(Originally Posted in the spring of 2005)
While at the Developer Connections conference I talked with Dan Appleman as I’m a fan of his book written for (and partially by) teens: “Always Use Protection: A Teen’s Guide to Safe Computing”. It’s a great resource for those of us that have neighbors, friends, family and in-laws that are trying to setup networks in their homes and ask us for support.
(Originally posted 3/31/2005)
Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t appreciate poor customer support. Since I work with many high-tech toys and tools, I’m constantly running up against really good, really bad and really average customer service. A few weeks ago I wrote an editorial about my Buffalo WAP and how well they treat their customers. This week I wrote about the Hyatt in Orlando whose service is about as good as it gets. However, in the last month I’ve spent countless hours trying to get Motorola to give me a straight answer about my MPX220 phone and the 98500 Bluetooth car kit. One of the reasons I spent the extra money for the MPX220 is Bluetooth.
May 27, 2005 • Vol.27 Issue 21
Page(s) 22 in print issue
As promised, I want to talk about a rather interesting concept that Microsoft’s SQL Server team is introducing. Although this approach might never see the light of day (we still don’t have a firm ship date for SQL Server 2005), it needs to be addressed before it is cast in concreteif it’s not too late already.
I was just informed of a fix for what I call the “haunted keyboard” bug in Whidbey (April CTP/Beta 2). It occurs after having pinned one of the windows (like the Server/Database Explorer). Sometimes the backspace and delete key (and perhaps others) stop working. The other keys on the keyboard seem to work but you can't remove anything... strange. Anyway, to fix it, (thanks to Bill McCarthy) you need to set focus on the pinned window's tab and press Alt-Enter and set focus back to the editor window. It also helps to stamp your foot (right foot) three times and shout “Begone thou evil spirit! Never darken my backspace key again!
July 2, 2005: I just found this same problem on the June CTP. It's apparently harder to find than they thought...
I was working with the new SQL Server Express Edition lately and was reminded that the Profiler is programmed to deny connections to this edition. Ah, I think this decision will unnecessarily challenge those who try to diagnose deployed SQL Express applications. Since you have to buy the SQL Server Workgroup (or better) edition to get the Profiler, I don’t see any reason what-so-ever to prevent its use against the Express edition. I can certainly see not including it (or some other tools) with the SSEE, but to disable the Profiler is not going to do anything but generate more PSS calls. If I had my way they would enable Profiler to access SSEE--at least to a point. It does not need all the bells and whistles, just enough to see what's getting executed T-SQL-wise.
I've also been experimenting with “User Instance=True” in the ConnectionString. In case you hadn't noticed, this option is pretty bold. What it does is create a separate (seemingly invisible) instance of SQL Server by physically copying master, model, tempdb and your user database file(s) to the user's private diskspace. This is done once--when the connection is first opened. The user can then log on as SA and do whatever they want to the database, master or whatever as it will have no effect on the “real” master etc. or other user instances. Interesting. I also noted that this option is not permitted with “non-Express” versions of SQL Server so you'll have to build a connection string specifically for your deployed SSEE target instance. This approach is interesting for scenarios where the application needs a private, stand-alone SQL Server engine a bit more robust than JET or SQL Server CE.
When I got my Motorola MPX-220, I gave my daughter George the MPX-200. It seemed to work fine for awhile until just recently when it started dropping calls--over and over again. It failed to take calls as well so incoming calls kept going to voicemail. Clearly it’s busted. Product support? A sad joke. She finally tossed it in frustration and is looking for a more reliable brand with real customer support.
This time, when as shop for a new phone we’ll pretend to be customers looking for technical (post sales) help. If the support person was understandable and could answer a question without having to read a script, we kept them on the list.
Sure, every piece of equipment we buy has issues. These phones, computers, cameras and toasters we acquire are often extremely complex and in some cases pretty fragile. What makes the biggest difference between one product and another is the service after the sale. Just because the salesperson speaks understandable English (or your native tongue) that does not mean the support person will be as easy to understand or as interested in keeping your business.
I also think that Microsoft will have a tougher time penetrate the Windows Mobile market with companies like Motorola supporting their software. Fortunately, there are alternatives.
