Category: Uncategorized

Just to illustrate a point, even execs at MS are waiting for stores to be restocked with Xbox 360 units in time for the holidays…

PCMag and Reuters reported today that SteveB is in the boat with many other employees are this holiday as they look for Xbox 360 systems.

“The Ballmer children do not have their Xbox 360 yet. I’m in the same boat as many of you,” Ballmer said. “Thanks to the wonders of Sarbanes-Oxley, management does not get a free Xbox 360.” 

In the same article, it notes that “Microsoft estimates that it will sell 5.5 million units worldwide by the end of next June.” I’m hopeful that some of that volume makes it to Redmond in the next couple of weeks. Many of my (non MS) neighbours are also looking for units, and they’re not necessarily eager to pay >$600 for a unit on eBay.

You can lump me in that bucket, too, as my unit is still on order with an e-tailer… but not with one of those charging upwards of $899. That, IMHO, is just wrong. I understand how a free market economy works, but there is a fine line bewteen that and taking advantage of the situation. A humble reminder (like they need one) to our Xbox team to replenish supplies at retail.

Recently I had to reach out to one of my computer suppliers at home, in this case Dell (one of several I use at home and at work, so I’m not singling them out). Although I had some difficulty in getting through to an operator on the phone, I was able to get incredible results using Dell’s on-line service: only a couple of days after submitting my under-warranty request, I received the replacement part I needed. Great stuff.

Around this time of year I see an increase in the number of news reports around the dissatisfaction of customers with automated phone systems (commonly referred to as “IVRs”). We use such systems at Microsoft and I have to admit that I use our automated operator all the time to call coworkers at the office – the voice recognition is is very reliable.

But for those companies where there seems to be an endless run-around on the phone in search of a live person, I found a reference today to the IVR Cheat Sheet for Businesses  – it provides a guide for getting through to a live person on the phone quickly and with little hassle. Given my recent post on how to reach the Xbox service centre I thought to post a reverence on this helpful reference page.  

For Dell Service, I was happy to find a sequence on this page for accessing a live person: 800-624-9897, then press option 1, dial ext 7266966, press option 1, then press option 4 and finally press option 4. 

Of course, I was happy to read that Microsoft is fairly straight-forward…

“Microsoft – 800-936-5700 – Always dial 0. This is true for just about any MS number.”

In a meeting recently, I found that you can share OneNote notebook pages with others to create a collaborate OneNote page. When you share, several people can be on the same page at the same time. I also use IM during a session, which allows me to prompt others to take over or chime in on a point, helpful when you’re tag-teaming a presentation during a meeting or LiveMeeting session. I haven’t done this outside the office, but will try it next week during a meeting as I connect with remote users (using a strong password, of course).

In addition to the Introducing OneNote page, I find Crabby’s introduction to OneNote to be a refreshing reminder of the power in this app.

Courtesy of Office Onlline Assistance… to join or start a shared notebook session:

1. On the File menu, click Share with Others.
   
2. In the Share with Others task pane, click Join a Session or Start a Session.

I noted previously the Security & Privacy concerns around Phishing and I turned a friend in the Valley today on to our Security at home site. It has info on avoiding online scams with the Microsoft Phishing Filter, anti-virus, anti-spyware, security updates, Office and Windows update tools… well worth your time. I enjoyed the 10 tips for online auction bidders.

And when you read the articles, you may notice a question at the end of many of the articles on Microsoft.com:

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