Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!snorkelwacker!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!elbereth.rutgers.edu!medici From: medici@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Mark Medici) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: 386Max Message-ID: Date: 8 May 90 04:03:08 GMT References: <210@demott.COM> <19450051@hpfinote.HP.COM> Reply-To: medici@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Mark Medici) Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 44 In article <19450051@hpfinote.HP.COM> pnl@hpfinote.HP.COM (Peter Lim) writes: >top selling software on PC Magazine's commercial best selling list. >At least that says that QEMM-5.0 is selling like hot cake ! That is >probably the reason that their technical support line is going down the >drain --- too much business --- they should hire more people. I've owned QuarterDeck products for over three years now. There tech support has always been impossoble to reach. Yes -- if get to talk to someone you get great support, but this is no easy task. Of course, once every three months QuarterDeck changes the message you hear while you're on hold, like: In response to the overwelming demand for ________ [fill in the blank for whatever new product/upgrade/update just shipped] our technical support lines are swamped... Please be patient as we improve our ________ to serve you better [fill in the blank with phone system/support staff/ magnetic alignment with the solar system...]... I'm really getting tired of all this. As far as I can tell, the only thing QuarterDeck has really done to try and improve the accessibility of tech support is limit free support to the first 90 days that you own the product, after which time you must pay between $60 and $900 (that's right, nine-hundred dollars for 1 year unlimited tech support) for additional support. Of course the manuals are so good that nobody needs support, right!?! (said with tongue in cheek). However, thus far QEMM/386 has provided me with more free base memory than 386MAX has. I'm not yet certain why, but programs that QEMM has no trouble loading into high RAM (>640kB, <1MB) just won't fit with 386MAX. Trying to run MS-Windows on a PS/2-80 with an ESDI disk controller and a Token Ring card, under DOS 3.3 with the requisite Token Ring Support drivers and IBM PC-LAN redirector software, I need every single last byte of RAM I can sqeeze out. And to think, back when I was running CP/M 2.2 on a NorthStar Horizon with 5MB fixed drive and 64kB RAM, I laughed at people who were so frivilous as to buy an IBM PC with 256kB installed. * Just my humble (8-)) opinions, and not necessarily those of my employers * ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Medici/SysProg3 * Rutgers University/CCIS * medici@elbereth.rutgers.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------