Did you hear the punch line to Jay
Leno’s joke Tuesday night about today’s Windows 7 launch? It went something like: “Great, now I get to spend an hour talking on
the phone to technical support!”
Like any good joke, this one had some
truth that the audience immediately got.
And that’s what’s interesting -- not about the software -- but that this
presumably non-technical audience (not to mention the millions watching at
home) found it funny.
The pain of suffering through early
versions of a software release is now an everyman experience — kind of like a
fraternity initiation. People eagerly
stand in line (at least virtually) to get the next “hit.” (Windows 7 preorders were at the top of
Amazon this week.) Isn’t that hilarious?
Everyone also gets that technical
support lines aren’t much fun either.
First, there’s the frustration of the product not doing what it’s
supposed to; then the self-doubt that perhaps it’s “my fault;” then the long
waits to get help; then the “fixes” that mess up something else on the computer
-- and so on and so on.
The lesson here is that the total cost
of technical support is not just out-of-pocket.
Lousy technical support can be psychologically debilitating --
especially for knowledge workers under pressure to produce. Want to see people get emotional? Give them truly great technical support. No kidding.
