Semicolon is a new monthly column from Microsoft's Visual C++
.NET Product Manager - our very own Nick Hodapp. The column is intended to
be a direct line to Microsoft for you to ask those questions that no-one
else can answer. If you've ever wondered about the internal machinations
of the VC++ compiler, or ever wanted to know why a particular design
decision was made, or want the inside story on a curly Visual C++ question
that has been stumping you then post your questions here. Each installment
will cover the best or the most interesting question. The rules are
simple: Make it interesting, make it about Visual C++, and don't ever
mention Visual Basic.
Back
in my home state of Wisconsin, deer hunting season has begun in
earnest.� Starting in September the
bow-hunters head for the hills, followed in November by gun hunters and then by
the hard-core muzzleloaders in December.���
Each season hunters dramatically trim the fat off of Wisconsin�s
burgeoning deer herd, which in 2001 was pushing 1.5 million head.� This large-scale pursuit is analogous to the
hundreds of Microsoft developers, who in product pre-release season comb the
issue database (somewhat appropriately known internally as �RAID�) looking for
the sickliest bugs to take-out.� I keep
submitting �VB� as a Priority-1 bug, but apparently no one here knows
how to fix it.
Understanding Your Prey
As a developer, you understand
that all software invariably ships with bugs.�
Customers are likely to encounter bugs and be pestered by them.� Like their live counterparts, software bugs
range in severity from annoying to deadly.�
As a developer of a product, you enjoy the ability to hunt and kill as
many bugs as you�re able.� But as a
customer, you unfortunately don�t have license to fix the bugs you encounter on
your own.� Rather, you have to contract
an exterminator to do so on your behalf.�
This column is dedicated to providing you with a host of exterminator
options for problems relating to Microsoft developer tools, and how to make
best use of them.� For whatever reason
the topic �how to get support� isn�t one that we routinely advertise or offer
at your local Microsoft conference.� I
intend to change that.
Those of you who are more cynical
than the rest are likely to jeer at this topic.� I know, I know, it�s often amusing to make fun of seemingly
oxymoron phrases like �Visual Basic Developer�, �Microsoft Technical Support�, and
even �Visual C++�. �The reality is that Microsoft has one of the
best support organizations in the world, and you just may not know how to use
it effectively.�
Or, perhaps you�ve had a bad
experience with Microsoft support.� This
absolutely does happen, but it doesn�t have to be the end of the road, nor
should it be.
In fact, it�s very easy to make
the world stop turning � just ask Maximillien
or Paul
Selormey � who caused fire drills in Redmond a few weeks ago when I
forwarded their CodeProject Lounge posts about their less-than-positive
product-support experiences.� We want to
help you � if you have a bad experience with support, cry foul and let me or
some other Microsoft employee know about it.
I chose this topic based on the
large amount of feedback generated by last month�s column.� A related topic, which I will discuss in a
future column, concerns Product
Lifecycle.� Except where
noted, the support options I discuss herein currently apply equally to Visual
C++ 6.0 and Visual C++ .NET 2002.�
My Home Hunting Ground
There is a caveat I unfortunately
need to make.� The description I�m about
to give of Microsoft�s support policies and options applies specifically to
customers in the U.S.� International support
policies and options do vary and are beyond the scope of this article.� I wholeheartedly understand that the Visual
C++ audience on CodeProject extends beyond the geography of North America.� For those of you outside the US, please use
this document as a starting point, then further research the specific policy
and options that are available to you.� For
information on Microsoft�s International support policies, please click here.
Choose Your Weapon
As a developer for Microsoft
platforms, you have arguably the largest support group in the known
universe.� Even if you ignore the official
Microsoft support options, there are boundless forums and caches of information
available across the Internet.
The one stop-shop for obtaining
support for any of the hundreds of Microsoft products is Microsoft Help and
Support (at http://support.microsoft.com),
which is the public home page of the Product Support Services (PSS) team at
Microsoft.� This is the place to go
whether you�re in danger of becoming a Charles Bronson-esq vigilante, or are
simply irritated by a misbehaving feature.�
At the site you will find several options, ranging from totally free
self-help to expensive hire-your-own-militia offerings.�
The site offers specialized Support Center pages for particular
products.� Support Center pages pool
together information on top issues processed by PSS, shortcut links to popular
Knowledge Base queries, links to downloadable service items (service packs),
code samples, and Frequently Asked Questions.�
Here are links to Support Centers that are of particular interest to
VC++ developers:
Add these to your browser
favorites.
