|
So, we all know the uselessness of Microsoft support forums. 99.9% of the first responders say "run the trouble shooter" or "reboot". A few more say, "refresh windows or reinstall."
I'm fighting a weirdnetwork issue that is almost certainly occurred after a "mandatory" update. The results from "bing" return an assortment of useless articles and posts from an assortment of sites all useless. What was silly is that the 1st 4 responses were not on Microsoft's sites - community or otherwise.
It just had that ChatGPT/Bing phrasing.
Told it the results were useless, I get this back:
"I’m sorry you feel that way. I tried my best to assist you with your request. If you need further help, you can always visit the Microsoft Support website or contact a human agent. Thank you for using Bing and have a nice day. 🙏"
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
|
|
|
|
|
Just shows how much it cares. A human would say, "your query is important to us, if you need further help please talk to our ChatBot". 
|
|
|
|
|
"I see you are using Bing. May I help you with that?"
Clippy.
>64
Some days the dragon wins. Suck it up.
|
|
|
|
|
truth, I only got to bing by accident. But I would expect bing to use the same search engine the online microsoft communities use - well at least the answers seem the same. The first two or three are from "highly acclaimed contributors" who answer with the same drivel - reboot, refresh the OS, update your drivers (you moron, it's a base ethernet chip that Microsoft should have in it's driver library that it rolled out 15 years ago), etc.
My issue it turns out is that the latest updates from you know who may break your printer connection. And no, the wizard does not fix it.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
|
|
|
|
|
charlieg wrote: contact a human agent.
Hah!!!
The last time Microsoft Support answered the phone was when I had a bad floppy disk 13 of 13, installing Windows 95. The era of selling defective products with no support and no manuals was initiated by Microsoft.
Will Rogers never met me.
|
|
|
|
|
I always thought customer service reps were more like bots with their scripts ... Now you have scripted bots acting like customer service reps.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
|
|
|
|
|
that's exactly what struck me.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
|
|
|
|
|
Someone is actually using "Bing"?
Steve Naidamast
Sr. Software Engineer
Black Falcon Software, Inc.
blackfalconsoftware@outlook.com
|
|
|
|
|
I'm always bothered by phrases like "I'm sorry you feel that way" from a machine. They actually bothered to choose to program a machine to feign remorse. "I'm sorry..."
I'ts more troubling that there are proabably people, real humans that somehow feel that they' might have hurt the machines feelings wehn they see such a response from a machine.
|
|
|
|
|
I agree. I also hate it when I call into a support place about anything and the person starts with, "I am so sorry..." blah, blah, blah. Just fix the problem please.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
|
|
|
|
|
Well, with those mandatory updates, Windows is trying to kill itself as a commercial project. Sooner or later it may happen unless they radically change the approach.
—SASergey A Kryukov
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yep, been saying that since 1995.
Interestingly, I have been spending more time in sewing / quilting centers. My wife is an intense crafter, and has been bitten by the quilting bug. So, walking around some of these high end machines, their HMIs are quite sophisticated. By that I mean they are pretty. No idea if they are usable.
I inquired of two makers what they use in the OS. One replied proprietary, sorry, and the other used Windows. In the next store looking at quilting machines, every HMI was on a touch pad running Windows. Having developed with Windows embedded products for the last 20 years, I was surprised to see basic Windows being used in a machine - but that's probably just my own ignorance.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
|
|
|
|
|
I have to write a birthday card for a lady who will 94 on Wednesday.
Only problem is I just wrote the condolences card for the loss of her son on Friday ...
Herself is suggesting I treat it as a "normal birthday card" but I figure that's pretty insensitive.
Anyone else had to do this; got any ideas? 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
"May God give you all the strength and ability to carry on with your life, towards your ultimate goal. Irrespective of all the happenings in the world around you".
|
|
|
|
|
Amarnath S wrote: carry on with your life, towards your ultimate goal.
What's one's ultimate goal, at the age of 94? Wake up the next morning?
And while I might agree with others that at that age, she's probably seen plenty of heartaches, outliving one of your children still can't be easy no matter what. Focusing on the birthday seems somewhat dismissive to me. She's had 94 of these already.
|
|
|
|
|
I have seen a woman lose her son at her age of 82. And she lived for 5 or 6 more years, without losing her purpose in life. Irrespective of who lives or not around us, each of us has a purpose, a desire to live peacefully for the remaining days, months, years on this earth, continuously enriching ourselves in whatever way we feel fit till the last day.
As someone has said, we are all standing in a queue, to depart from this world. This is a strange queue, where we don't know who is first, who is next. Till our turn comes, we've to be around, and live purposefully. This is what i meant by ultimate goal.
|
|
|
|
|
Amarnath S wrote: Till our turn comes, we've to be around, and live purposefully. This is what i meant by ultimate goal.
True. People have different perspectives in life. I know plenty of people who would not deal very well with losing an offspring.
|
|
|
|
|
At 94 she probably went through a lot of things, you can pick something to talk about.
modified 4-Sep-23 10:33am.
|
|
|
|
|
You are being a guy. As others have said, she's 94 and has seen a lot of stuff. Just wish her a happy birthday and express condolences for her loss - words are up to you.
Here is the secret - those suffering a loss, they know the situation. Have courage and be comforting.... we all appreciate it. Last year buried my mother and sister.... so.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
|
|
|
|
|
Two different cards.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
|
|
|
|
|
Just a birthday card will be ok.
I assume this lady with a tremendous amount of life experience can handle it pretty good.
|
|
|
|
|
You could make it a bit more low-key than a "cherioo auntie Agatha". Referring to common shared memories, her long and rich life, you respect and love for her.
And then, I might, like yourself, feel the need to add something more, perhaps along the lines of: "despite your recent loss / during these sad days / ..."
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
|
|
|
|
|
You've already expressed your sympathies in the condolence card. I'd suggest a "calming" picture (flowers, a landscape scene etc) and a simple message along the lines of "Thinking of you as always, sending all my love". Less is more, as my wife always says (especially around my birthday...  )
Alternatively there are "general purpose" cards you can buy with a load of checkboxes... tick the "condolence" and "birthday" boxes; maybe tick then partly rub out the "engagement" one for added giggles. Sometimes, just because you're old or going through tough times doesn't mean you've lost your sense of humour.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
It feels like the main purpose of Office was to distract those people from real work and boost their self-esteem. 