The Joy of Microsoft-I just had to share this. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 11:51:02 am
content: I have recently done the dance of the sugar plum fairies with Microsoft over a problem with an ISO download from the MSDN website, which is now Visual Studio. I would get shunted from person to person where I would have to explain again that the volume license key wouldn't validate and I was unable to install the OS. This, of course, after I would have to repeat my 15 digit subscription number for each one of these minions. That didn't stop every one of those munchkins from asking me if they could remote into the computer in question.I ended up speaking with 8 different people in 3 different departments with 3 different case numbers. They made me download the ISO 3 times, burn it to 2 different DVDs and create 1 bootable flash drive with failure at every step. Not to mention a screen shot of the error taken and emailed with my company phone because me telling them the error wasn't good enough.This was a 2 week journey with the children of the corn until someone looked up from their script and flow chart and had a thought, thus resolving my issue. The fix, you ask? A different ISO download, which is what I was asking for from the beginning. SWMBO said that Microsoft must get a tidy sum from the government for hiring the handicapped.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 11:58:16 am
content: Getting a crack would've probably solved it much sooner. You paid them already.

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 12:44:11 pm
content: I once spent quite some time trying to get a feature of some M$ data access library working.After struggling with it and getting nowhere and then getting nowhere with with 1st line support I finally got it escalated to someone with a brain.The response?Oh, yes - that doesn't work as it is not fully implemented and we have no plan to fix it. Sorry that the interfaces and documentation are still there.

author: gnif
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 01:02:13 pm
content: Quote from: grumpydoc on April 05, 2017, 12:44:11 pmLets just hope that MS do not get into making airplanes... "Oh yes - the air masks and flotation devices are not fully implemented and we have no plan to fix it. Sorry that we said they were there."

author: senso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 01:09:40 pm
content: Quote from: GreyWoolfe on April 05, 2017, 11:51:02 amIts so easy..Create a bootable USB drive.Then go to sourcesCreate a ei.cfg file, open it with text editor, and paste this in it:OEM1Maybe you need to use Retail instead of OEM, not sure on that one.Save, close, install, done.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 01:35:44 pm
content: And you wonder why I never bother to call Microsoft Support, and instead troubleshoot and fix things myself with the help of some selectively applied Google-fu.Though I have gotten, after so many years of this, pretty good at totally social engineering the first level guys with all their standard script questions which, if I am calling for support, have LONG AGO already tried and need something more high level.

author: dferyance
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 01:40:17 pm
content: As someone who has had to provide technical support to end users, I have some sympathy with the difficulty in troubleshooting. There is a huge variety of different computers and configurations (especially misconfigurations) that you have to support and, beyond common issues, getting the information you need to reproduce can be very difficult. Often support staff don't have the technical knowledge to handle much beyond taking simple requests from users who don't know how to use computers. So once you get into actual problems, they don't know what to do and you end up jumping through hoops.That said, I don't have much patience for bad DRM schemes. I get why software vendors have DRM / copy protection but they better damned well ensure it is easy for their paying customers.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 07:29:21 pm
content: The thing with MS support (and most support these days) is that it is outsourced. So from their point of view, they're just a person who's job it is to answer phones. They have no real power or any special knowledge outside of what you already have. Ex: google.I was having a really bizarre issue with Exchange server once and after exhausting all my options I decided to call Microsoft and the tech was pretty much reading out the search results from Google and I was like "yep tried that too!". Things got a bit more serious when I got escalated to level 3 support engineering. I must have got transfered at least 2 cubicles down! I jokingly asked to speak with Bill Gates since I kept getting "escalated" to a higher level support.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 10:42:42 pm
content: Quote from: rrinker on April 05, 2017, 01:35:44 pmWhenever I have to call Comcast because their internet service is down and the person starts to read off the first item on their checklist, I immediately interrupt them and say "I've already done everything you're about to tell me to do, so let's just skip to the real problem."

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 10:49:35 pm
content: Quote from: dferyance on April 05, 2017, 01:40:17 pmAs a field service tech, I understand the difficulty of troubleshooting over the phone, that is a regular frustration for me, but it is part of the job and I am still pleasant and professional in my voice whilst screaming in my head. I answered every question relating to hardware and process over and over. The last gentleman even pointed me to the HP support site for the model of the computer and pointed out to me that Win10 isn't supported and drivers aren't available. I let him know that I know that and that I have the same model computer/configuration as I am working with running the very same OS I am trying to install. The main frustration for me was that I had to repeat all the information to each person i dealt with, even though all of that should have been documented in the case notes. The last 2 are supposedly 2nd level support people that both of them asked, after yet again, I explained the install failed at a product key that wouldn't validate and there is no OS installed, to remote into the computer.Senso, the second link for the OEM ISO worked fine with the volume license I was issued. I think that there is a problem with the first ISO that I downloaded. Fortunately, it all ended well with a working ISO on disc, so I can't be bothered to try to do anything with the image on the flash drive, I have enough other stuff to keep me busy.AMYK, it's not my money, the IT dept set me up with the MSDN subscription.

author: neil t
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 05, 2017, 11:02:39 pm
content: Quote from: GreyWoolfe on April 05, 2017, 11:51:02 amNow it seems not fair to blame the handicapped, these software guru's most likely have university degree's.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2017, 12:39:12 am
content: Quote from: rdl on April 05, 2017, 10:42:42 pmSorry to say they have not improved. A few years back when they were first getting into "business class" board band, I called them to ask if it includes a fixed IP and if not, how much does it cost to have a fixed IP. The guy has no idea what I was talking about.I called them to resolve a outage, only then found out they have some maintenance work "in my area".When I was using MCI trunk lines, I had two months notice for any scheduled outage. With Comcast, your notice of scheduled down time is by turning your machine found your connection dead as a door nail.Comcast, and many of such behemoths, are called Technology Company because they are good at impeding technology.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2017, 01:07:27 am
content: Quote from: evb149 on April 05, 2017, 10:53:46 pmUnless they have changed recently, I must disagree. Speaking on experience about 5-10 years ago: they were not competent in selling at all nor do they need to be - they simple don't sell ("sell" in the sense of convincing you). Their sells staff were arrogant and uninformed. Their sells team were mostly outsourced people with only the executive account rep being the only real Microsoft employee. They used their monopolistic control and eliminated alternatives. Now that you have no alternatives, they use audit threats to scare you into re-buying licenses. (The pre-installed is an consumer OS, and you are using it in a business environment...) So on, so on. Most company buys a machine (and paid for the preinstall OS) and then they have to buy again - a corporate version... and then buy connection licenses for these PC's on the server...With their control of the OS, (and since they really don't have a bamboo curtain between the two teams), MS Office became the only viable option... now you need their MS Office license even on the server side (to do ODBC)! endless.Yeah, that was old experiences and may not be current anymore.But if you look back to the days of Apple Lisa, there were choices. Buying an IBM PC compatible doesn't mean you have to run Microsoft OS. After they sucker-ed IBM into dead-ending OS2, they no longer have to convince anyone Microsoft is a good choice. After OS2, Windows was by then pretty much the only game in town. Since then,they don't need a good sells force- being the only game in town, they had the license to print money.

author: MarkS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 06, 2017, 03:17:13 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on April 06, 2017, 01:07:27 amThe next sentence in his post was more critical than the one you quoted.Quote from: evb149 on April 05, 2017, 10:53:46 pm