Powned by a Belligerent User?

Most of the Support Tickets that reach my desk are about the same 4 questions, about 50 times a day. This obviously doesn't count when something actually breaks and our site goes down- then the number shoots up to about 50 times a minute!

Occasionally I'll receive a ticket that is so over the top, retarded, or hilarious that it gets passed around the department and IT support circles as comic relief. On even rarer occasions, a user uncovers a giant error or omission that we somehow overlooked. Quite a humbling experience when we get those!

Today was the first time that I got one that was all of the above- Hilarious, retarded, and humbling, all at once. So of course I have to share it- and my response, with you today!

Problem Description:
I am a Mac user, and it has come to my attention that neither Safari, Firefox, or even the most up to date version of Internet Explorer on Windows is supported by [your website]. I think that it is a shame that the tools that are necessary for properly functioning at [your company] won't work properly without extraordinarily outdated web browsers. I don't feel comfortable downloading internet browsers that haven't been supported since 2003 in the case of IE 5 and 2006 in the case of Netscape 7. It is my hope that this situation is rectified in the near future.

I read that and thought, "WTF kinda crack is this guy smoking?!" I began to carefully write a reply that was politically correct, informative and non-condescending. But it's pretty hard when you're dealing with idiots. Or is it? Read on my friend! My response:

Between the many students, faculty, and staff who having been using [our website] for several years, I am confident that all versions of Safari and Firefox, and Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7- function with no major problems (Between work and home, I personally use [our website] with Safari v2-3, Firefox 1,2,3, and Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7 on a daily basis). We have not received any feedback from users using Internet Explorer 8 yet. In writing this response it has occurred to me that you may be referring to the outdated FAQs we have on the website. This information has not been updated because ironically, once users stopped using the older versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer, most of the problems our FAQs address went away.

If you are having problems using [our website], any additional information you can provide regarding your problem will greatly assist us in addressing your issues. Specifically, any error messages received while trying to use [our website].

In the meantime I will encourage our staff to update the FAQ as soon as possible.

Could it be? Did we just get powned by a belligerent user? I hate it when that happens! He was using IE 5 to send that out so I don't know. At any rate, it's certainly time to update the FAQ!

New 24-inch iMacs and a Belated Prediction

Unless you've just come from under a rock, you've probably heard that Apple has upgraded its entire desktop line, including a newer, faster, 24-inch iMac. If you've never seen a 24-inch iMac in person, let me try to put this into perspective-

Here's a Hummer with 24 inch spinner rims:

Here is a Girl's' Dual-Suspension Mountain Bike with 24-Inch wheels:
Here is a 24-inch channel catfish:


Here is the world's biggest hamburger. Yep- its 24 inches across!


Here is a 5-piece drumset with 24 inch bass drum:


In short- 24 inches is HUGE! (two feet, to be exact). Who really needs a screen the size of two Subway sandwiches laid end to end? I use a 17" iMac on my desk at work and it works out just fine for day to day work-related tasks, which is about 50% email, 30% researching info on the web, and 20% Word/Excel. I rarely feel like I need more desktop real estate, but I rarely watch any video on it either.

At home, I use a 20" iMac. I often us it as my "tv" and watch fullscreen video, lounging on a sofa 12-feet away with no complaints. (why I have no TV is a totally different conversation!). The only time I pine for more desktop real estate is when I'm editing videos, websites, or photos, which is 75% of the time I'm in front of that computer.

My friend is a music teacher and semi-professional musician. He does a lot of composing and writing of sheet music which is how he justifies his monolithic, 24" iMac. Even next to his 32" LCD TV, the 24-inch iMac looks huge and slightly out of place. When he is using the computer like "normal" person (email, web-surfing, Facebooking, etc), about 50% of the 24-inches is wasted real estate.

However if you spend most of your computer time editing music or videos with programs like Logic or Final Cut, you really do need all the desktop real estate you can get (Final Cut Pro as shown below). Which is why the newer faster (same priced) 24 inch iMac is really a good thing, for the right person. But for the average emailing, web-surfing, Facebooking, YouTuber, 24-inches is a little over the top. About 4-inches, specifically.

(Above, a desktop computer using Final Cut Pro)

And now, the prediction! When the first 20-iMacs came in 2004, I predicted that the day Apple announces a 30" iMac, it will have a TV tuner and/or Apple TV built-in. Yep, you heard it here first!!