Path: utzoo!censor!becker!ziebmef!ncrcan!lsuc!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!srcsip!jhereg!mark From: mark@jhereg.Jhereg.MN.ORG (Mark H. Colburn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.att Subject: Re: Trailblazer Setup for HDB <--[NO! NO! NO!] for the UNIX PC Keywords: HDB 7300 3B1 AT&T Message-ID: <809@jhereg.Jhereg.MN.ORG> Date: 20 Apr 89 16:41:38 GMT References: <823@aber-cs.UUCP> <1377@sialis.mn.org> Reply-To: mark@jhereg.MN.ORG (Mark H. Colburn) Distribution: eunet,world Organization: Minnetech Consulting, Inc., St. Paul, MN Lines: 55 In article <1377@sialis.mn.org> rjg@sialis.mn.org (Robert J. Granvin) writes: >>It is ALMOST ALWAYS the case that it says that you pay money to REPORT bugs, > >I'd suggest you start looking at other vendors. I've reported many >problems and bugs to several vendors and manufacturers for supported >and unsupported products alike. I've found a global willingness to >listen to the problems you have discovered, and in many cases received >a fix or upgrade even though I don't have a current maintenance >contract. Where I may have had to pay was when requesting >informational support on a product that had no conrtact. That is a >reasonable thing to expect. Hmmm. Bob, I would suspect that you have not talked to the likes of Microsoft, Informix, Unify, and several other well known companies. Microsoft is the most notorious. A conversation that I had with Microsoft one time went something like this: Microsoft Tech: "Hello, Microsoft Technical Support" Me: "Hello, I would like to report a compiler bug in your Microsoft C compiler, Version 3.0" MT: "Ok. Do you have a developer support contract with us?" Me: "No. I would like to report a bug and get it fixed." MT: "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't help you unless you have a support contract. Would you like me to transfer you to sales?" Me: "No! Listen, I just spent the better part of a morning tracking down this problem which is holding up a project that is critical..." MT: "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't help you unless you have a support contract. Thank you. Goodbye." Me: "Wait a minute! Are you saying that I just spent $500 for a package which doesn't work and you won't fix?" MT: "No, sir. If you would buy a support contract then we would be happy to consider your problem." Me: "Okay, how much is a support contract?" MT: Me: "Screw it, I'll find a work around..." Sad, but true... -- Mark H. Colburn mark@jhereg.mn.org Minnetech Consulting, Inc.