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Microsoft Customers Get No Bang for Buck

sammy baby writes "Software missing its ship date is commonplace enough that it's usually only mentioned for yuks. However, subscribers to Microsoft's Software Assurance program are discovering that it can have some very real repercussions. According to NetworkWorld, many licencees are discovering that due to slipping release dates, many thousands of dollars spent on these contracts have brought them zero return."

17 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. Re:In all fairness... by One+Louder · · Score: 4, Funny
    Which retailer took a preorder for Duke Nukem Forever?

    Anyone who's been paying attention would know that signing up for the Duke Nukem Software Assurance Program was a bad idea.

  2. Re:Try this the next time you buy. by Cali+Thalen · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Give the manufacturer your money and tell him that he can send you your stuff whenever he's done with it"

    It's more like, give them your money and tell them to send you your stuff whever it's done, but if it's more than a year from now...just keep the money.

    --
    Chaos, panic, disorder...my work here is done.
  3. Re:Try this the next time you buy. by myowntrueself · · Score: 4, Funny

    "On the other hand, there's one born every minute."

    That might have been true in the 1800s but not any more.

    (figures are approximate)

    If one supported some hypothetical 'involuntary human extinction project' and arranged for 250,000 people to die this would only delay the population growth rate by about a day.

    I reckon its more like 'one born every 5 seconds'

    --
    In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  4. Now how can they say that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    many thousands of dollars spent on these contracts have brought them zero return.

    Why, just in the last few months they got Blaster and Bagel and MyDoom and Skynet and...

  5. What would the smartest man on Earth do? by craXORjack · · Score: 5, Funny
    Microsoft recently said it was working on something called XP Reloaded, which appears to be an interim release of the desktop operating system before the big upgrade to Longhorn now slated for 2006. It also lets Microsoft put some software in the pipeline for Software Assurance customers. A similar upgrade is rumored for Office,

    John Conner: Boss, our customers realize they have been ripped off.
    Bill Gate: We've seen this problem before. We'll just release Service Pack 5 as a new OS. It's new if we say it is. Have Marketing design a new splash screen. That will fool all those bumpkins.
    John Conner: <snicker> You're right again Bill!
    Bill Gate: Yes I am, because I am smarter than everyone else.
    John Conner: Then do you think you could help me out? My mother, Sarah, is being chased by a cybernetic killing machine sent from the future...

    --
    Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
  6. Golden Opportunity for Open Source by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Hey, boss, Microsoft gave you nothing for something. Now check out this OOo stuff, where you get something for nothing."

    --
    If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
    1. Re:Golden Opportunity for Open Source by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 5, Funny

      Uh, thanks for the "Funny" moderation, but I was serious.

      --
      If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
    2. Re:Golden Opportunity for Open Source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Uh, thanks for the "Insightful" moderation, but that time I was actually trying to be funny.

      -Rick the Red

    3. Re:Golden Opportunity for Open Source by Cruciform · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's okay, if you were trying to be funny they would have modded you "Off Topic" :)

  7. Doesn't this story deserve an [OBVIOUS] tag? by Progman3K · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sorry, I thought this was Fark for a second.

    --
    I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
  8. Isn't it obvious? by myowntrueself · · Score: 4, Funny

    Contracts are what you use against your customers.

    Duh.

    --
    In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  9. Priceless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    MSDN Subscription: $2,000
    Windows XP License Agreement x 200: $12,000
    Office License Agreement x 200: $20,000
    Being Bill Gates and laughing all the way to the bank for having to provide nothing extra: Priceless

    For all your price gouging and junk software there's Microsoft. For everything else, there's Open Source.

  10. Banging M$ style by Maskirovka · · Score: 3, Funny
    Microsoft Customers Get No Bang for Buck

    In the interests of political correctness, the Microsoft's lawyers insisted on using the phrase "anal induced shafting."

    Contract law- it can be a bloody/shitty business.

  11. Heh heh. "Reloaded". by tuxedobob · · Score: 2, Funny

    Will they follow with XP Revolutions? Will either be as well-received as the original?

    Microsoft C*O of your choice: "Hey, those Matrix movies were cool! Everybody liked all of those! Let's use that for a naming scheme!"

  12. It was a big success, if you look at it correctly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    No one who has posted here seems to realize how this Microsoft policy was designed. Some very smart Microsoft people sat down and spent months deciding the best way to sell Linux. They deserve praise for their success.

  13. Well designed software is hugely simple. by ProfessionalCookie · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well designed software is hugely simple.

    Or conversely; Poorly designed software is simply huge!

  14. Re:Can't Finger Just Microsoft by jsebrech · · Score: 2, Funny

    Windows ME for the NT generation.

    MENTOS?

    OK, I know, I know, not funny.