Knowledge is Power
Microsoft Help and
Support also provides an interface to search the Microsoft
Knowledge Base, which I�m positive most of you have used before.� If you use the Advanced Search and Help option, you can specify a product name to
narrow your search.� Unless you are sure
your issue is localized to Visual C++, try searching the Visual Studio-indexed
KB articles as well.
KB articles are largely authored
by PSS, and encapsulate the knowledge learned by their staff when investigating
an issue.� The idea is to create a
searchable database that records issues and resolutions so that it will be easier
to help the next customer experiencing a given problem.�� KB articles are typically categorized as
�BUG:� (a confirmed bug), �PRB:� (a problem, likely due to how the software was
designed), �HOW TO:� (how to do something that is not evident), or �INFO:�
(high level basic information).�
KB articles that describe bugs or
problems will offer a status and (hopefully!) a resolution.� The status is often �This is recorded as a
bug�, and the resolution is often a set of workaround steps.� Obviously a workaround is non optimal, but
unless the bug is particularly offensive, it will be assigned a priority that
determines if and when it will be scheduled for a fix sometime in the future.
Quick, Fix Me!
Some bugs have no workarounds, or
affect enough customers badly enough that Microsoft will fix the bug
immediately when it is reported.� This
results in a Quick Fix Engineering patch, or �QFE�.� Security-related bugs will usually receive this treatment.� A KB article describing a bug for which a
QFE is available will say something along the lines of �A supported fix is now
available from Microsoft.�
Now, before you get too excited
at the prospect of dialing up Microsoft and demanding we fix your bug with a
QFE, let me explain a few things.
A given bug may actually meet the
QFE bar, but not enough customers have reported it � yet.� If you report a bug and we help you to
work-around it, by all means keep checking back to see if the status has
changed.� If thousands of customers
begin reporting the same crashing bug, we�re likely to take note.
The average QFE is very expensive
to produce � around $30,000.� But
Microsoft will never opt away from creating a QFE because of the incurred
cost.� The primary reasons we might not issue a QFE for a given bug are: a)
there exists an �acceptable� workaround; or b) a simple patch would likely
destabilize the product in other ways. �Bugs that aren�t fixed with a QFE are still tracked, and placed in
the queue with an assigned priority.
Once a QFE patch is produced it
becomes freely available to anyone who is experiencing the problem it addresses
-- but you have to ask to obtain it.� We
limit QFE accessibility because the likelihood that a QFE will cause other
problems is relatively high � QFE hot fixes do not receive the same level of
testing as a released product, or a service pack.� To obtain a QFE you have to contact support services directly and
create a Support Incident.
Periodically we will round up all
of the QFE�s and package them together as a publicly available Service
Pack.� At this point each fix receives
additional testing, and perhaps additional tweaking.
Support Incidents
The support options available to
you are somewhat complicated.� They vary
by the product SKU version you purchase.�
Similar to how hunting licenses in Wisconsin grant you a quota on the
number of deer you can harvest, Professional, Enterprise, and certain MSDN-subscription
level software licenses grant you a set quota of �free� Support Incidents.� (The cost for these is built into the purchase
price of the product.)
First and foremost, let me say
that for all developer-related products you will receive unlimited free online and
telephone support for installation issues.�
The definition and caveats for �installation issues� are here.� If you are having trouble installing Visual
C++ or Visual Studio, visit this web page and call the toll-free
number that applies to you, or click on the online-support button.
For issues not involving
installation, you are allocated two free telephone or online support incidents
if you bought the �compound-bow� Visual Studio .NET Professional, three if you
purchased the �30-30� Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Developer, and a whopping
four incidents if you paid for the big-boy �muzzleloader� Visual Studio .NET
Enterprise Architect edition.� Most
levels of MSDN subscriptions also include allocations of support incidents:� four for Universal and Full Academic
Alliance, three for Enterprise, and two for Professional and High School
Academic Alliance.�
Use these incidents wisely; after
they�re gone it will cost you $245 per incident for phone support and $195 for
online support.� If you want, you can
purchase the stocking-stuffer option, starting at $975 for 5 online incidents
and $1225 for 5 telephone incidents.� I
was going to get some of these for my developer friends (so they would stop
bugging me�), but for some reason (and like the XBOX), these are not available
at the Microsoft Company Store at an employee rate.
| Accessing Support
To access online or telephone support for a Visual Studio-product,
follow these steps (you can begin at step 2 if desired, by clicking on
the link provided):
- Visit http://support.microsoft.com
- In the Support navigation-menu, select Contact Microsoft, then
select Phone
Numbers, Support Options, and Pricing
- Select your product from the drop-down list, then Continue.
