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Get Windows 7 Help From Microsoft on Twitter

Oct. 15, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

From Microsoft:

Today Microsoft launched @MicrosoftHelps, a new Twitter handle that provides customers around the world with help and information on Windows 7, in English.  Through this social medium, Microsoft will monitor and respond to real-time Windows 7 tweets and use them to improve the information, support and experience customers have with Windows 7.

Through Twitter, customers will have better access to help when, how and where they need it, key to Microsoft’s vision for customer support.  The @MicrosoftHelps team consists of experienced social media agents with extensive knowledge about support resources to get answers to customers questions. In addition to responding to direct tweets, they will monitor the Twittersphere and suggest resources to tweets about Windows 7 problems, issues or questions.

If anyone gets the Internet, it's Microsoft. :)

Discuss this Article 43

crankenstein
on Oct 15, 2009
Microsoft IS the internet... Windows 7 rocks :)
rr0de74@live.com
on Oct 15, 2009
Twitter = Digital Diarrhea of the mouth. Its only value is free advertising for corporations.
Balthazar9
on Oct 15, 2009
Firefox, Opera and IE are walking along a street, when they see a beggar who asks them "can you spare something for an old man?". Firefox takes an add-on and gives it to the man. Upon which Opera looks at Firefox saying "I can't believe you are giving away something that's so important to you!", "Don't worry", says Firefox, "I have so many of those!". Then Opera turns to the man and gives him one of his features. Upon which Firefox looks at Opera and says "I can't believe you are giving away something that's so important to you!", "Don't worry" says Opera, "I have so many of those!". Now, Internet Explorer doesn't want to be left out, so he turns to the man and gives him a virus. Upon which Firefox and Opera look at Internet Explorer in stunned silence! Internet Explorer looks back at them in surprise and says "Don't worry, I have so many of those!".
BrandanL
on Oct 15, 2009
@Paul: "If anyone gets the Internet, it's Microsoft." Uh, non sequitur? Does every other business that created a social networking account this month "get the Internet" too? And can you really discount the colossally disappointing web browser (well, at least HTML rendering engine) that Microsoft produces? It's several years behind the other major browsers, and that's a long time on the Web. I do think that @MicrosoftHelps is a great idea, by the way. I just disagree with Paul's hyperbole.
Ocean
on Oct 15, 2009
What is a "experienced social media agent"?
whiplash55
on Oct 15, 2009
I wonder how long before a bunch of trolls start tweeting phony Win 7 problems?
robertsjoe
on Oct 15, 2009
You're obviously being facetious when you say "If anyone gets the Internet, it's Microsoft. :)" If anyone is LAST to "get" the internet, then it most certainly IS Microsoft.
gfryesc1
on Oct 15, 2009
I think they should stick to a knowledge base with an active wizard or decision-engine front-end. That's the social. That's the windows, not walls way. Won't even cost you any points.
redunion1940
on Oct 15, 2009
Until IE 6, Microsoft did get the internet, they pretty much were the internet, well even though linux ran all the servers but hey, oh almost forgot Unix.
NoNameAtAll
on Oct 15, 2009
"Microsoft did get the internet" Sorta. IE4 is when they had it. Prior to that, IE1-3 didn't do much to dent Netscape. And they did have it a bit with IE6. But Firefox became more well known. So they had to begin to step it up. That isn't to say MS doesn't get it. I just mean that IE4-5.5 was when they really had it nailed.
Logjamming
on Oct 15, 2009
Microsoft gets the internet? Have you been 'Cheech and Chonging' whilst in Europe, Paul? Microsoft was the LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST, THE LAST to get the internet. Really, how stupid and blinded can you MSCE-certificate holders get at the obvious MS sponsored blog?
beaker
on Oct 16, 2009
I'm a MCSE. I'm probably going to re-up to the MCITP (why did they change the name of the certification???). Microsoft is so douchey. They are the worst at promotion. Simply the worst. Where are the ZUNE ads???????? I guess that has died off. The company seems to have ADD or something. They need to find a marketing firm that gets it. Windows 7 isn't a bad product but the lack of real marketing and the cringe-worthy "House Party" videos make them look like a joke.
