Re: is there a comprehensive list of cockups?
Sorry, it looks you never run a company. You could retain all the customers you want if you don't charge them for support, just you won't stay in business for long, unless you just sell quickly expendable products like toilet paper or soft drinks.
You have expenses, people cost, office space costs, power, heating and cooling costs, hardware costs, time spent understanding what the customer wants costs.
Do you really spend much effort for a customer who bought a product of yours ten years before, is one of the few remaining users, and then never spent another dime with you?
Sure, there's also the good customer you won't charge for a simple and quick fix, but supporting old products may become in the long run truly unsustainable, and yes, you may also need to sell replacements for old products, or you would just go off business.
If you ever run a company, you quickly learn not all customers are the same. There are those who keep you afloat, and then there are those who will just sink you because they want everything but want to spend nothing. They may even pretend to promise to buy more.... these are the customers you can afford to lose.
I understand from a customer point of view endless support is nice, just, nobody can afford it.
But maybe drivers should add telemetry and send everything they see to the mothership so you can get endless support? You just need to decide what way you like to pay.
I guess you like to be paid, and, believe me, many other people like to be paid and hope to not be laid off because their company can't stay in business.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
