djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (02/14/89)
After my recent posting on troubles running PC Tools Deluxe Version 5 with an "old" version of the Microsoft mouse driver, I received a suggestion from Lee Fisher at Microsoft to call Customer Support (is there in netland, perchance, an acronym CTFM, Call The Friendly Manufacturer? Never mind!) and find out the policy on driver upgrades. I called Microsoft Customer Support at (206) 454-2030 and talked to Hardware Support. You can do this by waiting through the messages to get to a human (like I did) or key in 7 and then 1 when the machine asks for Touch Tone "codes" to indicate the group you want to talk to. I waited on hold for five minutes at 14:30 on a Friday afternoon (PST), which isn't bad. The person I talked to said that Microsoft prefers that non-dealers (me) call and get their driver upgrade sent directly from Microsoft. He took my name and address, and apparently will ship a new version (6.24 I think) in the mail. I asked if I could share it with other "outdated" folks, and he repeated that they prefer each customer call in and get one sent out. Sounds like too much work for their phone lines to me, but that's what I heard. This person didn't know that PC Tools Version 5 required driver version 6.14 or higher. He may be on the phone a lot in the next month or so! Dick O'Connor Washington Department of Fisheries Olympia, Washington 98504 Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu **************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER: I speak only for myself, not for the Department. Here, anyway! ****************************************************************************