Update on Sink or Swim with a New Operating System

Update on Sink or Swim with a New Operating System

I have worked too long in Technical Support Organizations to see people report issues that need to be resolved; demend service for the issue; continue to be insistant on updates to resolve their issue; but suddenly disapear when the problem is resolved. So the technical support person has no real followup by the customer to show that the work resulted in solving the problem. Even if it is not for a little bit of human satisfaction, but just to know that doing X+Y+Z does solve the issue for the next person.

The problem is that some Technical Support organizations have no clue to organize incoming information that could help them in customer support. Some know Organizations know how to do this. I know how to do this! In the case of a friend who asked for my help... There was not clean mechanism to report success or failure. I would have to wait a long time the phone support queue to update the support incident in order to simply say the issue is closed or that the problem was resolved. So there really is not much incentive to create closure with the support organization.

So I will have to satisfy myself gentle readers to say that I downloaded that update in 5 minutes on my high speed connection for my friend. ( It would have taken about 5 hours for her on her dial up to get this update) . I succeeded in un-installing the pre-installed drivers and reinstalled the new driver file set. Magically her printer/fax combo now works aok.

However it still is with horror as I watch a number of these pre-installed applications be shut down or blocked by the new operating system as it is not "compatible".

No, I placed my limits on getting her fax/printer combo working. I completed that task.

Its now up to her to continue dog paddling in the computer waters to keep posted on the latest sagas of her current operating system updates.

No doubt. I will be asked for further help... Stay tuned. :)

Sink or Swim ? Don't know until you try? And other such..

Sink or Swim ? Don't know until you try? And other such ideas.

There is so much to learn and do in the great world. Modern communications through so many channels work full time to let us know how much we don't know about the world.

So much is out there to tell us that we need X, Y or Z in order to be more successful in some aspect of life.

Some of these communications are primarily oriented so you go ahead and buy a product, or solution. So it is aways a balancing act of telling you enough that you are missing out until you purchase the solution. But if they tell you enough... you don't need to buy the solution... They already shared it with you!

Somehow the personal computer industry still seems to be gripping with how to get people happily started with their first computing experience.

I won't mention brands or the specific case. I don't want to embarrass the person who may be reading this post.

I recently came into contact with a small business owner who just purchased a new computer from a major manufacturer. She had very basic needs to start with in terms of a computer.

Unfortunately the computer manufacturer had decided to transition to the latest version of a particular operating system. I personally know from my experiences over the years as a Technical Support person that introducing new technology as product can be easy or rough in terms of use. However it seems that that whenever a major change is introduced , there is the possibility of disruptions of service or customer satisfaction as everyone learns the "ropes" in supporting the product.

I became involved in the situation when the owner of the new computer asked me in frustration to help.

The issue boiled down that the product was shipped with unusable product and software. The new operating system had chosen to block the new software from working and certain new peripherals ( with the computer manufacturer's product label on it) would not work as well due to a lack of current drivers.

So the product was shipped with no warnings or suggestions to be on top of the latest situation. The technical support people who she contacted did not give her options on what to do next. She was given the suggestion by me to ask at first if they could sell or send her the previous version of the operating system if essentially her computer was unusable due to operating system incompatibilities. She was told, "They don't sell that version of the operating system anymore"

I would personally be very frustrated if this was my first computer purchase.

I stepped in and used my background to reach the "right people" . Even the computer manufacturer's support organization was not on the same page of knowing the status of product compatibility or driver updates.

I did talk with someone who did find an updated driver that supposedly would make the new business owner's computer work with the printer that she purchased as part of the package.

What surprises me ... Is that there was no mention in the customer's packaging where to go to get the current news on compatibility , news or drivers relating to her purchase.

So this was a new product purchase, which included old software that would not work and no other information to go by. The standard support process failed to help get on her feet with a new system using the default installed software.

The person owning the computer is on a slow Internet connection. So as a favor, I pulled down a 50 megabyte file update from my fast Internet connection in order to get this file in less than five hours using her modem connection. Technical Support said they could NOT ship a disk to her with this update.

I was becoming frustrated a bit with the handling of the whole process. That is saying quite a bit since I have by nature a great deal of patience. If this was my first computer.. I think it would be promptly putting it in a box and shipping it back.

So you still need a friend out there to help you on your road to computing. This should not be the case. Personal Computers have been with us for some twenty eight years.

So do you need to buy your first private plane in order to fly to the exclusive private plane airport ( which can only be reached by private plane) so you can learn about purchasing the right private plane?

If cars were this hard to buy and operate, many more people would be walking!

Eventually this change in operating systems will be a bump in the road. Unfortunately those who were "bumped" during this time period will remember this experience for a long time.

Widgets , Blidgets, Blogs and What not.

Widgets , Blidgets, Blogs and What not.

I have been in the computer industry long enough to know that the one one thing we are certain to see is constant change. This can be quite exciting as it is an industry where you always have an answer to the generic "what is new?" question posed by people who do not follow closely the industry and its latest developments.

So it is interesting to see how technology changes travel from the central core of a development team out to the outside "world" of the user community. It seems that the rate of acceptance and distribution is directly proportional to "I Got It Factor" . The "I Got it Factor" will someday be a mathematical formula that easily used in the distant future, but until now more cruder tools will have to be applied. The main point is that there seems to be a point where enough of the populace understands and accepts an idea, concept, thought, product, discovery to the point it can be easily related to other people. Part of this view can be distorted if you participate within specific groups that understand particular concepts and jargon. So pointing my fingers at myself .. I have to like so many people lift up out of the special pool to the "outside" in order to check if a concept has a high "I got it factor".

