*BSD News Article 41377


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From: tporczyk@netcom.com (Tony Porczyk)
Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
Message-ID: <tporczykD2o48C.KEt@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
References: <950116203411@lambada> <1995Jan18.214037.6088@cs.cornell.edu> 	<3fk4hi$iu8@solaris.cc.vt.edu> <PTAIPALE.95Jan19172215@pc139_92.trs.ntc.nokia.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 19:45:48 GMT
Lines: 30

ptaipale@pc139_92.trs.ntc.nokia.com (Pekka J Taipale) writes:

> matthew c. mead writes:
>> If you'd ever been in industry, you would know the need for product
>> support.

> I can post a message in news. I might get a quick, written answer,
> which is much better than a phone call anyway.

True, but please remember that USENET support is self-selecting, that
is, you may receive 20 replies to one problem and none to another.  It
is totally volunteer-based, and you can't _demand_ it, which is what
many managers want as a psychological assurance.  

> Mail-based support is usually much better (perhaps the most stupid
> support persons don't know how to read mail, so they can't screw that
> up).

I used to work in tech support for a major software company.  We
_encouraged_ our customers to use email once the initial call was
logged.  That way we could get all the info we needed in a precise way
(including any necessary debug dumps, etc.), and we could respond in
kind.  The convenience factors are too obvious to discuss.

t.
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