|
<OldFartWarStory>
A long time ago I helped develop software that controlled a fluorescent light tube manufacturing line. At one end is a furnace, dumping out a stream of molten glass. At the other end is some measuring equipment, a cutter, and two mechanical arms. The arms raised cut tubes that met criteria and put them on a conveyor. Tubes that failed were dropped onto a different conveyor and the glass was sent back through the process.
Our job was to run the measuring system, the cutter (which actually just sprayed the hot glass tube with a puff of water vapor, thermal shock doing the cutting), and the arms. On our first test run we discovered that one of the arms was wired incorrectly. Instead of raising or dropping the 10 foot long tubes, one arm lifted and the other dropped, throwing the tubes of glass off the end of the line.
</OldFartWarStory>
Software Zen: delete this;
|
|
|
|
|
I thought MSDN and MS support defined the bottom, but the bottom reached a new low:
dealing with eBay, trying to resolve a strange issue where I can not pay one seller via the same credit card linked to PayPal that I can use to pay other sellers:
1. multiple support persons responding to each exchange about the same support request with their messages clearly indicating they did not review the extensive previous correspondence.
2. each new support person ignores the advice of the previous support persons, often repeating previous suggestions I had told them did not work.
almost as bad as the experience with Etsy getting a refund from a gem dealer in Jaipur who sold me fake gems with fake certificates. in that case, I created such a ruckus a senior support person finally got called in.
what, you may ask, is old Bill doing with gems: I think I can't tell you on this forum 
«Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?» T. S. Elliot
|
|
|
|
|
could be paypal blacklisting the sellers merchant ID?
Even though ebay owns pp they are still run separately - and with all today's privacy laws there's a lot of info they can't share.
IMHO something like that tied to one seller screams: find another seller ASAP.
Message Signature
(Click to edit ->)
|
|
|
|
|
BillWoodruff wrote: what, you may ask, is old Bill doing with gems: I think I can't tell you on this forum
You know my email - inquiring minds want to know!
Will Rogers never met me.
|
|
|
|
|
When something similar happened to me recently, i deduced it was only occuring on bidding auctions, never on 'make offer' or 'buy it now' I solved it by contacting that unpayable seller, and asking him to cancel the sale, and relist it as 'buy it now' and email the link to me rather than posting the listing. He did it. At that point, after following the link my CC then worked to pay for the sale and it was a done deal. He thanked me profusely for figuring it out. Customer Service Slugs were passive-agressive and less than useless. They had wasted hours lying trying to convince me and the seller both, that it was the sellers fault, when it wasn't. I did need to offer to pay the seller an extra $5 to cover his ($3ish) resisting fees for his trouble, but it worked to clear the transaction and he thought I was absolute *magic* YMMV Good luck ~John
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks, John, that's good advice; in the case the seller never responded to multiple messages from me.
cheers, Bill
«Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?» T. S. Elliot
|
|
|
|
|
|
My all time low is with Unilever, a customer at the time.
As a supplier we had accounts on their system so we could log in on some servers to install and update our software.
So one day my account stops working and I call their support.
Apparently, you have a "stopped working on" [defaults to one year from now] field on your account which you need to set to next year every year and I didn't so according to the system I didn't work there anymore.
Took two months and eight people to fix 
They kept referring me to their internal SharePoint website which I didn't have access to because I was only a supplier.
The best part was when one of those people said "I'm a bit busy today, but give me a call tomorrow" and that day he left for a two week vacation 
Just when I had my account back it happened again.
I store my passwords in Windows and as soon as I tried to browse to their network share Windows tried logging in with the old password and BAM, locked out again
I had to remove all password from all their services from Windows and Chrome.
At least it only took like two or three days to get a password reset
And then there's this company I worked for (they shall remain anonymous).
The sysadmins were... Less than helpful.
Not once in the seven months I worked there could they just resolve my issues.
Printer didn't work "I'm busy, find another printer."
My Office didn't work on the pre-installed image "we don't have time to fix this right now."
I couldn't log in to my account "you must be doing something wrong." (yes, of course it's my fault)
Seriously, one of those guys was always on WhatsApp or Amazon, he was even checking his house with a camera he had installed.
This guy barely did anything, so when I had a problem I asked him for help and all of a sudden he was busy and he wasn't on support duty so he couldn't help me anyway
I once needed a SQL script to run on an acceptance server which I didn't have access to.
A tester ran into an issue and my script would fix it.
Even though this team was six people not one of them found the time to run my script.
Once I had the person who would run my script they all went in to a meeting that lasted the entire morning (without running my script first)
Un-support, is there another kind of support?
|
|
|
|
|
BillWoodruff wrote: almost as bad as the experience with Etsy
Ironic that, as I live 15 minutes away from what appears to be one of their main support centers:
If you contact Etsy Support, it’s likely the satellites bounce your message to Hudson and back.
About Us: Etsy’s Hudson Office | Etsy News Blog
Marc
Latest Article - A Concise Overview of Threads
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
|
|
|
|
|
Hi, Marc,
What you need to dress up (down ?) as a Hell's Angel, and take Etsy support a message ?
«Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?» T. S. Elliot
|
|
|
|
|
BillWoodruff wrote: what, you may ask, is old Bill doing with gems: I think I can't tell you on this forum
The seller is the broker, and you is the brokee!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
Microsoft pulls Windows 10 October 2018 Update due to major issues - The Verge[^]
Quote: It’s not clear how many Windows 10 users are affected by the problem, but even if it’s a small percentage it’s still surprising this issue was never picked up during Microsoft’s vast testing of the October update.
I wonder what documents got deleted...the enterprised update didn't have issues.. considering ...its gonna be an issue for IT when people ask for their missing documents....
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
|
|
|
|
|
abmv wrote: its gonna be an issue for IT when people ask for their missing documents....
Nah - just ask the NSA to restore from their copy.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
abmv wrote: Quote: It’s not clear how many Windows 10 users are affected by the problem, but even if it’s a small percentage it’s still surprising this issue was never picked up during Microsoft’s vast testing of the October update
That's supposing they did "vast tested" the update...
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
abmv wrote: I wonder what documents got deleted...the enterprised update didn't have issues.. considering ...its gonna be an issue for IT when people ask for their missing documents....
In an enterprise setting, people shouldn't be saving their documents locally anyway.
FWIW, I've updated at least 4 machines here at home (both physical and VMs) and no problem so far. In fact I'm sticking with the .ISO I downloaded and plan on continuing the updates over the weekend.
I would be nice for someone to point out under what circumstances this file loss occurs. Or does nobody know, still?
|
|
|
|
|
So far I haven't heard of anyone who used the ISO loosing files. This sounds to me like a bug in the Windows Update package for v1809. On the other hand Microsoft did pull the MediaCreationToolv1809 over the weekend as well.
|
|
|
|
|
FWIW, I did upgrade one machine via the standard Update mechanism. It's only a day later that I found a public link (from MS) to the ISO.
That machine hasn't lost any data either.
|
|
|
|
|
What type of doctor do I go to ... to have it removed ?
Oncologist, or proctologist ?
«Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?» T. S. Elliot
|
|
|
|
|
for those that got the update: welcome to your own microsoft Monday funday.
and they still call it the 'best ever windows' ????
Well for sure in worldwide lost productivity it really is, excelling even the impact of all past viruses combined in legion.
win10: was, still is, will always be: fail!
Message Signature
(Click to edit ->)
|
|
|
|
|
You know that you have to explicitly delete or create files in code.
It doesn't happen accidentally and especially in user libraries.
Windows shouldn't be in there anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
On my cherrytrail stick, I should've went with the iso also. I'll know better in future. i had to compress a 32GB C: drive to get the 8GB free space required to get the pushed update. Then today found the update had disappeared just over 37GB of my music library off of 64GB D drive in spite of my explicitly selecting to download the abortion to an empty 64GB E: drive in place solely for that purpose. My first reaction is to blame their myopic push disfunctions on the probabity of their vaping on campus. Did they fire all the grownups?
|
|
|
|
|
More amusingly, the same thing appears to have happened with (to?) Server 2019, which was released to MSDN last week (at which point I snagged a copy, and some keys to go with it); the next day it had disappeared (although the main screen still offers it, and then crashes when you hit the link). The keys have disappeared too...
...now I'm hoping that when it's re-released, the site will all kind of forget they ever issued me any keys, and then let me have five more. This isn't as far-fetched a hope as you might think: the other day, it crashed while allocating me a key, and then let me claim another one - and I ended up with 11 keys for something, rather than the stated maximum of 10... so their key allocation system is anything but solid, it seems.
|
|
|
|
|
Today's task: fix the dripping kitchen tap.
Not a major problem, flip off the cap, undo the screw, pull off the top, pull off the plastic spacer that fits on the spline, undo the valve. Making sure the water is off first, obviously. then you have the washer or O-ring and a quick reverse to put it back. Except ... these taps haven't been touched since we moved in 14 years ago, and the spacer is stuck fast. And I know that to get it off I'm going to damage it. And then the tab won't fit properly to go back together.
So decision made: I'll convert to Ceramic 1/4 turns. Same dismantling process, chuck in bin, fit new. Easy peasey, 15 mins for both taps and I'm done.
And then a few hours later the loo starts running continuously : the float valve isn't shutting off the supply. It's not in the same room. It's only connected via the water supply, for ![Elephant | [mastadon]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/elephant.gif) 's sake.
So, here we go, water off, dismantle the valve, and ... it's full of grit and chalk bits. Clean 'em out, rebuild, and test. Soak the floor. Swear. Put valve back together properly. Test and we are done.
Then I'm sitting here with a cup of ![Java | [Coffee]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif) and it hits me: debugging the taps did cause the float problem - because to fix the tap I shut off the water. And that meant the grit settled, the was blasted into the valve when the water came back on.
But in software terms, the first thing I'd probably do is undo the tap bug fix and been very confused when the float problem didn't disappear! And then I'd have assumed that they were totally unrelated, which they weren't. And I'd have gone off down a blind alley trying to work out what the new taps in a different room could possibly have changed in the rest of the system that caused an unrelated module to fail.
Strange day ... 
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome to the real world, where (a) many systems are tightly coupled, and (b) there is no hope in Hell of uncoupling them. 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
![Beer | [beer]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif)