Josh Ledgard blogged about some internal softie experiences in getting a QFE… It cracked me up…
Some interesting points…
1. With his choice of search key words Google took him directly to his KB article, Microsoft’s own live search didn’t…
2. This quote which I wholeheartedly and completely agree with
When are we going to realize that no one wants to pick up the phone. The contact us page listed above has a phone number on the top. Not only is that expensive for us, but also, my gut tells me that most people don’t want to pick up the phone for something like this.
3. This quote too
The “Online Costumer Service” is not what it sounds like. One link is to send feedback on this page and the other is a link to more resources… most of them about signing up for newsletters. Blah.
4. This quote as well
I get to a page that has a button for “start e-mail request”. Have fun mousing over stuff on that page and watching the CSS bugs. 🙂
4. And this one…
It brings me to a screen that’s going to try and find my PID. I hope it works. 🙂 I wonder what I would do here if my install was messed up and I couldn’t get to the help about screen to find my PID. The scan started… it couldn’t find my PID. I click “How to find me PID”.
5. Haha and this one
The “how to find me PID” page sucks because it doesn’t realize I had already selected VS 2005. Now I have to select navigate to it again. You begin to realize how badly Microsoft doesn’t get the web since most people who did this experiment and called… had their hot fix 2-5 minutes ago. If it takes longer to use the web site… somehow you’ve failed miserably. Thankfully, it was once my glorious job to test the “Help About” dialog in VS so I’m pretty confident I can find it there. (Hey, you have to start somewhere. 🙂 )
6. And….
250 Minutes: The VS Hotfix install seems frozen and something is chewing through CPU time… this is not a good end case yet.
252 Minutes: Closed down any managed apps I had running on my machine. As soon as a closed Windows Live Writer the install completed.
7. And the wrap up is great and I whole heartedly concur…
It also makes me wonder when/if our support processes are ever going to go Web 2.0. If we continue to push products like Office Live, Windows Live, Spaces, etc but we don’t have great online based support then we’ll be judged by the weakest link in the product chain… the support link. Offline (phone support) seems like a model that just won’t play in the new world we’re entering. If I want all my programs online then I want my support online to be great as well.
The best part of the whole blog is the fact that they are now piloting a program to all Dev guys to get the most popular public hotfixes for VS2005 from the web…
http://blogs.msdn.com/jledgard/archive/2006/10/31/download-hotfixes-without-contacting-support.aspx
I think what Josh did here was amazingly great. It would be even more great if MORE Microsoft people tried the solutions they state. How often have you heard “go search for that on MSN” or “you can call PSS” from a Microsoft resource? How many people are willing to actually call PSS even if they know it is a bug? Of those how many are positive they won’t be fighting over their credit card statements with MSFT?
I really like Microsoft, but I absolutely will not call their support lines unless my hair is on fire and I know they are the only ones with a fire extinguisher in reach. This is based on past experiences that I have no desire whatsoever to ever replicate. I feel the same way Josh does above, Microsoft is pushing how they are the web/online company… prove it.
joe
Agreed, but I have QFEs on my list of jobs for the TAM so that solves that problem.