Microsoft BASIC 80 non-disclosure agreement - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

6 May 1998

At 11:14 PM 5/5/98 +0100, you wrote:
...
 When I call Tech Support I will have made some attempts
to check the 
obvious, gather evidence, and solve the problem. In particular : 

I'll have checked the 'bleeding obvious' - that it's plugged in, that I 
am running the program I think I am running, etc 
Ah, but you are (especially for mainstream stuff) reasonably rare.  The
average I-bought-my-computer-at-circuit-city-and-got-a-free-hair-dryer
idiot has done none of that.  Most likely, he's tripped over the power cord
and unplugged it, or tried to install a pirated game that had a virus and
his hd is toast or...

Which does, I agree, present a problem for those of us who *do* know what
we're doing.  There's nothing I hate more than having some nitwit read the
manual to me.  (Unless, of course, I'm calling because I don't have the
manual.)  

Dunno if there's a solution.  I try to find a knowledgeable support person
for software/hardware I use a lot and make sure they know who I am and that
I'm not a git.

...
 I'll be sitting in front of my machine with a
'scope, logic analyser, 
software debugger, etc at the ready  
"you're out there, man, like f***ing pluto."  8^)

...
 IBM are better than most, at least for providing
parts/manuals. They may 
claim that a machine never existed (IBM UK told be there was 'no such 
thing as a PC-jr'), but they can often find all sorts of things given a 
part number or forms number. 
IBM does seem to be pretty good.  I requested info about a couple of
"PC-Radio's" I picked up, and got back a lot of info (albeit badly
formatted. 8^)

...
 Sending in bug reports (and even better, fixes) for
ancient products is 
great fun :-). 
I would think calling would be better still.  8^)

...
 >     And DON'T COPY ANY SOFTWARE.  I don't
even care if it was made by a
> criminal, it gives you no right to do the same. 
Yep.  Fastest way to put a company out of business is to steal their
product.  Hmmm...  Anyone want a copy of Microsoft Office?  8^)  (JUST
KIDDING!!!)

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