MICROSOFT: WHERE DO I SEND THE BILL?

BRYCE ON TECHNOLOGY

- Losing time as a result of Microsoft updates.

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Microsoft never fails to surprise me in terms of how it can waste my time. Recently I was working on my office machine, which includes Windows 7 Home Premium. I realize it is not their latest offering, but I have learned over the years to never rush into a Microsoft upgrade. Nonetheless, all was going well until Google Chrome for some reason became unresponsive. Having experienced such lockups in the past, I decided to reboot the computer and let it clear the anomalies. I figured it would be just a couple of minutes out of my day, but boy was I wrong.

Before I could power off, Microsoft took charge of my machine, displaying a message:

"Please do not power off or unplug your machine.
Installing X of 17.."

I had no idea what the updates were, but I suspect it was to download Windows 10 on to my machine. Of the 17 updates, #14 seemed to take the longest for some reason. After much waiting, I finally received the message:

"Shutting down..." RESTART

I thought, "Finally, I can get back to work," but such was not to be. As the machine started I received the following message:

"Configuring Windows update
X% complete.
Do not turn off your computer."

This too took a long time to complete. Following this, it said:

"Cleaning up..."

And at long last I was taken to my desktop where I could continue working. Elapsed time for this update: approximately one hour.

Now I don't know about you, but I am not paid to be a Microsoft technician. Although I'm not too bad when it comes to computer problems, I prefer to tend to my own work. This caused me to become irritated with the boys and girls from Redmond as I was under a deadline to complete an article. Actually, I was ready to blow my stack, and, No, I do not mean the type used in programming.

For some reason, Microsoft thinks nothing of wasting the time of their customers. In a way, they remind me of dentists and doctors who lack regard for patients in their waiting rooms.

It would have been nice if Windows told me what the update was about and if now was a good time to apply it or schedule it for a later time, such as late at night, but this did not occur.

I am therefore preparing a bill for Microsoft for my time lost during the business day. I'm not asking for a lot, but a reasonable amount for time lost. Most likely, they will not pay it, at which time I'll see them in Small Claims Court.

If enough people did this, perhaps we wouldn't get such sloppy products from them.

Also published with News Talk Florida.

Keep the Faith!

Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.

Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com

For Tim's columns, see:   timbryce.com

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Copyright © 2016 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

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