steve@fossrv.UUCP (Steve Foster) (06/27/91)
Have any other folks had a free view of SCO bottom via TechSupport? I called SCO to ask about what drivers for what cards are supported in XenixNet 1.3. Sales, did not know, you get connected to media. Media says were are not technical, call tech support, transfer back to sales. Phone called gets dropped. Call SCO tech Support. Tech support(huh) wants keycard number. Deliver said item. Ask question "Customer has XenixNet 1.2 with Xlan Tcp/ip and would like more speed, what drivers does V1.3 support?" Answer "We need the customers keycard number to see if he has support." Flame SCO for ha- ving IQ of lizard. SCO provides "MAN with ANSWER". V1.3 supports "snicker" IBMPC lan card. "You can buy it at swap meets. or junk pile." Anything else requires TCP/IP Vxxxxxxxh. Ask question "Customer has to junk all hardware and software?". Answer "Thats old technology. You need OUR proper solution." Ask "What about rumor 1 year ago that Netbios on WD cards?". Answer "Need TCP/IP". Oh well. Ya know, for that forty five minute excursion, I could have had "A round the world trick" in Nevada for more fun. SCO gets to be more like a "tooth extra- ction" everytime I deal with them. Please note that thier "Softcare Support" costs $100 a month. Thats $1200 dollars a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its cheaper to by a new version every year than it is to buy support. What kind of assholes have they become? I guess its time to look for another vendor for "Unix" solutions. Didn't AT&T just license Interactive? Wouldn't it be possible to have a BBS or such for 100 bucks a year? Most other companies have found that to be decent approach. What about a "900" style phonenumber? Also, why does it take SCO 15 minutes to answer the phone? I have called SCO three times in the last two years. I have (my cutomer paid) to find out that a SCO bug/problem caused the need for a call. Seems like a neet "confidence" (CON?) game to me. SCO is well done the road that Novell has proceded as far as the consultant is concerned; (Thanks for getting the customer base; now we want it all...). They are doing this by pricing dealers out of the ability to compete on a fair basis. Thanks, Steven Foster 805 943-3832
dljarvis@lynx.cat.syr.edu (David Jarvis) (06/28/91)
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's less-than-thrilled about the
lack of SCO support for us-little-guys-in-the-trenches (you know,
the ones who have literally been responsible for their success)
Having to pay ridiculous support fees and wait millenia on the phone
and *still* not get the help you need is over the limit as far as I'm
concerned. And now they'd like to "re-certify" me as a reseller.
Sure ... the past 5 years mean nothing ... color-me-a-moron ...
I was even willing to go along until I found out that this $1000 training
course required to "re-certify" me would include such goodies as ODT
and UNIX (I strictly use Xenix for business applications) and other
SCO products ... sure ... I'll pay the money, lose the work-time, to
learn about products I don't even sell ...
Well ... seems Interactive and a few others are more willing to support
the people selling their products ... let's talk guys ...
(sorry for wasting bandwidth with non-informatory verbage, but Steve
Foster's post really got me going, cuz it's happened to *me* so often)
Regards, (flames > /dev/null)
/David
fred@compu.com (Fred Rump) (06/28/91)
steve@fossrv.UUCP (Steve Foster) writes: >I called SCO to ask about what drivers for what cards are supported in >XenixNet 1.3. Sales, did not know, you get connected to media. Media >says were are not technical, call tech support, transfer back to sales. Steve, nobody like to pay for something called support. Our customers hate to get a bill every month for something they think they should get for free. We hate to pay SCO and many others money for a product we never really think is worth the price. Yet, support is the most critical ingredient in keeping customers happy all the way down the line to the end user who finally must pay the bill. Companies that don't offer good support will not be around for the long run. The problem is that people need to be around to wait for our calls and find answers to our crazy questions. Sometimes our problems are more ancient than the people we talk with. I mean if I ask you about pip, stat and bdos you might be stumped as you never even heard of the stuff. Yet, these things used to be second nature to many of us in the old CP/M days. Things change. Xenix is slowly going away and folks aren't really running around creating new hardware solutions to old operating systems. There's simply no money in it. Therefore the suggested solution to get with more current technology if the customer wants better response time. Most of our business comes from our existing customers who have needs of growth and change and we adjust accordingly. We also try to keep everyone as current as possible with all their various software pieces so that obsolescence is delayed. Remember - everything will be obsolete any day soon now. Usually we're still waiting for the latest fix. On the subject of wasting time on the phone - don't do it. Use e-mail. It works pretty well as far as I can tell and needs no attendance or waiting around for someone to answer. Also remember that if SCO were as bad as you claim they are, they wouldn't be the leading force in small multi-user systems in the world. Nobody is perfect - especially not us resellers. If we were we wouldn't need support, right? We'd know it all. Fred -- Fred Rump | 'A little learning is a dangerous thing/Drink deep CompuData, Inc. | or taste not the Pierian spring' Alexander Pope 10501 Drummond Rd. | SCO Advanced Product Center Philadelphia, Pa. 19154| Internet: fred@COMPU.COM (215-824-3000)