• (cs) in reply to clickey McClicker
    clickey McClicker:
    Ever encounter the "Why do have to buy a copy for each computer, it is already installed on all of them."
    That perhaps indicates how "common sense" the IP laws are. They make no sense. People think in physical terms: a book costs because it costs to make one. Once someone paid for a copy of the software, and they managed to install it all over the place, their hurdle is finished. Why should they pay?

    I'm not against copyrights, it's just that the whole "copying dvds/mp3/whatever is theft, and so criminal" argument is just so annoyingly stupid. Never mind that in the U.S. that argument is also based on wishful thinking and has no basis in law.

    Cheers!

  • methinks (unregistered) in reply to operagost
    operagost:
    Charles Manson:
    the real wtf fool:
    evilspoons:
    What is not forgivable, however, is how this person fails to comprehend how to navigate to a file OUTSIDE of the program. Cripes.
    Why do you think that using windows explorer should be second nature to everybody? I'd say the WTF here is that management weren't training their non-IT staff how to use computers.
    Windoze is just not intuitive. I used to get support calls from my parents and grandparents all the time. Now when they get a new computer, the first thing I do is wipe the hard drive and install Ubuntu. Since I've loaded Ubuntu on all of their computers, I never get any support calls from my family.
    Weak troll; try again. On second thought: don't.

    Well... only that I have made similar experiences.

    A girlfriend used to call me every 6 to 8 weeks because of some problem she or her parents were having with their family PC running XP, which is only used for web surfing, e-mailing and doing some MS-Office stuff.

    Finally I scraped XP and put Ubuntu with OpenOffice on it, set up to leave MS-Office files alone (i.e. always write them back in MS format, never in OOo)

    I've never heard from her again - I mean at least not regarding the family PC... ;o)

  • (cs) in reply to Jim
    Jim:
    Bellinghman:
    Ask the BBC. Their iPlayer refuses to deliver content to IP addresses that it believes are outside the UK.

    (This immensely annoys friends of ours in Ireland, who are in range of the BBC transmitters, but who can't access iPlayer to view recent programs on demand.)

    But if they are in range of BBC antennas they can just watch it on the television (without even needing a license, lucky them).

    You still need a TV license in Ireland, even if you're only watching the BBC

  • Wyrd (unregistered) in reply to Vidar
    Vidar:
    The first company I worked at was a small ISP I ran with some friends. There was a steady stream of newbie users, which wasn't too unexpected given that this was '95 and most people had never been online before. It didn't get better because we were inexperienced with just how unable users are to think for themselves.

    One customer in particular taught us to ask all the "stupid" questions first.

    He complained that he couldn't get online, and one of the guys walked him through every single winsock settings and the dialer script as that was the most common problem, and it all seemed right. The guy only had a single phone line, so he had to hang up to try it out.

    He called back minutes later to tell us it hadn't worked. He was questioned about what sounds he heard (back in the day of modems with the speaker on until the connection was established), but he didn't hear anything.

    Our support guy walked through his settings again to make sure they were correct, and made sure the guy new how to actually start the connection. All seemed fine. Second try.

    ... and he called back again. At this point our support guy asked what brand of modem the customer had. It was a common US Robotics model, and shouldn't cause a problem - we used the same modems ourself.

    The support guy started finally started suspecting some really stupid mistake. He asked if the modem was on.

    The customer asked how he could tell. Support guy tells him to look for the red lights on the modem.

    Customer answers "hold on, I just need to take it out of the box".

    Support guy: What box? Customer: The cardboard box. Support guy: Why is it in a cardboard box? Have you connected the modem to your PC? Customer: It came in the box. What do you mean, "connected"? It is on the desk next to my PC.

    I swear this is a true story - 3-4 of us were standing there listening in on the call, watching the support guy get more and more agitated as he realized the customer had not even unpacked the modem, and not for a second had questioned how it could communicate with the PC or the phone network, or how it would get power.

