After 6 support calls, including calls to the vendor who no longer deals with Symantec because their support sucks, I was transferred back to the guy from the previous post.
…Good one God.
Maybe it was my diminished spirit, or maybe it was a “wait until they call you twice before helping” policy that I am unaware of, but he actually had a helpful suggestion. Apparently if you take out your license information, the software goes into full-fledged evaluation mode for sixty days. I don’t know how eight fucking representatives (including the genius who needed to hear it twice) could listen to me explain that I needed a backup today, and that their solutions took many days to accomplish, could not realize that taking out the Goddamned license keys would solve my problem and get me off of the phone.
By the way… the vendor told me that they no longer dealt with Backup Exec products after Veritas was bought out by Symantec because they had too many complaints about Symantec’s support. I’ll have to sit patiently until tomorrow to hear from their “sister” company who likes to deal with this shit. I can’t wait.
There’s 2 companies I am actually afraid to call for tech support – Verizon and Symantec. Every time I talk to them I feel myself moving closer to insanity. Just be glad your customer doesn’t have Symantec Mail Security for Exchange which likes to fight with Symantec Corporate AntiVirus. If they can’t stop their programs from fighting each other then you shouldn’t expect much out of them. Except for more pain.
Check your [email protected] email for the Backup Exec 10 keygen… it will generate the keys for all the extensions you want.
Ah, good old Symantec. I used to do Tech Support for ’em, back when their support was in America. Can’t say that I know how they operate now, but I can say why they gave the run-around way back when.
At least back then, their support reps were smart, real smart. But it was basically company policy that if there was a tiny little chance that the customer would not know what the fuck you were trying to tell them, you were supposed to blow them off rather than “risk liability” trying to walk your average moron through reinstalling scripts, or whatever you were doing.
I can’t say for sure, but I would bet money that you would have a lot more luck with them if you spent the first 3 or 4 minutes of the call doing whatever you could to prove you weren’t one of the normal dopes they usually talk to, they would have gone out of their way to help you.
Also, Symantec didn’t have direct lines to anything, unless you knew the *exact* extension of the *exact* individual you would be getting transfered to. If you ask who you are getting transfered to and their answer is anything but the name of a specific person, they are just sticking you in another queue that you could have called into in the first place. Good luck getting them to admit it.
Unless, of course, things have changed. Doesn’t sound like it, though.
Oh great, I’m getting stuck with Backup Exec when we move to the new facility and I take over the admin functions. Not exactly what I wanted to read.
I had some painful experiences with Backup Exec. It was a nightmare for about 6 months. When I was at a trade show a few months back I checked out Atempo’s TimeNavigator. I dont want to say its the shit, but I’m not working until 10 at night dealing with that part of my job anymore.
Key Gens are the way and the light for Symantec products. However, given how much fetted cock they suck, it is prudent to go elsewhere for reliable software Backup/Antivirus solutions. Like backing up to pen and paper.
BTW, I will be peppering my support rep conversations “argumentative prick” liberally from now on.
Thanks Sharkey.
Here are a couple of devious point-and-click puzzle games by Alessandro Cima and available on the CandleLightStories website. The first was created as a Halloween treat, and now a second puzzle game in the series has been released. So far, according to the website, not a single person has solved it. This sounds like a challenge the JIG community can come together on and crack in no time.
Before jumping right into the unsolved mystery, however, puzzle solvers may first want to take a look at the original, Tomb of the Mummy, to get an idea of what kind of trickery the author is capable of.
In this puzzle, the objective is simply to release the mummy from its tomb. Not a simple task by any means since audible clues and timing are necessary to accomplish the goal. The puzzle also comes with a warning that it may not be suitable for younger children nor people with any health conditions that may be affected by a sudden scare. Yes, it ends with the mummy jumping out at you, but don’t let that stop you from trying to solve the puzzle, as there is nothing scary about that and it is a well-designed puzzle. If you do scare easily, once the door is opened, simply look away from the screen.
Several of us banded together in our IRC chatroom earlier today and we were able to tackle the first one without too much trouble. The second puzzle, however, we have been unable to solve, so far. You are given this clue: You are cursed. You can move but one finger. To break free, make the golden bird. And then inside the game help continues: With bottles, words, and water from the Nile, make something dark. Set it boiling. Then find the emerald eye.
Analysis: High production values makes this series of puzzles excellent, with both audio visual elements being of commercial quality. We will have to keep watch of any other offerings to come from the CandleLightStories site. Unfortunately, these are not the most accessible of games, since at least the first puzzle mentions that listening to game audio is required to solve it, and there is one part that depends on color recognition as well. However, it may be possible to use only visual cues without audio, but there are important clues that are provided within the mummy’s dialog as he pleads with you to free him. Perhaps someone will offer those up in the comments in a spoiler.
What I enjoyed most about these puzzles was the fact that they were unlike most point-and-click games I have played. They force you to think differently and to be very, very observant. Especially puzzle #2, a game that can be solved using two buttons only. Maddening, yes, but also brilliant and beautiful. An elegant mix of puzzle and panache.
When playing through these puzzles I couldn’t help but think that these are exactly the kind of “simple puzzle game” we are looking for in our second Flash game design competition: Simple, beautiful, and elegantly designed. And devious. Did I mention that you will have to be very resourceful in your pursuit of the solution?
Play Tomb of the Mummy, or Tomb of the Mummy 2.
Cheers to William for suggesting the games. =)
Update: Thanks to a bunch of us all playing together in our IRC chatroom, both puzzles have been solved! Cheers to Thomas for getting us over the “1/3” hurdle of the first one, and for being the first from this site to solve it. And many thanks to NohWoman, Valarauka, W00tMa5ter, Vertigon, and Larry for pooling our collective room-jostling skills and helping to release the curse of the second puzzle! For the record, NohWoman was actually the first to solve that one.
However, at the very end, after the curse is released, you are given this clue:
“Behind this puzzle lies a single word. Can you guess what word it is?”
None of us could guess the word. Can you?
Update #2: Congratulations to SimJai for being first to decipher the word of the puzzle! =)
Hey on the bright side (or in this case big black vault of dumbassness) you got someone who spoke english.