Markus

Hello all.

I have a question to you with regards to support etiquette.

Picture, if you will, this *cough* hypothetical *cough* scenario:

Client reports an issue which is effecting a large number of machines (600), seems to occur regardless of desktop lockdown settings being used, though if no lockdown settings are used it does not seem to occur.

Seems to be no correlation to the users having the problem

The reason for the call is that they suspect it's an issue with the software that is handling the desktop lockdowns.

The client is asked which version of the OS they are using. They report back with version A, the current version of the OS happens to be version F. Version F happens to be a free update to the OS.

Now for the question:

Would it be correct support etiquette for the tech support person to suggest, in a polite manner, that the client may wish to try updating to the latest (free) version of the OS, including all the (free) security updates, then see if the problem persists, as it could well be an issue with the OS, or possibly an interaction with version A of the OS, and the current version of the other product, and version F of the OS may well not have this interaction, ie; it's fixed.

Further, should the tech support person after using version F of the OS and finding a similar, possibly related issue, and working out the cause, and resolution to it, then go and install version A of the OS, even though it's an outdated version of the OS, and test the product to see, a) if they can reproduce the issue, and b) find a resolution to it.

ChrisB

a) Yes, I'd suggest testing version F on one or a small number of systems and monitoring closely to see if it fixes

b) Hmm - depends on what the system requirements say for your application. If it says A is suitable, then given free time and hardware I'd look to test. If version F is part of the minimum spec', I wouldn't waste my time.

ScoobyDoo555

what chris sez.....

Dan