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Ever purchase computer software, hardware, or services you needed free yourself from? Ever get the return runaround for said item? Yeah, me too. However, in the last week I've found a simple, easy way to divest myself of such detritus. It goes like this:
I bought myself a toy, something called a Netgear SC-101. I thought it was a very basic NAS appliance that could handle a couple of drives. Turns out it's junk that requires all Windows clients to have software installed to use it at all. I have a number of technical reasons for returning the thing, but the counter drone doesn't care and probably wouldn't grok, anyway. In a moment of inspiration, I just say, "I don't have Windows."
That's it, that's all I said. Immediate understanding, no more questions, done.
Later, I had to cancel a PeoplePC online service. They had consumed a service I'd previously had and they're total crap. Search these guys for a lesson in consumer loathing. Escaping their clutches is notoriously onerous. You can sign up for service easily enough online but canceling requires a phone call to the phone jail system of Hades.
This system was interesting. They had an account cancel option that told me to call back tomorrow. No joke. "Due to unusually high call volume, our offices will best be able to serve you Tuesday thru Friday!" Of course, if I pretended to buy something, operators were available almost immediately. Funny, that.
I bounced through a few folks until I actually got an account manager. Braced for the hard sell, I was asked why I'd want to leave their fine service. "Your CD only works on Windows. I don't have Windows." The pause was almost imperceptible. Followed quickly by the processing of my cancel request, no more questions asked.
I suppose I have the Apple geeks to thank, because "no windows" is doubtless assumed to be iFruit in the minds of most. Alas, I have similar philosophical objections to Apple. Flightless penguins are my mascot of choice; hat clad at work, South African at home.
I'm quite happy to be able to use my Open Source Software, free from the continual escalation of arbitrary limitations imposed by corp entities, more concerned with other such entities than the customers they willfully fail to serve. Happy enough that I recently became an FSF member; idealogical support don't pay the bills, after all. These guys do things like pay attorney fees for grannies besieged by RIAA and fight the special interest DRM laden legislation constantly being pushed by industry shills.
I just got some stickers from them. I stuck this one on my cubicle.
I bought myself a toy, something called a Netgear SC-101. I thought it was a very basic NAS appliance that could handle a couple of drives. Turns out it's junk that requires all Windows clients to have software installed to use it at all. I have a number of technical reasons for returning the thing, but the counter drone doesn't care and probably wouldn't grok, anyway. In a moment of inspiration, I just say, "I don't have Windows."
That's it, that's all I said. Immediate understanding, no more questions, done.
Later, I had to cancel a PeoplePC online service. They had consumed a service I'd previously had and they're total crap. Search these guys for a lesson in consumer loathing. Escaping their clutches is notoriously onerous. You can sign up for service easily enough online but canceling requires a phone call to the phone jail system of Hades.
This system was interesting. They had an account cancel option that told me to call back tomorrow. No joke. "Due to unusually high call volume, our offices will best be able to serve you Tuesday thru Friday!" Of course, if I pretended to buy something, operators were available almost immediately. Funny, that.
I bounced through a few folks until I actually got an account manager. Braced for the hard sell, I was asked why I'd want to leave their fine service. "Your CD only works on Windows. I don't have Windows." The pause was almost imperceptible. Followed quickly by the processing of my cancel request, no more questions asked.
I suppose I have the Apple geeks to thank, because "no windows" is doubtless assumed to be iFruit in the minds of most. Alas, I have similar philosophical objections to Apple. Flightless penguins are my mascot of choice; hat clad at work, South African at home.
I'm quite happy to be able to use my Open Source Software, free from the continual escalation of arbitrary limitations imposed by corp entities, more concerned with other such entities than the customers they willfully fail to serve. Happy enough that I recently became an FSF member; idealogical support don't pay the bills, after all. These guys do things like pay attorney fees for grannies besieged by RIAA and fight the special interest DRM laden legislation constantly being pushed by industry shills.
I just got some stickers from them. I stuck this one on my cubicle.
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From:
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From:
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It's free and reads all those nasty .doc files. :D
From:
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From:
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MS Doc files have author info embedded by default. Try convincing them it's a security risk.
Or, a doc file is 100 times bigger than the content of the message. Be green, save a hard drive.
Or, my ISP's spam filter blocks those, please resend.
Last, but not least, questionable miscommunication. "I got that last attachment. I couldn't make out all of it on my computer. The bit I did read was, um, a little much. I had no idea you were into that kind of stuff?!? My friend Bruno wants to talk to you..."