[Sheflug] Re: BlueYonder

["Craig Andrews" <nospam [at] fishbot.org.uk>]

>>>>> "Will" == Will Newton <will [at] misconception.org.uk> writes:

    Will> If there was more emphasis on user education rather than
    Will> trouble shooting there wouldn't be so many problems.

>Trouble-shooting is cost-effective because the engineers have to learn
>a certain amount, or you stop paying them.  User education will never
>work because the users will point out that they're paying you.  Most
>users (eg, Craig) cannot be convinced they're getting value for money,
>so they will take great offense at being told to crack a book.

What does 'crack a book' mean? Or am I too tired to be doing this?
It's not even the value for money thing. I'm sure it's worth every penny! I
just don't like all the jumping through hoops to get anything done.

Strange this is, for dialup, they support you if you run linux. They seem to
have realised that if you know enough to be asking the kinds of questions a
long-term Linux user asks, you obviously know enough to not have them hold
you hand the whole way through. For instance, if you asked an average joe to
dial into a different POP, would he/she have a clue? No, but for the more
enlightened, this can significantly speed up support.

>This is not a criticism of Craig, mind you---obviously he'd be more
>than happy to crack a book.  The point is that he is unwilling to obey
>Blue Yonder's rules.  His opposition to those rules is 100% correct,
>but given that Blue Yonder won't change, he has a choice: knuckle
>under or find a different provider or do without.

I have knuckled under. I have no qualms about actually doing what's
necessary. It's just all this running about for something which is
ultimately not going to be  used. As <insert name here, I forget who> said,
do you need a phone to have a phone line installed? No, because the engineer
brings the test equipment. Why should the user have to provide test
equipment? Also, what happens if something bad happens (you know how windows
likes to die horribly if you mess with networking and stuff), who gets the
blame?

Wouldn't it be better if the engineer had a preconfigured laptop which could
test the physical installation before software came into the picture? That
way, it would be even easier to test for faults!

>The typical user would give them exactly the same kind of headache if
>you tried to educate them, just in the opposite direction.  By
>definition there are a lot more typical users than any other kind.
>:-)

So true, so true...

>And there is a good reason (from BY's point of view) to discourage
>Linux users: they know enough to circumvent many of BY's safeguards,
>and have convenient access to the necessary technology---comes
>standard with a Linux distro.  This may cost BY money (if it's a
>value-added service) or trouble of various kinds.

Indeed. They seem to be insisting on you using their webcache at the mo' If
you don't, the first ten minutes or so is just one network error after
another. :-(

Also, they've put all IP's they use on the MAPS database, so you can't use
you own machine as a mailserver without relaying everything to them. Damned
annoying, that...

Basically, though, all this is ensuring that those who hold the reigns are
those with the big bucks. The average tech enthusiast (such as most people
on this list :-) is forced to comply, to simplify support for those who
really have no idea.

This brings on a whole new topic of debate! Should people who only want web
access, games, etc, really have a PC? or would dedicated appliances be
better? I think this was on /. a while back, basically saying that PC's are
NOT consumer electronics, and if they ever are, it's because they have been
turned into a limited functionality device, rather than something you can
have a hack at.

2p

Craig

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