Shantanu's Blog

What's A Kid To Do?
Scribbled by Doug Radcliffe

After installing Windows XP Professional on my system, I was
confronted with the offer of the new .NET Passport account. I
dutifully filled in all the information it asked for, but when it
wanted to know my birthday, I did as I always do: I typed in the
month, the day, and the current year, rightfully assuming that my
age is nobody's business. Apparently they figured my age IS their
business and so they promptly issued me a "Kid's Passport." After
all, we don't want 10 month old toddlers making credit card
purchases on the Internet.

No problem. I'll just go in and update my profile with the correct
information. Wrong. Toddlers can't get in to update their
profiles. Well, then... I'll just delete my Passport and start all
over. Wrong again. I can't get to that link, either. Well,
Microsoft can surely help here, I thought. Their response to my
first email was simply to update my profile. Great idea - if I
could do it. The response to my second email told me that I would
need to get parental consent to change my profile. Unfortunately,
my parents have been deceased for more than twenty years and can
no longer help me in my hour of need. The third email response
(again) reminded me to get parental consent or to delete my
passport and start over - neither of which is an option. They gave
me an encouraging bit of news, however: a subsequent release of
.NET Passport may contain a way to solve my problem. When this
will happen wasn't stated.

In desperation, I created another passport with a different email
address, thinking I could become my own grandpa. No luck here,
either. I'm a kid and they know it. Meanwhile, I get a lot of
"Page Cannot Be Displayed" messages. But that's okay. I'll be
celebrating my first birthday next month, and if I can just hang
in there until 2019, I'll be able to fix all of this on my own.

Why Compaq Is The Devil (Advice)
Scribbled by Don Walter

I purchased a new Compaq about a year ago and wanted to transfer
files from my old hard drive to the new one; I put the old HDD
into the new tower. I called Compaq tech support to make sure I
wasn't voiding the warranty by inserting third-party hardware, and
they confirmed that it was okay. Well, for some reason, the old
HDD didn't like the new Compaq and the thing wouldn't turn back
on. I called tech support and they told me that I had voided my
warranty by putting third-party hardware into it. So, after paying
for tech support (Which was NOT helpful), I called back for a
supervisor. He informed me that I DID still have my warranty - and
gave me a number to call to get a refund. I called the number and
their [automated] system asked for a credit card; then, it said
that my purchase had been approved. So, I called Compaq back (yet
again) and they told me that I had just called the wrong number
and paid for another tech support session.

After getting all that worked out, about a month later, our DVD-
ROM wasn't working. So, I called tech support and they gave me a
number to call (the DVD drive's manufacturer). I called the
number, explained the situation, and the man on the phone asked
where I got this number. I told him 'Compaq' and he replied that I
must have been mistaken - because they haven't dealt with Compaq
for 3 years. Now, either Compaq is using three-year old hardware,
or nobody over there knows what they're doing.