jdg@sisd.kodak.com (Jeff Gortatowsky CUST) (08/29/90)
Just to achieve some resonable balance I feel I should let the network know how things have gone since my net message of last Friday. That message refers to my very frustrating experiance trying to talk to someone at Microsoft about the Device Driver Development Kit and how I might go about creating a driver that loads other drivers, etc. Not your standard tech support.... First, thanks to those at Microsoft and the net who sent me the number of MS Tech Support. Unfortunately the number is not really intended for this type of question. On Monday I got a call from one Robert Hess. He is a manager with the PM/Win3 side of marketing and techincal support (I think I got that straight). He very neatly and calmly took me through the Microsoft 'system' of technical support. I emphasize 'system' because it's a multi-tier system that seems to have grown to a size beyond it's capability to be managed. That's my opinion. The bottom line here is Mr. Hess was able to make sense out of my question though he has never heard of it being done before. He still insists (and after learning of the tech support 'system', I agree) that MS Online, MS's pay online service, is still the only way I'll get the support I need. It's the only way MS's programmers can be involved. I'll need that level of support. Fortunately we have an account here already, though I was unable to use it as it "wasn't mine". Now it is (sort of, I know the password). Yesterday I got a call from another lady at Microsoft. She's on a committee of some sort to look at ways of improving support. I gave her an 'earfull'. I guess I always expected support like I'm *required* to provide. At Kodak, no customer is to be handed off more than 3 times. So if the first two can't answer your question, you are connected to me, the programmer who wrote the software. This is generally done as a conference call with my boss and a marketing/field rep for the customer's region. Yes this interferes with my work. But if I have no customers, I won't be needed much longer. Final word is there are *REAL* people you can talk to at MS. You may have to shout to get heard. Microsoft apparently knows that *something* has to be done to make improvements. I have not yet used my *new/old* account on MS ONline. The first time I do, I'll followup here to let others know how it went. -- Jeff Gortatowsky-Eastman Kodak Company .....uunet!atexnet!kodak!sisd!jdg (716)-726-0084 Eastman Kodak makes film not comments. Therefore these comments are mine not theirs.