OT: I Don't Think This Company Should Go Bankrupt But - Good Lord!

[Bay Area Dave]

spoken like the thoughtful rabble rouser that you are! Kick butt! take names! no prisoners! sigh...

dave

Jules wrote:

[Robert Bonomi]

At a shop I used to work at, I was the in-house tech guru. And the point-of-contact for our vendor (Sun MicroSystems) support contract. The account ended up flagged "If this guy calls in, transfer him _directly_ to Level FOUR support". There was a good reason for this -- if it was anything simpler than that, I handled it internally. On those occasions where I had to holler for help, it was *deep*sh*t*, and it needed somebody with direct access to system source-code to work the issue.

It may also have helped preserve the sanity of the front-line support people. They, by their own admissions, didn't understand the questions, let alone have answers. Level 2 would recognize things enough to know that they didn't know what to do -- beyond punt it to Level 3. Who understood _immediately_ what I was talking about, but didn't have sufficient access to get the necessary answers. And, once or twice, I even managed to stump the L IV bunch.

We didn't have a source-code license -- the support guy couldn't tell me what he was looking at on the screen, so I'd tell _him_. Conversation generally along the lines of: Me: Ok, first it does this, He: yup. Me: Then it does this. He: uh-huh. Me: Then it does _this_. He: uh-huh. Me: and *then* it does..." He: Oh, *SHIT*!!!

And there'd be a patch on the way within a couple of hours. at least 95% of that latency was the Q/A 'verification', and supporting paperwork.

That was another reason they were so willing to let me talk with the real 'back room' crew. They rarely had to do much 'research' on a problem I found. I could lead them to the exact spot -- faster than they could find it themselves, given that they were approaching the issue 'cold'.

[mttt]

Reverse engineering is usually called out as a No-No buried deep in the contract someplace... :) Blame Java, the clause wasn't that big of a deal when you were reading object code.

[mttt]

Squeaky wheels, dontch'a know.

Nah - you've chalked one up for the lil' guys.

[Kirby]

Hate to tell you Dave but Dell has been doing this and the reports in the Media are numerous. No one has to tick off anyone there, but it's hard not to do so given the abysmal service they have been doing of late, so don't take unresearched umberage at this fell who is nothing more than a *victim* of the Wintel price wars.

You get what you pay for and when mr. consumer demands cheaper and cheaper, sooner or later something have to give--either the quality of the product, or the service the company gives and or warrantee.

[Bay Area Dave]

good to know, Kirby. I'll probably end up in the market for a pc within the year. I was just giving TW a tiny payback; I haven't any personal knowledge of how well or poorly Dell treats their customers. He more than likely didn't see the post anyway...

dave

dave

Kirby wrote:

[Tom Veatch]

That last sentence is reminiscent of Larry Niven's First and Second Universal Laws:

First Law of the Universe (according to Larry Niven):

Don't throw sh*t at an armed man.

Second Law of the Universe:

Don't stand next to anyone who is throwing sh*t at an armed man.

Sounds like good common sense to me.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

[Bay Area Dave]

thanks for those words of wisdom, Tom...now do you think it's about time that someone, somewhere, will post a WW related question? or heaven forbid, provide an on-topic answer? :)

dave

Tom Veatch wrote:

[Kirby]

Personally I use Macs. I don't have to put up with M$ garbage and most every app I need is there except for niche stuff, and that's usually not a problem. Better hardware too. I've had Macs since 1987, at last count I think 14 of them and only ONE thing broke, the SONY floppy in my original Mac Plus, otherwise it's been a mouse. That's pretty good reliability. IF you need compatibiliy, there is MS Office and quicken, quickbooks and such. No real barriers. And while many think Macs cost more, when you price them to a braded PC with the SAME features, the cost difference is small and the Macs last longer. So, they get my bucks, just on the virus, security issues.

[Reyd]

I use and love macs too, but the same features for price is not true much as I wish it was, 200gig hd, 3.something ghz processor(not a celery either), 512 megs ddr ram 128 meg video card, full works on the drive (dvd/cd/r/rw/disk) monitor, speakers and some free software+other goodies for 1400$ CAN, this is 100$ more then an emac, which is very not upgradable, relatively big. 1.25 gig chip(and the PC had hyper threading, so the argument about macs being more efficient just doesnt work here)1.25, even at 200% more efficent doesnt equal the speed of 3 ghz. 256 megs of ddr ram for the emac, an 80 gig hd instead of 200, a super drive(not a great drive, and if one thing dies, the whole thing is shot) 32 meg video card. there is no way that is the same features.

[Brian]

And to that I say, so what?

I too am a Mac user, and you know sometimes the cheapest product is, well, the cheapest in more ways than one. As with other types of products (tools, machines, cars, electronics, appliances, labor - the list goes on and on) It makes sense to pay a bit more for a better product, and IMO the Mac is definitely a better product. It's certainly not flawless as so many "Mac Bigots" like to claim, but despite being more expensive compared to a Windows-based machine it's worth every single penny in my book.