    (Then there's the guy who demanded his money back because he didn't realize you needed a computer to get online - he "just wanted the internet")

    That's a good one. And I agree with you about asking the "stupid questions" first. We should always remember, however, that computers are not something these users spend much time thinking about (obviously). They regard the computer as some sort of newfangled gadget that they have to figure out how to use. If the computer was something that they were well-familiar with, then they wouldn't have needed to call you to try to fix the problem, they would have been able to solve it on their own.

    Furry cows moo and decompress.

  • Franz Kafka (unregistered) in reply to Kuba
    Kuba:
    clickey McClicker:
    Ever encounter the "Why do have to buy a copy for each computer, it is already installed on all of them."
    That perhaps indicates how "common sense" the IP laws are. They make no sense. People think in physical terms: a book costs because it costs to make one. Once someone paid for a copy of the software, and they managed to install it all over the place, their hurdle is finished. Why should they pay?

    No, a book costs money because it's of value to you and you don't own it. If it wasn't valuable to you, you wouldn't buy it. If it wasn't worth producing in the first place (doesn't recoup costs), it shouldn't be produced. If you want software for free, then you have to figure out how to fund its creation. In the meantime, pay the licensing costs - $ per seat or site license or whatever.

  • (cs) in reply to Vidar
    Vidar:

    (Then there's the guy who demanded his money back because he didn't realize you needed a computer to get online - he "just wanted the internet")

    Isn't that a God-given right!?

  • (cs)

    When reading stories like this, that old McDonalds "If you believe in magic" commercial always plays in my head, as though it shares some of the blame.

  • Bobblehead Troll (unregistered) in reply to Mark
    Mark:
    He asked me why it was working now. I proposed the idea that the power cord had simply been disconnected from the monitor some how. He wasn't satisfied with my answer instead he got angry and insisted that the computer should supply the power to the monitor and it should not require it's own power cord.

    That one must have been an old Mac user. A few old 68k based Macs which had separate monitor (I think Quadra was one) did have a special proprietary cord that had both power and signal wires. Apple used a lot of special connectors to control the peripherals market.

  • Travis (unregistered) in reply to Dan
    Dan:
    Well after I fixed my mom's computer with a sledge hammer, NOBODY has called me for support!
    I once gave some people a laugh when I walked out of the workshop carrying a hammer and headed back towards the IT Department. When I was asked why I needed the hammer, I replied, "I'm going to fix my computer." The resulting laughter was nervous, to say the least.

    I had opened my computer up to do something-or-other inside - I think it was a RAM upgrade, but it was so long ago that I'm no longer sure - and one of the catches on the case had gotten bent. I needed to tap it back into the correct shape before I could close the case again, hence the hammer.

  • TheBigR (unregistered)

    "That Might Help? (from Dirk Grosskopf)" - this story is either not true or it displays a considerable level of stupidity at the store. Would it not make sense to at least try and replicate the problem in the store before sending the computer to Commodore? 5 mins effort up front would have prevented the entire saga.

  • Du Caked Hare (unregistered) in reply to Charles Manson
    Charles Manson:
    Now when they get a new computer, the first thing I do is wipe the hard drive and install Ubuntu. Since I've loaded Ubuntu on all of their computers, I never get any support calls from my family.

    Wait until they read of a virus scare in the papers and buy an anti-virus.

    "Hello dear, Norton won't install. I found the box that came with the computer, it does say Vista on it, like on the Norton box!"

  • I'm not giving my name to a computer (unregistered)

    The real WTF in the Commodore story is that the "tech" was so lazy he shipped the computer to be repaired without even verifying that the problem was reproducible (thereby wasting everyone's time and embarrassing his shop). FAIL.

  • rich (unregistered) in reply to the real wtf fool

    And you dident bother to share it with us? How Nice!

    Thank you!

  • eric bloedow (unregistered)

    oh, that "modem still in the box" story reminds me of an even dumber story: someone took one of those "free AOL" CDs and put it in a CD PLAYER and expected "the internet" to appear...

Leave a comment on “Little Boxes Everywhere, and More Support Stories”

Log In or post as a guest

Replying to comment #:

Log Out

« Return to Article