So, I just ordered a new Dell computer for the office

Pretty much a bare bones system. No additional software, just Windows XP with SP2.

Interesting that Google Desktop came preinstalled on my system.

Come on Dell, I understand you partner with other companies and such. But preloading software that I don't want or need on to the image of the machine?

How about in your configuration wizard, you have an option to add in the additional stuff. I mean you ask if I want "hyperthreading" enabled. Couldn't you give me a option of having a "virgin" operating system?

It seems that bloggers support isn't that great either...

My partner has now had her blog down for over a month. It doesn't appear on her dashboard, and gives the dredded 404 (not found errors) for the past month.

Trying to get through to support seems pointless. For over the month now, we have both tried to contact support and get a response (which isn't an automated response.) Following those automated instructions doesn't help as none of the situations described don't even come close to what we are encountering.

Granted it's a free service, but even for a free service, is no contact acceptable?

Nope! Not at all.

But there are no other choices except to move to a different blog service. It's not like I can call them and wait on hold for two hours, as they don't have any phone support. If they do, I haven't been able to find it.

Has anyone else encountered these issues?

What is your favorate operating system?

Now before all you u*ix guys jump on me. It's just a question. We know that everyone that uses unix loves it. It's not just an operating system, it's a way of life.

Honestly? I miss the good old DOS 3.3 days. Things were simple. To install somthing you just copied it to your harddrive, or dropped it in on the CD rom and ran it from there. To uninstal, just delete it from the directory, and your done.

I wish things were that easy now. There's nothing worse than installing a piece of software, and having it blow away your system. Or better yet, make modifications to your system which I doesn't tell you about.

Rootkits have made the press in the last few months with the whole DRM (digital rights management) fiasco thanks to Sony. I don't ever remember seeing rootkits in DOS 3.3

Granted, DOS is back in the days of the dinosaurs, but given all the management issues (one application breaking another application), spyware, malware, adware that we all run into now, it's just a pain in the ass. I find myself longing for the simple and easier days. Ahhh well.

That's my answer, good old DOS 3.3 If I had to choose a GUI based OS, I would choose the old AMIGIA 500's OS. It gave you the best of both worlds. You could switch to a command line based mode, or over to a GUI. FANTASTIC... And what you did in the GUI got reflected in the command line mode. In otherwords, you would see the commands that were required to move that file, or start that executable, etc. A great way to use the GUI to really fine tune some of your command line syntax.

For the Windows arena, I still do like Windows 2000. I find it very stable. From what I've worked with on XP, I don't mind it, but it's far too "cartooney" for me. Granted I could go back to the classic modes, but, until I'm forced to, I will still with my Windows 2000.

One thing I will say, they did get it right when it came to getting XP started up. Comparitivly speaking, it is quick. Especially for all those reboots. Not as fast as I would like it, but significantly faster.

So those are my thoughts. Agree, disagree with me, each will have there own opinion.

Cheers,
Greg

So what's up with all these virus/trojans/spyware?

If you haven't updated your antivirus, please do. The Blackworm (aliased as Nyxem, Blackmal, CME-24, etc) annoyance starts tomorrow, Feb 3rd. Make sure those virus definitions are up to date..

This one will spread to any mounted drive (aka, a drive that has an assigned drive letter, so a network drive, a USB drive, etc)

It also searches for email address and mass mails itself out to others...

But the real payload is, on the 3rd of each month, it sees fit to overwrite files with doc, xls, modify, mde, ppt, pps, zip, rar, pdf, psd and dmp extension. Not just deletes them, but overwrites them (read: not recoverable by typical means.) At the same time, it tries to terminate certain running processes (read: potentially disables antivirus, firewall, antispyware, etc.)

It's a buggar......

For more info:
AVG/Grisoft
F-Secure
NAI/McAfee

Again, it seems that each likes to have it's own name for these things which makes it really a pain in the ass to determine if your protected or not.

Regardless, make sure all your protections are up to date.

Customer Service - It's a Myth! - Part Three

Pretty amazing isn't it?

Customer service has gone right down the tubes. Ironically, since this incident, I have made two contacts at different wireless companies (Cingular and Sprint.) Quite ironic, since I met them via a mutual friend. Had I only known.

So what has happened with customer service? Simply, from an executive point of view, customer service is a loss leader. Since we are locked in to a typical 3 year contract, they know they are getting the profit from us. It's not like we can cancel it with out major costs of lawyers (which would cost more than the duration of the contract.) I wish I could *afford* to have my principles, but until that long lost aunt or uncle pass away and leaves me a bazillion dollars, I'm just going to have to "suck it up."

So much customer support has been outsourced (not necessarily offshored) but outsourced. Quality measurements (or metrics as the executives like to call them) are simply that. They are statistics. And as we all know, stats can be made to say anything. I'm a white 6'5" male in a committed relationship. I drink occasionally, don't smoke, love sci-fi, and enjoy heading out to movies and such. But you know something? Statistically speaking I don't have two legs. Which to look at me, at 6'5", yeah, compared to most, I should have more than two legs (at least 2 and a half, maybe even three, I have long legs if one didn't guess) but using stats in the demographic of others on my apartment floor (6 apartments), I don't have two legs. I only have 1.91 of a leg. Hmmm, perhaps I should try drawing on disability since I statistically I don't have two legs. Do you think it would work? Nahhh, I didn't think so either.

So what do we do about it. We can write, and complain, but that tends to fall on deaf ears. We can blog about it, but only a small percentage will really see it (those stats again.)

I've got it!!! The next time I have to call customer support, I'm going to use their own tricks against them. When I finally reach a CSR, before I even give them my name, account number, or phone number, I'm going to say:

"For your information, this call *is* being recorded for my quality control purposes. If all goes well, it will be sent to your company and be used for training purposes, specifically for what *not* to do."

It makes me wonder how that will go over? I makes me wonder if it would work. Would I get any better customer service out of it? I would hope so. The legalities of it? They way I see it, it's no different than them possibly recording the call for their quality control, or training purposes. The only difference is, they *know* it's being recorded. (For the record, I am not a lawyer, so if you plan on doing this, make sure you check your legalities, but from my limited understanding, it is legal as long as one of the parties are aware of it, which is you, and you've also made them aware of it also.)

So, there hasn't been a need for me to call back yet. Hopefully there won't be, until my contract runs out. Then again, I do have two contacts now with two major wireless carriers. I've got an "IN" and I'm not even with Verizon.