>Hi Houston,
>
>>Pardon me for jumping in - but I think you have 'support' in the wrong context. The discussion (on this part of the thread) is revolving around support for custom written applications, in particular VFP applications.
>
>Obviously, Microsoft wouldn't help on the business part of the application. But if a customer experiences an extreme slowdown, system crashes, etc. caused by your application, then a customer often contacts Microsofts first. They analyze the problem and contact you with their findings. This is quite a common issue when writing server applications, especially web server applications. If a COM component or ISAPI extension is badly written, the error appears to originate from IIS.
>
>Also, in some companies there's a dedicated support department. Users of VFP application contact them, not the vendor of the VFP application. If the support department can't provide an answer, they pass the issue on to Microsoft, the software developer, etc. The end user is never in contact with the vendor in this case.
>
>--
>Christof

We obviously have very different experiences of how end Users and Support Staff deal with system issues. In your world it would seem a PhotoShop User on a Macintosh is likely to go to MS before going to the vendor.

Most Users do not know which technology (programming tools & languages etc.) was used to create their system. Most small businesses rely on good relations with their vendor. Larger organizations may have a support arrangement with MS - but if these are on a pay-per-use basis, then you can bet that all efforts will be made to resolve problems internally before parting with the big bucks. One of the first questions a Support person will ask is "What OS and what version are you using" - this might be when they discover that a call to MS would be a tad nonsensical.