The page you are brought to is specific to the product you selected,
and lists the available support options including phone numbers to call,
and links to online support services. |
Note that if you own the Standard
edition of a developer tool which has a lower purchase price set for the
developer-enthusiast, you aren�t allocated any free phone or online support
options, save for those involving installation issues.� Also, if your copy of Visual Studio was
obtained through a volume licensing agreement then you may not be allocated the
default support incidents � the support you�re eligible to receive should be
defined as part of your particular purchase agreement.
Now that you know about the
Support Incidents at your disposal, let me give you a brief description of the
support call process.�
For customers who purchased a
boxed version of Visual C++ or Visual Studio (non-MSDN subscribers, and
non-volume licensees), you will be asked to supply your Product ID, or
PID.� This 20 digit number is found in
the About dialog in Visual Studio � it will be the same for each �sub-product�
installed � that is, Visual Basic and Visual C++ will share the same PID.� It is not necessary for you to have
registered your boxed copy of the product in order to receive support.
If your support call is covered
by your MSDN subscription, and this is your first call, you will need to provide
the name of the primary MSDN subscriber, your MSDN subscriber ID, and an email
address.� You will be provided with a
support contract number, which you will then provide for subsequent calls.��
Once you have provided the
requisite information, you will need to describe your issue to a Tech Router
(TR).� It is important to be as concise
as possible.� What product,
specifically?� What feature of the
product?� Is the issue related to the
IDE?� To the compiler?� To the linker?� Is the issue reproducible by following a series of steps?� The more exacting you are in describing the
problem, the better the chance that the Tech Router will connect you to an
engineer who will be able to diagnose and help resolve the problem in a timely
manner.�
The support incident will not be
�closed� until the customer receives a workable resolution.� This does not imply that Microsoft will
necessarily issue a QFE � the likelihood is we wont � but it does mean we will
work with you until a workaround is found so that you aren�t blocked by the
issue.
I�m told that hold times are
generally low � typically 80% of calls are answered by a human being in less
than a minute.� But call during the week
if possible � weekend calls historically involve more delays to a resolution.
So far I�ve been discussing the admittedly
expensive fee-based telephone and online Product-related support options.� There are actually a couple additional fee
based options to be aware of:� Professional
�Advisory� phone-support costs $210/hr, and this will get you the
equivalent of a developer consultant on the phone with you, happy to talk about
anything as long as you give up your credit-card number beforehand.� The phone number to call is (800)
936-5200.
A similar service is available
through HP and Unisys, two of Microsoft�s partners who have attained �Gold
Certified Partners for Support Services� status.� Partner
Services is generally cheaper ($24.95/incident for application and
desktop products, and $99/incident for Business Systems products).� This support option is also available internationally.� The caveat with these services is that they
are generally only available for non-developer technologies.� That is to say, they will support Windows XP
but not the Visual Studio.
Why is support so expensive?� �For crying out loud�, I can hear you
shouting, �I just want Microsoft to take responsibility when the darn thing
doesn�t work�.� And we should � we
should absolutely take it upon ourselves to fix broken product and get you a
fix for free.� In fact, we do.� If your paid support call results in a QFE
hot-fix, you are not charged (nor is the incident counted against your
allotment of �free� support calls).� But
consider for a moment the volume of support calls your own company receives
that are the result of user-error as opposed to program-error.� Developer-tool products are a hundred times
worse because the majority of issues, which developer�s typically believe are
related to the tool, are actually related to their code.� Not to mention the amount of time spent
researching any given problem.� It is
expensive to debug someone else�s code � especially over the phone.
A final reason for why developer
support is expensive (when compared to non-developer-product support) is that
we staff the support team with experienced developers who have years of
industry experience.� They of course
command (deservedly) a higher salary than the typical support robot.
Microsoft also offers several
support options for enterprise customers, who typically purchase Microsoft
products in volume quantities.� Again,
options abound including Alliance, Premier, and Authorized Premier; I could
write an entire column on these alone.�
Check out this web
page for a good synopsis.�
What it amounts to is that of course we�ll be more than happy sell you
whatever level of hand-holding you need or want.
Support-Free Zone
Make that �Free Support Zone� �
support options that won�t cost you a penny. �Arguably, these are the best options as well, especially when it
comes to Visual C++.� I�m happy to tell
you why.
