impossible for any company to check all the possible combinations of hardware and software that will be met in the field. For example, I have a Northgate 486 i25 which is a machine that just came on the market in May. Windows 3.0 kept crashing. I did talk to MS on the Compuserve network where they maintain a support service that will respond to requests in less than 24 hours. They made several suggestions; none of which helped. Finally, someone else on the net notified me that it was a problem of incompatibilty of the AMI bios on my machine with Windows 3.0. A call to Northgate got me new bios roms the next day. I would never have thought to call Northgate without the suggestion on the net. Well I guess I don't have to belabor this with many more examples of simular nature. I hope that I am helping to explain with out criticism of anyone intended. -- cj
ajai@sce.carleton.ca (Ajai Sehgal) (07/04/90)
YES Microsoft does have telephone support. Unfortunatly some of the problems being encountered are new to them as well. With the mirad of systems configurations out there you can't expect the MS techs to know all of them. One of the purposes of this net is for the sharing of technical knowledge and experience. With the number of people on this net and the amount of knowledge and experience, posting a question here is far better than asking MS tech support. And by the way, with reference to the comment on whether or not people are buying the product. Microsoft tech support doesn't ask what your licence or registration number, or even if you own the product! They do the best they can to help solve the problem. I spent some time on the phone with MS Windows support group in Toronto and they did their best to help. Unfortunatly their suggestions didn't work and the solution to the problem came from a buddy on a local BBS. So all you folks with problems keep posting your questions and all you gurus keep posting your answers. Thats what makes this network such a valuable re- source. -- Ajai.