uport Support

[David Beckemeyer]

In article <17124 at sgi.SGI.COM> vjs at rhyolite.SGI.COM (Vernon Schryver) asks:
>Are Microport 'Hotline Support' or 'Upgrade service' worth it?
>
>If I send a bunch of bug reports to Microport, what good will it do
>me?  Will I get fixes or patches?  Are updates frequent, with lots of
>fixes?  ...

The answer is NO.   There are ways to deal with Microport but buying
their services is not the most effective.

Who nees Hotline Support when the switchboard operators can't even
transfer the calls?    Even if you do get through to somebody after
several calls, they seldom can offer much help with real problems (unless
you have the "is the power turned on?" type problems, which I doubt). It's
cheaper and faster to figure out solutions yourself.

I bought the upgrade contract.  I guess I got what I paid for but I think
one could get anything I got *without* buying the upgrade service.

As for bug reporting.   I have sent in quite a few.   I even went so far
as to prepare programs that reproduce the errors and I shipped diskettes
with instructions and documentation.   My guess is that they went straight
into the circular file.

I have gotten patches for problems but it didn't happen becuase I sent
in bug reports or paid my upgrade fee.  It happened becuase I became a
squeeky wheel which needed some grease (not too much mind you, but a little!).
-- 
David Beckemeyer (david at bdt.uucp)	| "Yea I've got medicine..." as the 
Beckemeyer Development Tools		| cookie cocks a his Colt, "and if
478 Santa Clara Ave, Oakland, CA 94610	| you don't keep your mouth shut, I'm
UUCP: {unisoft,sun}!hoptoad!bdt!david 	| gonna give you a big dose of it!"