> From: Greg Folkert
> Think about this, if you "commercial" product was as well documented,
> would you infact buy support at the costs associated with
> that? I know I
> would not (and don't) because I do have of documentation.
>
> Try this visualization a moment:
> Microsoft Exchange, a "well documented" system... many
> undocumented features. Many features that are critical to well
> running system. You pay $OMFG_SUPPORT fees, either
> yearly or per
> incident. Per incident is ay a minimum of $150.
By continuing to post such propaganda once again,
the BEST WAY to get Microsoft support for free is
overlooked:
The Microsoft Newsgroups are hosted (for free) on
Microsoft servers.
nntp://msnews.microsoft.com
It's silly to try to excuse one set of bad behavior
by (misdescribing) another set -- Exim and this list
are EXCELLENT and do not need such excuses anyway.
These groups are roughly comparable to THIS EXCELLENT
Exim support list except that they are far more
extensive in the number of subjects. There is practically
no spam, and practically no abuse. Answers comparable
to "RTM" are accompanied by the name of the manual,
source, page number or other search terms -- usually
a request gets both: manual/documentation sources and
direct advice on "how to" solve the problem.
One doesn't even need a "news feed" since it is
possible to connect directly to these servers for
both reading and posting.
You will typically* get BETTER and probably QUICKER
answers from the newsgroups than by calling and
paying for support.
Paying for support is only for the inexperienced
Microsoft admin, or in very special cases where you
are going to need to escalate to level 3 etc. --
even then, you will likely get much better support
from the newsgroups and if you must call be better
prepared.
*'Typically' will vary mostly by the quality of the
question you ask. How specific and how carefully
you document your problem.
It is odd that a well-formed question is not answered
within the first day. Most problems that linger on
are due to the original poster "dribbling out" the
symptoms instead of following the first requests for
further tests or experiments and accurately reporting
the results (e.g., IPconfig, nslookup etc for IP problems)
nntp://msnews.microsoft.com
You can pay more but you cannot (likely) buy better.
--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
HerbM@???
http://LearnQuick.Com
512 388 7339 -or- 1 800 MCSE PRO
Accelerated MCSE in a Week Seminars
