By Suzanne Tindal, 25 March 2008 08:51
NEWS
Vista users encountering problems when they upgrade to Service Pack 1 can relax: Microsoft is giving free support to those installing the service pack.
The transition to the service pack has not been problem-free for many users, with issues such as computers falling into endless reboot cycles and broken applications rearing their head.
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Normally, only Vista users who bought the retail product would be eligible for free support but, for SP1 installation, even users with an OEM copy of Vista on their computer can get Microsoft's help, according to the official Vista blog.
Microsoft blogger Brandon Le Blanc said: "We are offering free-of-charge support to anyone who is having issues installing Windows Vista SP1."
Unlimited installation and compatibility support is available at no charge until 18 March, 2009, according to the Microsoft Service Pack 1 (SP1) support site.
There are three options available under the free support plan for US users: email support, which will be answered within one business day; online chat, which has a current waiting time of around 40 minutes; and call, only available for users who have a software-assurance agreement, professional contract, TechNet subscription, MSDN subscription or come under the Microsoft Partner Program.
Support will be handled on a case-by-case basis, a Microsoft spokesperson said, and the user will always be advised if costs are to ensue.
Whether enterprise customers will also receive support without cost will depend on their agreement, the spokesperson added.
Comments
There are 2 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
How can you use online chat or email when your PC is continiously rebooting itself and you only have the 1 PC
2. Lionel A Smith
Considering the hoops users will have to jump through to regain use of those broken applications due to increasing copying paranoia on the part of software vendors and the increasing persuasion that they use to download the software in the first place – with all the user account and password details that entails then it is the least Microsoft can do to offer free support.
Also free support for OEM versions is essential. Having suffered years of problems with one desktop because of OS conflicts with other splurged on software I vowed never to be caught out without a full install CD of the OS.
This proved its worth when a later version of a vendor’s elements graphic software proved too intrusive - sapping processor cycles, hogging memory and taking charge of USB memory devices even if these were being used for data files created by other apps - and even left bits stuck after an uninstall, requiring an OS reinstall.
Then there is the issue of having a legitimate, fully paid-up copy on CD of a useful application whose vendor has either left the market or withdrawn activation or registration support, which can amount to the same thing, leaving the user frustrated and essentially out-of-pocket purchasing a replacement – and maybe learning yet another new way of doing old tasks.
How much time is wasted by all this, the moniker ‘productivity software’ ends up being a bad joke?
There needs to be a sea-change with how some vendors treat legit customers.