Case in point is an interesting concept... Widgets. This can turn to be a long discussion. However for this discussion I will concentrate on one service provided by http://www.widgetbox.com/


So For fun I Blidgeted this blog.

What is the focus and point of this blog?

Well essentially you have to tie your shoes and jump into the world of widgets in order to believe that this is a neat new thing to tinker with html on your blog or website etc. in order to have widget functionality added to your webworld. Once you have registered and installed this software, the door opens to you add many new widgets to your life. There are quite a number of widgets out there. Games, blogs, mini-stores, virtual pets, and the list grows. This has quite a bit of potential as you really could have someone else tinker with your website code and you ( being less technical) could play with tweaking adding additional widgets as you wish. You really never need to tweak that first panel code.

But the question is ... Has the technology reached the point where enough people will "tie their shoes" and give this technology a try? The webpage stats on their home page shows there is quite a bit of growth in installs. But is this another piece of technology that will have to saturate the more technical people's websites before the "I Got It Factor" reaches critical mass?

This whole concept seems to have viral possibilities... Just that the person adding that first widget still has to make that small leap to install some code on their webpage. That may be too big a leap for quite a number of people. Otherwise there will be other people who will simply play with widgets installed on other people's websites....

I still sing the praises of RSS Feeds. Quite handy! Yet I do know many casual users have no idea it is a standard feature to have an RSS news reader in many browsers. Not much work to add RSS feeds to your favorites in your browser... No code. Still every day I come across people who would no idea what I am talking about .

I suppose it all depends on what pool of knowledge you swim in or the focus of your daily life.

So look at widgets. If you blog... Consider making a blidget of your blog.

I added an Asteroids game from a publisher on my widget panel. Give it a try!

All the best

Dexter

Update: How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?

Update: How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?

I wrote a nice note about how I had been slightly confused by some instructions on an Oregon lottery instant "Scratcher" type game card.

http://dexterzone.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-much-confusion-can-you-have-with.html

Well I have already received a quick response from the Oregon State Lottery agreeing with me that they are sorry about the confusion and that they would forward all my comments through both email and on the phone to the product manager of the game. The person talking with me on the phone also knows that I posted this on my blog! :) So you can leave comments here if you like as well. However the important thing to note was that the Oregon Lottery took my comments seriously and responded quickly. I wish all business communication was so prompt!

regards,
Dexter

How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?

How much Confusion can you have with just a few words?
A $20,000.00 valued blog entry. No I didn't I didn't get it. Maybe its worth a few for you! :)

I am not much of a gambler, let alone one who plays those instant Scratcher type games. I live in the State of Oregon which has a number of games, including those "Scratcher" type games seen in different States.

So it was with some surprise that a friend purchased one of these "scratcher" type games at the local grocery store and gave it to me as a present. Here is a scan of the front of that game card. I read the instructions several times on the back and played the game as I thought it was intended. I was startled to find that within the first few scratches of the game, I had apparently picked the top prize! Well I wasn't going to jump up and down until I saw the check!

So I made scan copies of the ticket for my documentation in case I was a top winner. So it was with some surprise that I found that I had won a $2.00 prize rather than the top prize when the game card was validated by the store clerk. So there had to be a lesson to be learned while almost feeling like I won quite a bit of money. So with my $2.00 win, I purchased a new card, that did not win. ( So how about a blog of this experience)

It turns out that both the graphics in the front of the game and the instruction were vague on how I determined what my "coordinates" that I would pick to scratch on the grid on the bottom portion of the game. I thought I had control of the choices. In reality the game had intended me to scratch off a section labeled "Your Coordinates Top Prize $20,000.!" and use those labeled coordinates to scratch the bottom section. Not only was I fooled, but a second person looking at the front of the instructions and back of the instructions did not see that the upper section should be scratched off. You can see by my scan, that I did not scratch that top part off.

Here are the current instructions on the card:
PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:
Scratch “YOUR COORDINATES” one square at a time, to reveal your 10 coordinates on the Jetsons’ Grid. If you uncover three of the same symbol win prize indicated in the prize legend. You can win Multiple times on a ticket.

I sent a polite email today 2-9-2007 and called the state lottery offices. The person who answered the telephone was very pleasant , understanding and agreed there seemed to be an issue with the instructions. She appreciated the fact that I had contacted them and gave them a suggestion for updating the game instructions. http://www.oregonlottery.org/

So I will keep you posted if I get any additional response from the state lottery officials.

Here are my suggested updated instructions for this game

PLAY INSTRUCTIONS:
Scratch off the section labeled “Your Coordinates Top Prize $20,000” This section has the 10 coordinates to scratch off the Jetsons' Grid. Scratch off one at a time the squares on the Jetsons' Grid that correspond to the 10 coordinates you revealed at the top. . If you uncover three of the same symbol on the Jetsons’ Grid, you will win prize indicated in the prize legend. You can win Multiple times on a ticket.

So I am not a sore loser. I am glad to understand the intent of the game.

Certainly this is an example where just a few words off on a few instructions along with unclear graphics could lead people astray. I am good natured about the issue, people do make mistakes all the time. But this is an example where just a few changes in some instructions could really make or break a person's day.

I know that the Oregon Lottery would not intend to confuse, so its only a matter a time that they will correct the issue, especially if they here more feedback on confusing games.

No doubt you may experienced this yourself at some time. Have you taken the time to write a short note to point out such issues?

I hope that if you do play a scratcher ticket, that you win all the rules, implied, direct or indirect.

I never expected to write about a non winning ticket. But you never know what you will come across to discuss on communication issues.

All the best
Dexter