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  • #1

    Rhetorical Questions

    Why?

    Why must customers ask me these things? I cannot possibly provide a satisfactory answer. In most cases, I cannot provide any answer, or at least not any truthful one. I had a lot of these today, mostly dealing with Vista and its backward compatibility (or lack thereof) and the same thing with MS Office 07.

    I don't know why Microsoft didn't bother to make Vista backward compatible with your favorite game. Nor do I know why the game company didn't make it compatible with Vista.

    I don't know why printer manufacturers decided to stop putting the USB cable in with the printer boxes.

    I don't know why corporate only sends our store inkjet printers (and the one monochrome laser) but no all-in-one lasers and no stand-alone fax machines.

    I don't know why computer manufacturers don't make the computers virus-proof for you. Nor do I know why people think it's fun to write viruses.

    I don't know where you can find peripherals compatible with Windows 3.11, nor can I offer a non-insulting answer why nobody supports that software any more. Come to think of it, I don't know why your Windows 3.11 computer still works.

    I don't know why computers break. I don't know why cars break. I don't know why gas prices are so high. I don't know what Bill Gates has to do with any of that.

    I don't know why the service providers haven't gotten DSL to your subdivision yet.

    I don't know why we bother to sell computers that will barely run Vista. We did the same thing with XP, and it didn't make sense then either.

    I don't know why corporate insists on putting the hard drives seven aisles away from the memory and leaving the graphic cards and other components three aisles away from either hard drives or memory.

    I don't know why it's abnormally busy on a Tuesday morning. If you went home, it would be less busy. Stop asking me these questions!
    Last edited by HawaiianShirts; 06-13-2007, 07:15 AM. Reason: spelling
    I suspect that... inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way.
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  • #2
    I don't know why printer manufacturers decided to stop putting the USB cable in with the printer boxes.
    Ridiculous profit. I remember being bored and looking at the retail vs cost of various peripherals when working at CompUSA. I know the store needs to make money, but i was floored seeing that the $25-30 cables only had a cost of $2-3.
    "You know, there are times when it's a source of personal pride not to be human." - Hobbes

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    • #3
      These days my local pound shop has USB cables, so it's not such a big deal.
      "I can tell her you're all tied up in the projection room." Sunset Boulevard.

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      • #4
        If I may....
        Quoth HawaiianShirts View Post
        I don't know why Microsoft didn't bother to make Vista backward compatible with your favorite game. Nor do I know why the game company didn't make it compatible with Vista.
        Money. If it's backwards compatible, then that means less people needing different licensing from MS.

        I don't know why printer manufacturers decided to stop putting the USB cable in with the printer boxes.
        Money. Anything to save a couple bucks. By this point most with computers have had a USB based printer, that USB cable can be reused if replacing a printer.

        I don't know why corporate only sends our store inkjet printers (and the one monochrome laser) but no all-in-one lasers and no stand-alone fax machines.
        Money (seeing a theme?). Not enough people buy those other products.

        I don't know why computer manufacturers don't make the computers virus-proof for you. Nor do I know why people think it's fun to write viruses.
        Money. To make computers virus proof would be prohibitably expensive. As for why people write virus, in some cases, money - it can be parlayed into good jobs working not to mention things like data mining, industiral espionage, etc. But mostly because people are jerks.

        I don't know where you can find peripherals compatible with Windows 3.11, nor can I offer a non-insulting answer why nobody supports that software any more.
        Money.

        I don't know why computers break. I don't know why cars break. I don't know why gas prices are so high. I don't know what Bill Gates has to do with any of that.
        Money.

        I don't know why the service providers haven't gotten DSL to your subdivision yet.
        Money.

        I don't know why we bother to sell computers that will barely run Vista. We did the same thing with XP, and it didn't make sense then either.
        $$

        I don't know why corporate insists on putting the hard drives seven aisles away from the memory and leaving the graphic cards and other components three aisles away from either hard drives or memory.
        $$. Stores are often specifically designed to get people to buy the most things. Which is why in grocery stores, the most common items (bread and milk) are usually far away from the main entrance.

        I don't know why it's abnormally busy on a Tuesday morning. If you went home, it would be less busy. Stop asking me these questions!
        Money, or rather lack of it, shouldn't they be working?

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        • #5
          My parents actually have a working Win 3.11 machine. Now granted, it doesn't work well, but the thing still plays games and stuff...

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          • #6
            Back at Concordia University Wisconsin, before they started the process of changing over their teleconferencing systems to IP-based from ISDN-based, a few of our Venue2000 units (portable teleconferencing units--one was the portable second unit for the main campus to suppliment the fully featured teleconferencing room, the other was going to a satalite campus) decided to crash. Being good AV department workers, two of my co-workers and I decided we were going to poke around those units until we got them fixed. It was then that we found out something that even the upper-level IT department telecom guys didn't realize--the Venue 2000 was not much more than a pile of crap 386 with a TV video and an ISDN card in it running on a most likely unlicensed copy of Win 3.11. Nobody really noticed because the teleconferencing software disabled 3.11's splash screen and auto-ran its own on bootup, and apparently nobody really ever paid attention to the POST.

