Re: Field display problems in Entourage email and Calendar

From: Craig Deutsch (craig.deutsch_at_cox.net)
Date: 10/18/04 

Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:35:34 -0700

Paul, while I appreciate your response, I don't need a verbal lambasting
about the technicalities of fixing bugs, and what I interpret to be your
somewhat aggressive reply simply doesn't belong here.

Plain and simple, no -- I'm not a programmer. However, I am a long-time
dedicated Mac and Microsoft advocate who remains frustrated and perplexed by
this problem, and thus far it seems to fall on deaf ears -- you of course
excluded. At the end of the day, I am the consumer who's paid hundreds of
dollars for two versions of a complex software application that the
manufacturer touts as the best tool for business on a Mac. Yet it does not
work as indicated. Fine. So they should fix it, but they should also keep
interested parties updated as to what's happening with the product's
anomalies.

To your point, if the issue is so complicated that it couldn't make SP1,
then it's my opinion that Microsoft should have notified the user base that
(a) it's aware of the problem and (b) that its investigation/fix is
underway. That would have been the appropriate response, IMO.

Yet we hear nothing. Microsoft's own online support system acknowledges that
it's "never heard of the problem." I can show you three months of email
threads from a Microsoft Online Support Professional who, while very nice
and sympathetic, doesn't have a clue about what the problem is and claims MS
never before heard of it.

Don't they consult the Newsgroups and scan them for issues that they might
undertake? I've spent three months going back and forth with them, trying
umpteen different things to remedy the situation -- to no avail.

I think it's fair to say that the Mac BU at MS probably doesn't have the
staffing that the Windows side of the house does. So a delay in getting
issues resolved might be at some level understandable. But total lack of
response from MS is not appropriate.

As a guy who spent years on the front lines of computer store and retail
banking operations, I've learned that customers listen much better when
they're not addressed in condescending language. A public and pointed
demonstration of your (apparent) frustration over my (assumed) lack of
understanding of bug fixes, regression testing, resource allocation or any
other behind-the-scenes topics just isn't necessary.
 
Craig Deutsch

On 10/18/04 11:15, in article BD995639.76FC6%berkowit@spoof_silcom.com,
"Paul Berkowitz" <berkowit@spoof_silcom.com> wrote:

> On 10/18/04 9:57 AM, in article BD99441B.23CB%craig.deutsch@cox.net, "Craig
> Deutsch" <craig.deutsch@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Yes, I have; thanks for your reply. I have tried absolutely everything I
>> can think of to solve this problem (as indicated in my original post).
>> Nothing -- I mean nothing -- seems to work.
>>
>> I'm quite curious why this fix didn't make it into Service Pack 1. It is,
>> indeed, a big problem for those of us afflicted and seriously limits the the
>> usability and enjoyment of a rather expensive software suite.
>>
>> I have been able to confirm -- as indicated by previous posts from Paul
>> Berkowitz -- that the problem is always initiated by first viewing an
>> HTML-formatted message. Once that's done, the problem appears and stays for
>> the entire session.
>>
>> I simply cannot understand why this is so difficult to fix.
>
> And I'm curious as to why you would assume it would be easy to fix? What do
> you know about it, and how would you ever have access to Microsoft's
> proprietary code anyway? I, for one, certainly have no idea whatsoever what
> the programming or other bug consists of. How would you? This is something
> that affects a lot of people, so I'm certain Microsoft would have fixed it
> on those grounds had it been possible to do by the early deadline of SP 1.
> The fact that it didn't make the deadline would indicate to me that it might
> be something complicated - something that will require a lot of re-writing
> and may cause other problems - even among the tens of thousands of people
> who do _not_ have the current problem - as a result. That in turn would
> require a major internal and beta-testing program. They don't seem to have
> had that amount of time available for this SP1 release. I expect they'll do
> it as soon as they can.

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