Am I a sucker, or what? I was excited when I read on MacMinute [full story] that Virtual PC 7 was going to be immediately available. Then I called to check the status of my order…

I ordered the Microsoft Office X Professional suite back in June, when Microsoft initiated their Tech Guarantee promotion. This would allow those that purchased the suite to receive a free upgrade, to Office 2004 Professional when the new product came out. As we all know, there was a slight (ahem) delay in the release of the product, and then a slight delay in the release of the Virtual PC. No biggie. I have Virtual PC 6 on my TiBook and only use it when teaching an intro to PC class that I teach at the local tech center. All in all, I wasn’t losing sleep over it. I just wanted to be able to run it on my G5 with hopefully more speed than that of VPC 6 on my G4 TiBook.

Finally, yesteday I saw the words I was waiting for “Virtual PC now available.” So, I decided to call Microsoft to check my order. When I called in, the first person I spoke with asked me if Microsoft could call me back to question me about my customer service experience. I said “No.” Why do I want Microsoft calling me? What complaints could I possibly have? Besides, the less I have to deal with Microsoft, the better. But I digress.

Next, I was transferred to my Customer Service Representative, who told me that I would not get my order for 4 - 6 weeks! That’s when the cheese fell out of my sandwich. He said it was on a first order, first serve basis.

This lead me to draw some conclusions, all or some of which may be true:

  • Now available means “We’ve given up on this piece of junk so let’s send it to the printer”
  • Microsoft is at full capacity, copying them on their spanking new Dell desktop with DVD burner, and can only send out 5 per day (6 if they stay up late).
  • I am a sucker, for expecting any Microsoft product to ship in a timely (same calendar year) fashion.
  • Tech Guarantees are probably at the end of the line and will be shipped last

By the time it ships, it should have Longhorn installed. Oh wait, that’s not “due” until 2006.

 

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