Dana said:
I see no reason for the hostility.
Didn't seem hostile to me. He's just telling you that there's no secret
hiding place for that type of hitfix, and that you'll have to wait until you
can call MS to get it.
Perhaps what you really mean to imply is
that somehow I am using unlicensed software, and would not be able to get
the
patch from support anyway.
Oh, I doubt that. Usually if someone suspects that, they come right out and
say it, they don't use codewords to inply it.
I didn't think of that before. My dilemma is
that the automated support options page told me that my product key for my
OEM windows xp pro is supported by my vendor or manufacturer; what a joke.
Well, no, that's the licensing agreement MS has with OEMs. Because OEM
software is so much cheaper for the OEM, the OEM must agree to supply
technical support for the product in return for the cheaper price.
Its a homebuilt system from a little mom&pop hardware vendor (I call it my
Taiwan connection) dfi mobo. I didn't know that an OEM windows XP pro
would
prevent me from having direct MS support online as I filled out the forms.
Well, that's one of the main differences between OEM and retail software.
The OEM has to support the OEM software. It's like all the other things that
you buy OEM that you don't realize. Like if the transmission on your car
goes bad. You go to the car manufacturer because they are the OEM and they
are supposed to support all of the parts they used to build the car. It
probably would never occur to you to call the maker of the transmission to
ask them to fix it, even if you knew who made it. And if you did call them,
they'd send you to Ford or Chevy or whoever, just like MS is telling you to
contact your OEM.
What a pain. So I see that phone support has limited hours. No go for
now.
I've already spent a couple days researching this problem, trying all the
suggested fixes, trying to find how & why my setup is vulnerable to the
problem. Knowing that a patch is likely to address the problem, and then
being unable to obtain it NOW is a huge disappointment. If anyone asked
me
for a driver or a hotfix, I would to give, not sell, it to them if I had
it.
The chances of some random user on a newgroup having exactly the hotfix you
need is slim to none. It's not like it's some common file that everyone has,
it's a fix for a specific and rare problem and MS hasn't made the fix public
yet because they're still investigating it. There's a much greater chance
that some random goofball will send you something that looks like a hotfix
but is actually some sort of interesting virus. Me, I wouldn't trust it.
I don't really expect that by itself, it is going to somehow deprive
anyone
of any revenue.
Has nothing to do with revenue, unless some random weirdo is offering to
sell you something that should be free. In which case, I'd really suspect a
virus of some sort.
When the support lines open, you just need to call, tell them that you need
that hotfix for that particular problem, don't ask for anything else, and
they won't charge you.
