gt3408a@prism.gatech.EDU (DYKES,DAVID PRESTON) (09/07/90)
John Mendenhall writes: >yes, I HATE Windows 3! >Due to customer demand, my company decided to link one of its products >with _the power_ of windows. My group provides technical support for that >product, and now must provide technical support to our customers for >Windows. When we say technical support we mean technical support, ie. we >have been working a lot with windows lately. Our conclusions: Windows is >buggy, over-hyped, and a blight on the earth. Support from MicroS*** is >even worse! You call their wonderful FREE phone number and you get a >machine with some programmed responses. If you wait 30+ minutes (all the >while paying toll fees) you might get a real person. All this person is >capable of doing is reading the manual back to you. In the endless hours >we have spent tyring to get intelligent help from MS, we have actually >given them more help/information than they have given us. Mr. Bill is >making billions from fools who own, but know nothing of computers. John it seems has lost some of the spirit of the net. I would like to remind him that this is a forum for computer professionals to politely exchange ideas and programs. I may just be an undergrad, but it seems that if you were as talented as some of the "fools" that use this net as it was intended ("but no nothing of computers.") you might be working in R&D somewhere, have a better idea of what you are talking about and not have to sit and listen to irate users all day. ________________________________________________________________________________ r--_____ r---__ r--_____ |"The weather is here, | \ |_____) | \ | I wish you were beautiful."-Jimmy Buffet L_______/avid |reston L_______/ykes|___________________________________________ David Preston Dykes -User Assistant and undergrad at large -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!gt3408a ARPA: gt3408a@prism.gatech.edu -- DYKES,DAVID PRESTON Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!gt3408a ARPA: gt3408a@prism.gatech.edu
dana@hardy.hdw.csd.harris.com (Dan Aksel) (09/07/90)
In article <13406@hydra.gatech.EDU> gt3408a@prism.gatech.EDU (DYKES,DAVID PRESTON) writes: > >John Mendenhall writes: > >>yes, I HATE Windows 3! > >>...[stuff deleted]... Our conclusions: Windows is >>buggy, over-hyped, and a blight on the earth. Support from MicroS*** is >>even worse! You call their wonderful FREE phone number and you get a >>machine with some programmed responses. If you wait 30+ minutes (all the >>while paying toll fees) you might get a real person. All this person is >>capable of doing is reading the manual back to you. In the endless hours >>we have spent tyring to get intelligent help from MS, we have actually >>given them more help/information than they have given us. Mr. Bill is >>making billions from fools who own, but know nothing of computers. > I elect not to flame about the purpose of this group ... To give Microsoft a fair shot: Yes the phone number and wait is one large pain in the a#$. I will also state that David Gates did not get rich by selling bug free software... However: Once I get through to MicroSoft tech support I have always found the individuals knowledgeable. About 90% of my problems are caused by myself... and I have to assume the overwheming magority of MS support is to the not-quite-expert PC user ... On a couple of ocassions I have located REAL product problems. When this happens MS tech support gives me a reference number and THEY CALL ME with work around solutions, etc. They've walked me through several changes and reboots, and even waited patiently while I run down the hall to get print outs, handle other business calls, etc. Let's drop the flames now and get back to basics of the group: Technical Exchange only. Dan Aksel
freak@cbnewsc.att.com (c.e.malloy..iii) (09/07/90)
John Mendenhall writes: > Support from MicroS*** is even worse! You call their wonderful FREE > phone number and you get a machine with some programmed responses. If > you wait 30+ minutes (all the while paying toll fees) you might get a > real person. All this person is capable of doing is reading the manual > back to you. In the endless hours we have spent tyring to get > intelligent help from MS, we have actually given them more > help/information than they have given us. Mr. Bill is making billions > from fools who own, but know nothing of computers. > I'm sorry, but this just doesn't fit with my personal experiences. Two days ago I was running Toolbook (You know, the one that comes FREE with Windows 3.0?) and I got an error. The error was "CANNOT FIND PAGE 'p41'" I called the number that was listed in the 'About...' box. The machine thanked me for calling Asymmetric then switched me to Microsoft's Technical Support. After hitting the proper buttons, and waiting on hold for about 15 minutes, was connected to a real person. I explained my problem. He then asked if I could hold on for a minute. A minute or so later he said that they had no record of that error, and wanted to know how critical the problem was. I took that to mean, "Will you live for a few hours, days or weeks without Toolbook?" I told him that I would live, but the address book part was totaly unusable until I had a real solution. He said that he would research the problem, talk to others, and get back to me. I said, "No problem. Whenever." I hungup the phone and started to get ready to "Go To The Maul." I figured that I would not hear from him until tomorrow at the soonest. 30 MINUTES LATER THE PHONE RINGS! I just about to walk out the door, but I thought that it might be a friend of mine, so I answered it. To my surprise it's the guy from MicroSoft. He said that the executable seems to be corrupted and if I reinstall it, after renameing the original save file, I could then start the program and merge all of the original data. A REAL AND VERY WORKABLE SOLUTION!!! Now there might be a better technical support group out there, but I haven't found it. Don't get me wrong, they are not perfect, but who is? Yeah, sitting on hold for a while is a pain, but when you sell a zillion copies of any program, you will be flooded with calls like "If I'm in Windows, how do I copy a file?" Let's try to have a compassion for the support people. I know that I know that when I call Technical Support, I have tried everything that I can think of, but if you got 50+ calls from users that don't EVER RTFM, you would start with the basics too. And this is only one example of the REAL support that I have gotten from Microsoft. And I have been dealing with MicroSoft since I first used MicroSoft Extended Basic on a DTC MarkIV computer in 1970. I could go on and on about support (or lack there of) with other companies, but AT&T don't pay me to ramble on. Clancy Malloy AT&T Bell Labs att!ihlpf!cem Naperville, IL
al1@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Carl Engman) (09/09/90)
Excuse me, David Gates????
Who is this David person and does Bill know he's getting rich too?
UUCP: {amdahl!bungia, crash}!orbit!pnet51!al1
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!al1@nosc.mil
INET: al1@pnet51.orb.mn.organdy@mks.com (Andy Toy) (09/10/90)
In article <3174@orbit.cts.com> al1@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Carl Engman) writes: >Excuse me, David Gates???? > >Who is this David person and does Bill know he's getting rich too? David Gates is the singer from the group Bread. I don't know if he's getting rich, but he probably made quite a bit of money from the albums that the group put out :-) -- Andy Toy, Mortice Kern Systems Inc., Internet: andy@mks.com 35 King Street North, Waterloo, UUCP: uunet!watmath!mks!andy Ontario, CANADA N2J 2W9 Phone: 519-884-2251 FAX: 519-884-8861
ericbi@microsoft.UUCP (Eric BIDSTRUP) (09/12/90)
In article <915@travis.csd.harris.com>, dana@hardy.hdw.csd.harris.com (Dan Aksel) writes: >I will also state that David Gates did not get rich by giving away > free software... No, he got rich by writing & performing rock songs with the group "Bread" in the late sixties & early 70's. Bill Gates is another story... Sorry, I could not resist. We return you to your regularly scheduled flamefest. -Eric Bidstrup My opinions are my own, I just happen to work here.