rr0de74@live.com
on Oct 16, 2009
Yeah why did they change the name of MCSE, I one test left for my MCITP, and to be honest I am probably done with Microsoft certs. I have been getter their certs since NT 3.5 and I am not sure if they ever helped me get a job. I will take classes since I get them free through work. Microsoft loves to change the name of stuff all the time. I wonder if we will upgrade our ISA 2006 server to the new TMG (threat management gateway) server????????????
Dipsh t Admin
on Oct 16, 2009
BrandanL and Logjamming, you must have missed the :) at the end of the sentence. Paul was being cutesy. "Digital Diarrhea of the mouth." You said Twitter, but you must mean Logjamming, Balthazar and RJ.
lotsamystuff
on Oct 16, 2009
@dpsh: Yeah, that was a rare moment of near-candor from Paul. I think "MicrosoftHelps" is the biggest oxymoron since "Microsoft Works", though. ;-) <----- see, I can do it too.
lotsamystuff
on Oct 16, 2009
'They are the worst at promotion. Simply the worst." I'm not so sure about that. They promote themselves pretty well; one can debate about the quality of their advertising (which, outside of the Bing campaign, is almost universally awful), but they're masters at promotion. You just have to accept that they're promoting an image of an out-of-touch-but-desperately-trying-to-be-hip software behemoth.
DRWAM
on Oct 16, 2009
I did see a few very nice Zune commercials on TV. Haven't seen any recently in at least a month. Me and the wife thought they were good.
Logjamming
on Oct 16, 2009
@ lotsamystuff Stuffing your software down the throat of computer hardware sellers (Dell recommends Windows Vista etc) is not a promotion. It's pathetic. And when the hardware drivers are unsuitable, you cannot go around saying 'well, it's a driver problem'. If you want your OS to run on virtually all the hardware there is, you should deal with this issue. And yes, MS-certified Vista drivers fail often. In fact, fail a lot.
de Silentio
on Oct 16, 2009
@Logger: "Microsoft was the LAST" Notice the past tense, which menas you are saying they get the Internet. Confirming Pauls assertion.
EricoF3
on Oct 16, 2009
Logjamming said: "[...] And when the hardware drivers are unsuitable, you cannot go around saying 'well, it's a driver problem'. If you want your OS to run on virtually all the hardware there is, you should deal with this issue. And yes, MS-certified Vista drivers fail often. In fact, fail a lot." Yes you can saying it's a driver problem!!!!! Microsoft cannot be responsible of all the problems!! If hardware manufacturer do bad drivers it is ot the responsability of Microsoft... I a m sorry but Windows since Windows NT 4 is a Rock solid OS ... Blue screen occures in 99.9% of case caused by a bad Device Driver operation ... And this is certainly not the responsability of Microsoft!!!
Waethorn
on Oct 16, 2009
"MS-certified Vista drivers fail often. In fact, fail a lot." You're clueless. Drivers can buy digitally signed with an Authenticode signature so that Windows will install them without a warning, but it costs hardware manufacturers extra to process drivers that passed the driver logo tests (WHQL/Winqual). Good manufacturers will do that, and those are the drivers that end up on Windows Update. The majority of those drivers don't fail.
redunion1940
on Oct 16, 2009
Yes and as an off topic post relating to the Sidekick data lost story, Most of it, if not all the data is being recovered. http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15990/1/ http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/10/tmobile_most_s... Though they might not be able to get it all back, but it is better than before.
rr0de74@live.com
on Oct 16, 2009
Interesting.... http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31012_7-10319612-10355804.html
Dipsh t Admin
on Oct 16, 2009
"Blue screen occures in 99.9% of case caused by a bad Device Driver operation" Actually, I'll go one further, and say that most issues these days are bonafide hardware problems, not software. The only times I've experienced BSOD's in Vista is when I had a bad batch of motherboards. In fact, Vista's improved reliability actually made it harder to diagnose, since Vista was effectively protecting itself. "Dell recommends Windows Vista etc) is not a promotion. It's pathetic." If that is pathetic, then a company that makes what is supposed to be the most advanced OS on the planet (at least according to their marketing speak and associated cabal) would be many times more pathetic since that company restricts the OS to its own hardware. "Really, how stupid and blinded can you MSCE-certificate holders get at the obvious MS sponsored blog?" Certainly no where near as stupid as the trolls such as yourself that congregate on this site.
