We are working for Microsoft, Yes YOU!

posted by Allan@TechCrammer @ 11:20pm, Thursday 22 January 2009.

I use the term "we" loosely, though if you are the famed goto computer guy or gal then you are probably shaking your head because you know exactly what I am saying.

OK, with friends and family it is somewhat expected that you will lend some advise or help troubleshoot a problem. Though this actually extends into the workplace and that is where I think this topic is most interesting.

I have worked several contracting jobs, have been on small start-up teams and large corporate environments. With this said, I have been wracking my brain to think of one single instance that I (or someone on my team or even in my office) has ever called Microsoft to ask a question. Not a call, not an online chat or an email sent to the company of the most widely used OS on the market.

I can even extend this to using not just the OS and the standard MS Office products; however, many of the development teams I worked with also used Visual Studios, Sourcesafe, SQL Server, etc... I can even recall when we first started doing a large SQL Server replication implementation and scouring the web for information on how to make this all work back in the day when this was not so popular of a concept.

Think about all the times that you have taught someone how to use Excel and Word or those calls from your boss when he was trying to get his PowerPoint presentation going. Think about all those blue screens on your clients workstation that you spent endless hours trying to salvage data or to re-load some oddball driver. Hmmm... here is a good one, Outlook and Outlook Express I have shown countless people how to setup an account or make rules, forward, vacation... you know the drill.

I understand there are help guides, and online knowledgebases (MSDN was great when we were using it) and I am not saying people should be quick to just call Microsoft for something that they can get from a KB. However, what software or even hardware doesn't come with a manual and information of some sort, though this doesn't stop most end-users from calling the company to assist with issues. Good customer service is part of the price right?

I guess we expect help from the manufacturer of the hardware first, which is probably why DELL and the other computer distributors probably have to spend a bundle in customer support. I believe that the Microsoft support site even states something to the instance that your computer manufacturer is your primary source for support. So I guess I am supposed to call DELL when my Outlook mailbox is corrupt, because I have a DELL PC?

I am sure there are better examples, and maybe I am missing the big picture. Microsoft likely has a huge support demand, though I can say it would be alot larger if it wasn't for us techies and software/hardware providers that lend a helping hand to Microsoft users.

Maybe that is why I have really shifted into Open Soure and Linux over the years.

Here is to all of us computer geeks providing free (or maybe just a sixpack of cold brews) tech support!

-Allan

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