How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

BlakeHandler — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 02:17:06 GMT

I promise I'm laughing WITH you -- but it's so nice to hear that "one of you" have the same problems as "us"

I'm also proud that you mentioned Google -- so many Microsoft employees tend to say "use MSN Search" -- but if you DID use MSN Search for locating "vb slow vs 2005" you'd NEVER find that KB Article!

Interesting Finds: August 28, 2006

Jason Haley — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 05:26:23 GMT

Interesting Finds: August 28, 2006

Jason Haley — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 05:36:19 GMT

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

Norman Diamond — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 06:53:08 GMT

Thank you very much for doing this experiment.

I'm not sure whether to repeat some additions. You were kind and I appreciate it very much, but are you really aware of the rest of this iceberg...

> 4. Where you asked for a credit card.

When I phoned, your colleague wouldn't even let me state the KB article numbers unless I paid first. I think that payment didn't have to be by credit card but a bank transfer would take longer.

> charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may
> be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional
> determines that a specific update will resolve your
> problem

Yup, IF a Microsoft Support Professional is competent this time then charges MAY be canceled. May not be. And if the Microsoft Support Professional isn't in that category, then this non-promise isn't even stated, but who knows if you might get lucky.

> It takes me
> http://support.microsoft.com/gp/assistsupport

I don't remember for sure if Microsoft Japan had an assisted support option at the time when I phoned, but I do recall getting 404 errors from some of Microsoft's links in that kind of area. For some reason I did find an e-mail contact to report the 404 errors without paying a fee, but Microsoft's response was the usual crap about even the 404 bugs being my fault and Microsoft wouldn't fix them.

One more thing is missing. You should have tried it with the MSDN-English version of Visual Studio instead of your corporate edition. A few times I found e-mail contacts in order to send bug reports about the MSDN-English versions of Visual Studio and MSDN Library. Your colleagues responded by e-mail saying that the MSDN-English versions of Visual Studio and MSDN Library differ vastly from the versions sold in North America and that they are only supported by Microsoft Japan. So you would have to make an overseas phone call in order to ask for your hotfix, and then you'd be told that you have to open a paid support incident first.

On the other hand, I think it's not really cheating to know in advance the KB article number whose hotfix you want to ask for.

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

Dennis C — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:35:15 GMT

Hi there,

thanks for this article.. I have used telephone requests for hotfixes a number of times, aside from it being a pain, I can't really figure out what it helps--i.e. it didn't make me any less likely to install a hotfix i shouldn't.

I appreciate your frankness, and hope that someday these fixes are easier to get online.

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

Peter Ritchie — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 20:34:06 GMT

Those are the steps I attempted as well, except I gave up at the PID problem.

It appears this process only really supports shrink-wrap versions of VS; MSDN, partner, volume licensing, etc. can't do this online...

Quite embarrassing, if you ask me :-)

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

jledgard — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:58:33 GMT

Blake: No problem. I had no faith that this would be easy to begin with.

Dennis: The root of this comes from a policy that went into place when some windows users downloaded some bad hotfixes and that caused a lot of complaints that we needed to be clearer about what's been really well tested and what was just published as a hot fix. However, today, I don't beleive that our developer customers really need this form of babysitting as long as we make it clear that a hotfix is not as well tested as a service pack.

Peter: So do you have the MSDN sibscription? The fact that two people now have the PID problem worries me.

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

MikeGale — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:58:52 GMT

What a great study.

Really refreshing to see it published, hopefully it will get attended to.

I remember in the pre-net days waiting 7 weeks for a patch.

There's got to be a way to filter out people that need babysitting so those who don't are not punished too.

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

Norman Diamond — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 05:16:58 GMT

> The fact that two people now have the PID problem
> worries me.

I think it's more than two. I don't remember which MSDN managed newsgroups I've read this problem in, but I'm pretty sure Mr. Ritchie wasn't the only poster.

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

MySelf — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 08:58:08 GMT

I wish they just put the hotfixes onto the web so people could simply download them. Don't see a problem with that.

My experience with MS Support was quite good. Last time I needed a hotfix for VS2003 I just looked up the support number for my country, called them (quick answer), told them what hotfix I needed and a short time (same day) later I had an email with the download link. No credit card required and the support guy was exceptionally friendly.

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

Peter Ritchie — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:57:47 GMT

Josh, yes, I have an MSDN subscription. MSDN PIDs are nortorious for being ignored by PSS. I can phone PSS with a problem and give my PID that was received via MSDN and they'll do everything short of hanging-up to get me to phone the MSDN fufillment center (or whatever MSDN-center applies).

re: How hard is it to get a hot fix from Microsoft? It's not easy online.

David — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 17:09:52 GMT

Amen! Put the links directly into the KB article, at least for developer tools. We've had to install multiple hotfixes for VS2003, resolving various build issues, and it's just a PITA having to call up for them, with no benefits resulting (except for providing a couple of jobs for phone support guys, I guess).

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