Free support options abound:� MSDN
Online Support, MSDN
Communities, Developer
Newsgroups, the Knowledge
Base, the Microsoft
Support Center, and officially sanctioned 3rd-party
communities (including CodeProject).� The sheer volume of searchable data from these resources is
enormous.� The likelihood that you are
the first developer to experience a given problem is small, and assuming this
is the case you will likely be able to find at least one reference to the same
problem somewhere on the Web.�
Online forums and Microsoft
Developer Newsgroups are a great way to obtain support from your peers, and
from Microsoft � free of charge.� Historically
the newsgroups were monitored primarily by MVPs (Most Valuable
Professionals) (people hand-picked by Microsoft for their activity
and contribution to a given product�s online community), and informally by
Microsoft personnel who in their spare time enjoy helping out customers.�
This fall the Visual Studio
product teams at Microsoft are embarking on a new program dubbed �Community
Room�, that mandates each team member spend a couple of hours per month
answering questions posed by customers in online forums. �The Visual C++ Community Room is lead by team
members Herb Sutter and Edward Dudenhoefer, and is underway as of a couple of
weeks ago.� Thus far the effort has been
a resounding success � we�ve answered hundreds of customer questions, recorded
dozens of bugs into the tracking system, and perhaps most importantly, put the
people responsible for creating the VC product in front of the people who use
the product: YOU.� �Your feedback will directly influence the
people who design and implement Visual C++.
A couple of hints about engaging
the Community Room:� we�re primarily
monitoring newsgroup questions that go unanswered for 24 hours, and that are
related to Visual C++ .NET.� This means
we are answering the most difficult questions, and questions that may have an
affect on prioritize fixes for problems with the currently shipping product
(and how we design features for the next release).� The newsgroups we�re monitoring are the microsoft.public.vc.*
forums; we hope to expand the watch to community forums like CodeProject in the
near future.
If you happen to be a MSDN
Universal, Enterprise, Professional, Operating System or Academic edition
subscriber, you have one additional newsgroup option to be aware of.� The MSDN team recently committed to respond to
customer questions on over 200 managed newsgroups with 72 hours of the original
posting.� Read more about this program
here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/managed.
Hunter�s Hotline
Perhaps one of the most
Frequently Asked Questions by Visual C++ developers is �How do I report a
bug?�� Thus far I�ve focused primarily
on how to get help for a problem you�re experiencing, but sometimes this is
overkill.� Sometimes you simply want to
be a good citizen and report a misbehaving feature of an application.
To report a bug in Visual C++, simply
visit the Microsoft
Visual C++ Bug Report page and fill out the form.� You are not guaranteed a follow up response
using this mechanism.
Another great way to report a bug
is to get the attention of a Microsoft employee in a newsgroup or forum (ala
Community Room).� As I already pointed
out, we�ve already recorded several unknown bugs in VC.NET just by interacting
with customers online.� If you�re lucky
enough to track down the feature owner affected by your bug, you can bet you�ll
receive major hand-holding.�
Of course, Visual Studio will
also attempt to report its own problems back to Microsoft.� If the IDE abends, the Minidump exception
handling mechanism will save out information about the crash and will prompt
you to okay sending this information back to Microsoft.� Please click OK!��� Known crashing bugs will in most cases keep a product from
shipping (that is, prior to release.�
Pressing OK is particularly important if you are using a beta copy of a
Microsoft application). �Minidump data
is automatically processed and tracked � we know whether a given crash is
affecting a large or small percentage of customers (and this will affect the
priority for a fix, which accounts for why some
known crashing bugs in a released application are low priority.� In general, crashing bugs are considered
evil and will not be tolerated.)� Bugs
reported via Minidump are often easy to fix � if only because we may not have
to replicate the problem.
Steve Balmer recently discussed
the successes of Minidump technology in an open letter to customers titled Connecting with Customers.� Check it out, Steve calls out some amazing statistics about bugs.
Often times you might have a
complaint or suggestion regarding product documentation.� The majority of documentation topics � in
both online and offline documents � include a link to �Send feedback on this
topic to Microsoft�.� Clicking the link
launches your email program and inserts a reference to the topic.� When you hit send your comments will be
saved and queued for review by an engineer in charge of that topic.� Alternatively, for strictly Visual C++
documentation issues, you can also send email to vcdocs@microsoft.com.
I�ll admit that before I came to
Microsoft I knew very little about the support options to me � in fact,
Microsoft seemed very non-approachable.�
My goal is to make at least the Visual Studio corner of Microsoft Support
approachable to you all.�
This is the second installment of
Semicolon � I hope you guys are enjoying it.�
Please feel free to post or send me feedback!� What do you want me to write about in the future?� Do you want more technical content?� More VB wisecracks?� Inside information on Chris Maunder?� I can deliver!
