He asks for some recommendations and the first thing you list says "not recommended, not ready yet". I fully agree with the rest of your post, but I just thought that first line (in this context) was pretty funny.
If they just had the Episode 2/Portal/Team Fortress content I believe MSRP was supposed to be $30, instead of having a starting price of $50.
Actually, the Black Box was supposed to retail for $40, with the Orange Box at $60. Instead, they dropped the Black Box and dropped the Orange Box to $50 (well, for the PC at least). That said, I picked up a copy at Best Buy a few weeks ago for $25. Since I hadn't gotten around to playing HL2 before, it was money well spent. Actually, Portal and TF2 are worth the $50 asking price alone. It's an added bonus that you also get all the HL2 content so far thrown in. But if you want to be bitter about it, by all means, be bitter.
The set was a year out of warranty, so I would've ended up paying them (or someone else) to even look at the thing to diagnose the problem as far as I did. And yes, I was surprised that they kept talking to me, and that they even elevated the call.
When I first describe the problem to support I'll go over the basics of what I've done. If they respond with some sort of understanding of what I've just said, the call will usually take it's own direction. If, however, they respond with "Okay, first I'll need you to restart your computer. To do that, click the Start menu on the bottom of the screen..." then I'll let them go through their script in the hopes that there's a step somewhere in there that I might not have done, or that they'll quickly escalate it to someone else.
Trying to convince my TV manufacturer recently that the IR receiver on the set went out was a lot of fun. ("Uh huh, I'm putting brand new AA batteries into the remote right now. Still nothing.") I eventually got to someone with whom I could have a straight geek-to-geek conversation. ("I took the back off the set and checked all of the connections going to and from the IR receiver board. All of the hard-wired buttons on that board work perfectly fine. The only thing that doesn't work is the IR receiver. No, there's no sign of weak solder points, etc. If you can't send another board, can you give me a part number for the receiver unit--I can solder it on myself if it comes down to it.") The guy sent out a new board free of charge and I plunked it into the set in about 10 minutes. Problem solved...
If it gets to that point I usually just thank them and move on with trying to troubleshoot it myself. After all, if I'm going to blow everything away, well, I can handle that without their assistance...
Which tells me that the Register article is basically shoddy journalism. No fact digging, no fact checking, polemics instead of the who what when why where that journalism is supposed to accomplish.
That just about sums about everything that the Register publishes. Which is exactly why I usually don't even bother with them. They're the National Enquirer of the tech world.
In the rare instance when I actually need to call support, I'll perform the steps they ask even if I've already tried them and know that they don't fix the problem. After all, they're patiently trying to help you, so the least you can do is try not to stress them out by being a pain in the ass.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly what I thought when I saw that the teacher was noting the program by its full executable name.
Alright. Let's not get into what the cosmetic companies do or don't do to animals during testing, okay?
I would celebrate Festivus, but those damn poles are too expensive...
The problematic part is that flash won't run on anything but an Intel-compatible processor
Crap, I guess I should just throw out this G5 iMac then...
No. You misunderstood me. I want the email address to have your DVR record shows. : p
Very cool. What's the email address? : D
He asks for some recommendations and the first thing you list says "not recommended, not ready yet". I fully agree with the rest of your post, but I just thought that first line (in this context) was pretty funny.
One of the first truly insightful comments I've seen this morning.
If they just had the Episode 2/Portal/Team Fortress content I believe MSRP was supposed to be $30, instead of having a starting price of $50.
Actually, the Black Box was supposed to retail for $40, with the Orange Box at $60. Instead, they dropped the Black Box and dropped the Orange Box to $50 (well, for the PC at least). That said, I picked up a copy at Best Buy a few weeks ago for $25. Since I hadn't gotten around to playing HL2 before, it was money well spent. Actually, Portal and TF2 are worth the $50 asking price alone. It's an added bonus that you also get all the HL2 content so far thrown in. But if you want to be bitter about it, by all means, be bitter.
Activision is gonna buy Valve?!? : o That's what you just said!
"Might play sometimes"?
The set was a year out of warranty, so I would've ended up paying them (or someone else) to even look at the thing to diagnose the problem as far as I did. And yes, I was surprised that they kept talking to me, and that they even elevated the call.
When I first describe the problem to support I'll go over the basics of what I've done. If they respond with some sort of understanding of what I've just said, the call will usually take it's own direction. If, however, they respond with "Okay, first I'll need you to restart your computer. To do that, click the Start menu on the bottom of the screen..." then I'll let them go through their script in the hopes that there's a step somewhere in there that I might not have done, or that they'll quickly escalate it to someone else.
Trying to convince my TV manufacturer recently that the IR receiver on the set went out was a lot of fun. ("Uh huh, I'm putting brand new AA batteries into the remote right now. Still nothing.") I eventually got to someone with whom I could have a straight geek-to-geek conversation. ("I took the back off the set and checked all of the connections going to and from the IR receiver board. All of the hard-wired buttons on that board work perfectly fine. The only thing that doesn't work is the IR receiver. No, there's no sign of weak solder points, etc. If you can't send another board, can you give me a part number for the receiver unit--I can solder it on myself if it comes down to it.") The guy sent out a new board free of charge and I plunked it into the set in about 10 minutes. Problem solved...
Derr, you're right. Although I lump them both into the same family of useless "journalism."
No kidding. You'd think if they were pressed for space that Zonk could have figured out that '5M' would work better.
If it gets to that point I usually just thank them and move on with trying to troubleshoot it myself. After all, if I'm going to blow everything away, well, I can handle that without their assistance...
Which tells me that the Register article is basically shoddy journalism. No fact digging, no fact checking, polemics instead of the who what when why where that journalism is supposed to accomplish.
That just about sums about everything that the Register publishes. Which is exactly why I usually don't even bother with them. They're the National Enquirer of the tech world.
Oh, I know! There's no period at the end!
Sounds like you were a whiz-kid with a good bit of know-it-all thrown in. ; )
In the rare instance when I actually need to call support, I'll perform the steps they ask even if I've already tried them and know that they don't fix the problem. After all, they're patiently trying to help you, so the least you can do is try not to stress them out by being a pain in the ass.
the ex-wife...
Not quite as bad as the current wife. At least with the ex-wife you don't have to see her everyday...
I'm sure they're planning to apologize to the viewers of the Spike VGAs as well... all two of them.
Well, I'm sure Zonk and kdawson will appreciate it.
Oh wii-ly?
The irony of this statement is overwhelming.
Seriously. You'd think they could get the point across without being nearly so ferrouscious.
Yahoo! Answers--the place to go to get your question answered by a certified yahoo.