lketchum
on Oct 16, 2009
great wrap up on Windows 7 on the main site, Paul! It said it well!
whiplash55
on Oct 16, 2009
Right Dell should "Recommend Ubuntu" for frustration or for those who don't do much on their computers. Dell recommends Vista because that's what people want and you can still get XP if you want it. Vista has been great only 1 blue screen on may machines and it was a bad video driver, I didn't get it from MS. I think Paul was speaking about MS today when he said they"get" the internet. Trolls are back in force I see "logjammin" name says it all.
rr0de74@live.com
on Oct 16, 2009
Windows 7 wrap up article, mentions Apple, OS X, Leopard, or Mac..........21 times. At times I imagine you foaming at the mouth when you were typing it up.
Waethorn
on Oct 16, 2009
"At times I imagine you foaming at the mouth when you were typing it up." As opposed to you, who was drooling every time you read it.
chuckb84
on Oct 16, 2009
"If anyone gets the Internet, it's Microsoft. :)" Yes, the funniest thing you've written in some time. Now, on that "review" of Windows 7, don't hold your breath waiting for Mac users to run to Windows 7. I just went through several hours of moving some data from my WinXP VM to the WIn7 VM. Seriously, I've wrestled with Linux systems that were much more user friendly. UAC, Permissions, File Ownerships, et al remains a tortured mess. That said, Win7 is better than XP, and that is the kindest thing I can say for it. It does run well with Fusion. Is there a way to -quickly- hide/show desktop icons/gadgets? Or a way to assign a keystroke to that?
chuckb84
on Oct 16, 2009
Hide/show desktops solution, if anyone cares. I just don't see how anyone can stand the mess that is on most desktops. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/create-a-shortcut-or-hotkey...
BrandanL
on Oct 16, 2009
@Dipsh t Admin "BrandanL and Logjamming, you must have missed the :) at the end of the sentence. Paul was being cutesy." Yeah, I saw it, but with no other context in the post and being aware of Paul's undying reverence toward Microsoft, I felt like he was being un-facetious. He should've used a winky face ;-) ;-) ;-)
sjaak327
on Oct 16, 2009
"Now, on that "review" of Windows 7, don't hold your breath waiting for Mac users to run to Windows 7." They don't need to, apparently close to 85% of Mac users already run Windows either virtualized or via boot camp. I guess OSX 'just works', but apparently it cannot handle some tasks. I have to admit that I havent actually ran SL yet, so not going to say too much. I do run Leopard 10.5.8 at home, and like it very much, but my main OS has been Vista for the past three years (liked it very much), but have replaced 4 machines with Windows 7 now, it's just a tad better then vista. The review is pretty accuarte, although I don't think 7 is THAT much better then Vista.
WebGuy3000
on Oct 16, 2009
"..close to 85% of Mac users already run Windows either virtualized or via boot camp. " That sounds high to me. Do you have source for that info? I'm curious...
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 16, 2009
WebGuy, The actual study said that 85% of Mac users also own and use at least one Windows machine. (It was an NPD study that came out on Monday) While it doesn't say that they use bootcamp or virtualization it does mean that the "Windoze suxors. Mac FTW" bozos are only a VERY, VERY LOUD tiny minority of the already small minority of personal computer users that use Mac at all. If we figure about 50 million Macs in use worldwide and we figure in that the average Mac user has 3 Macs (it's actually 66% have 3 or more) then there are about 16,666,667 Mac owners. That makes the "Mac Only" group a grand total of 2,500,000 and the LOUD faction a small part of that. So, with over a billion personal computers out there that's a VERY small group getting way too much attention by being obnoxious and arrogant.
panache1023
on Oct 16, 2009
MikeGalos, Question... Is it that those Mac Users are LOUD, or is it that MS/Windows freaks like you are so acute and so atuned to other's opinions that you *think* they are loud?
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 16, 2009
