"MSFT Must Die! I wouldn't put it that way!"
Maybe more like MSFT must be maimed!
I wouldn't want MSFT to die because all the overtime I've been racking up supporting Windows systems has paid for my car, downpayment on my house, and purchse of a PowerMac 8500.
Windows also makes me look good when I come to the rescue of a user who is having trouble installing Exchange or Win95. My "arrogant" Mac users (though they are also my friends) don't give me the same kind of hero worship because they handle most things themselves.
Though I do not like MSFT's Borg politics and marketing, it does give me opportunities for great financial returns as our pointy-haired managers think they are saving a few pennies on buying cheap Intel boxes. In reality, they're being taken to the cleaners with all the overtime for tech support.
When I was at Lucent, I single-handedly supported 120 Macs and 12 PCs. When management decided to invert that (130 PCs and 10 Macs) we had to hire four more tech support people and we all pulled some heavy overtime! And these same pointy-haired managers think they're getting a bargain!
The cost of tech support has already exceeded the cost of the equipment. Where equipment purchase is a one-time cost, tech support remains for the life of the equipment! I once estimated the cost of installing a sound card to around $480.00 not including hardware (We had a consultant who's agency bills us $30 per hour and it took him 2 days to get the IRQ settings right!---Nope, it wasn't a SoundBlaster card. It was some wierd 3rd party card that Win95 didn't have the drivers for, but the user insisted on installing) I know of several consultants who have made careers servicing two or three machines (company bigwigs who need tech support to show them how to hide the toolbars, bring them back and make shortcuts in Win95 - must be available for instant response, can't keep these guys waiting!)
So, I wish MSFT well. I just wish they weren't so monopolistic.
-Bill HooFatt |