            By the way, after messing up things worse, we did finally get all the units up and running. I believe the changeover of the portable units to the new IP-based units (which also had ISDN capability so they weren't prevented from connecting with other contact sites that didn't have IP units) was expedited.
            "Who loves not women, wine, and song remains a fool his whole life long" ~Martin Luther
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            • #7
              Quoth nekoro View Post
              My parents actually have a working Win 3.11 machine. Now granted, it doesn't work well, but the thing still plays games and stuff...
              Do they come here? I've seen a Win 3.X machine browsing the site on the odd occasion.

              Rapscallion

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              • #8
                Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                Do they come here? I've seen a Win 3.X machine browsing the site on the odd occasion.

                Rapscallion
                The weird thing is, people using obsolete OS's and computers are the ones most likely to be irate about it.

                Let's face it, a Windows 3.11 or 95 machine is worthless. You can get a machine that comes with and will run XP for $100 used, easily. There is absolutely no reason to keep a dinosaur like that.

                But when I did tech support, sure enough we got calls from these people. We were phasing on Win95 support (Yeah, wow. We worked for Microsoft and they supported WAY back there) and these people got HUGELY pissy about it.

                "You software doesn't work on my machine. You need to FIX this! I can't afford to buy a new computer!" (Yes you can. Stop being stupid, go to the pawn shop and get something that isn't from Barney Rubble's den)

                "I spent over $3000 on this computer when it was new! It's not obsolete, don't you dare call it obsolete! It was the best one on the market when I bought it! You're just trying to get more money from me!" (That's nice. And is relevant how? And we don't make computers. We don't sell computers. I don't give a flying fornication if you buy a new one or not, and neither do my bosses. Go 'way.)

                "I'm on a fiiiiiiixxxed iiiiinnnnncome!!" (Yes, I've gotten that one)

                "Well if you're not going to support me, I guess you don't want my money, I'll just take my business elsewhere" (WHERE?! No one else supports as far back as we do!)

                And so on.
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                • #9
                  Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                  Do they come here? I've seen a Win 3.X machine browsing the site on the odd occasion.
                  I mentioned that to my son, and he said that might be him. He found an old 3.11 machine and was playing around with it, and he says he might have come here while he was on it.
                  Sometimes life is altered.
                  Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
                  Uneasy with confrontation.
                  Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

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                  • #10
                    That would explain why it's only been on the logs occasionally. Wow - 3.11 takes me back. I was a DOS only boy back then, only using 3.11 for something that needed it. I fought long and hard to avoid using Win95, only relinquishing that battle when C&C came along.

                    Memories...

                    Rapscallion

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                      Do they come here? I've seen a Win 3.X machine browsing the site on the odd occasion.

                      Rapscallion
                      *Giggle* no, they've never been here. My mom thinks that this site gives me a negative attitude.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth nekoro View Post
                        My mom thinks that this site gives me a negative attitude.
                        Wow, my mom simply doesn't understand why I still come here though I'm not working retail anymore. And frankly, this site is probably the only reason I stayed at my last job as long as I did. Nothing helps get through a SC more than thinking about "Okay, I need to remember this so I can type it accurately tonight when I get home..."
                        Last edited by Broomjockey; 06-15-2007, 08:56 AM. Reason: fixed quote tag
                        Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

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                        • #13
                          Quoth nekoro View Post
                          My mom thinks that this site gives me a negative attitude.
                          My mom thinks the same thing too. She actually said that this site is full of bitter people with negative thinking a while ago (5 months ago). My dad reads the site from time to time and I occasionally send a tech support story to him and he understands that people need to rant about their jobs as he worked in a pizza parlor and a 7-11. Even though I don't deal with customers anymore I like this forum and it helped a lot.

                          IMO the ones who think that this site give a negative attitude are the ones who tend to be SCs as lo and behold people complaining about their job and the idiots we all deal with is new.
                          The Grand Galactic Inquisitor hears all and sees all.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Polenicus View Post
                            "I spent over $3000 on this computer when it was new! It's not obsolete, don't you dare call it obsolete! It was the best one on the market when I bought it! You're just trying to get more money from me!"
                            The first computer we ever bought cost pretty close to 3000 dollars. The most recent one we got was about 300 dollars and is, far and away, miles better than the first one.

                            That line of thinking sounds just like my Dad. He doesn't use computers, but has that "It was expensive, it should last forever and never be obsolete" attitude towards everything else. He's always going on about businesses and their "money making schemes", as if he's personally offended that businesses are in it for profit!

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