panache Read this forum and ask yourself, are the LOUD MAC PEOPLE posting more than one message out of every hundred and fifty other posts? And even that'd be a higher rate of posting than would be proportionate to their less than 0.25% of the world's users.
panache1023
on Oct 16, 2009
Mike, I don't know, can't be bothered to count posts, but there are plenty of times you are posting very frequently. You are definitely pretty loud about MS/Windows and deriding anything NOT MS or Windows, but you seem to think it's OK for you because you are on the side of the guy with the huge marketshare. It's just very weird the way your mind works sometimes....or at least the way you express it on this board.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 16, 2009
panache Hmmm. I don't think you need to be precise in your counting. Back of the napkin... (feel free to fill in more accurate numbers) Figure there are about 50 posts on an average topic Figure that Paul posts about 8 topics per week That's about 400 comments per week At 0.25% that would be one post from a LOUD MAC PERSON per week. I think we've seen more than that per topic for virtually all topics. Tell you what, let us know a week where there was only one LOUD MAC PERSON posting. (Remember it should be a lot less since that should be the average)
WebGuy3000
on Oct 16, 2009
"The actual study said that 85% of Mac users also own and use at least one Windows machine." Right. That's a very different proposition from the "85% of Mac users already run Windows either virtualized or via boot camp," assertion I asked about, isn't it? That's all I was wondering about. Oh, the NPD study says 85% Mac owner also own one or more Win PCs. You added the "and use" part. Not sure why. "...and we figure in that the average Mac user has 3 Macs (it's actually 66% have 3 or more)..." The NPD study says 66% of Mac owning households own "three or more computers," not three or more Macs. Again, a very different proposition.
panache1023
on Oct 16, 2009
Mike, You are using a handful of people who are loud (some clearly are), and another handful of people that just disagree with you and that you label as LOUD MAC people as proof that they are all loud (they meaning people that disagree with yo), when a lot of it is actually your own bias making you think they are loud. You do realize that people CAN have negative opinions of MS/Windows, but still like the Windows OS, right?
chuckb84
on Oct 16, 2009
"So, with over a billion personal computers out there that's a VERY small group getting way too much attention by being obnoxious and arrogant." Kind of like you and Paul and a few others? Seriously, it is a very, very small minority in both camps that bothers with stuff like this. If you'd like fewer Mac "trolls" a good start would be for Paul to stop throwing bait in the water. Of course, he's learned the Dvorak trick and is very unlikely to stop. And, I must concur, there are MANY threads here where you are the top poster. I suppose someone has to be at 5 sigma, so revel in it. I'm home sick with the flu and having my first serious go with Windows 7. I sort of like it. Take comfort, if you wish, that I'll use it and OS X.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 16, 2009
panache I assume we can all agree that robertsjoe is part of that LOUD MAC group. If so, does he post more than 1 post per week? If yes, my point is valid.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 16, 2009
WebGuy "That's a very different proposition from the "85% of Mac users already run Windows either virtualized or via boot camp," assertion I asked about, isn't it? " Yes it is. And I pointed that out. As for the 3 computers per user versus 3 Macs, the summary of results I read wasn't clear. You may well be right. In one case it lowers the number of Mac users in my quick analysis of the number of LOUD MAC Users, in the other it means the non-LOUD ones are even more of a separate group. Either way it's fascinating how tiny the number of No Windows Here people really is in the Apple community. One question I didn't see discussed in the study was how many of the Mac users without a Windows based system run Windows with Parallels or some other VM or use BootCamp. If you see a study that does cover that, it'd fascinating. Especially if it breaks that down along with the penetration of WIndows on Apple hardware among the Apple hardware only group versus the mixed hardware group.

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