I am an amateur programmer. I like to program computer programs. That is what an amateur programmer is. I experiment with many different programming tools, i.e. Macromedia Director, QBasic, and others. This particular gripe that I have is with Visual Basic 6 (enterprise edition). I bought it ages ago, but never really used it until recently.

What I'd really like for VB6 is a help file. But I can't get one of those because it's an old CD and is fairly damaged. The help file is corrupted. So I decided - maybe I'll try and contact Microsoft and see if they can email the help file. Doesn't sound too hard, does it?

Oh, but it is. Microsoft's tech support page is easier to get lost in than the Labyrinth at Crete. I kid you not, it took me TWO ENTIRE HOURS to get to the site I wanted - Australian Online Support. But no. That service is not up yet. Hoo-frickin'-ray.

Maybe if I tried the American site, then. We speak the same language, right?

Hmm. Not so easy. Why? 'Cos it costs money. Of this I have little, and am not willing to send it to anyone via the Internet. Tech Support should be free, because it's Microsoft's fault that they made such a stupid* product in the first place. I say to you, Microsoft: even if it takes me my whole life, I WILL destroy you.

*note that this used to be a different word, but the nice people at 20m got stroppy and deleted my site, bringing me much grief. I decided under the circumstances (i.e. that of a dictatorship) I'd be better off to just submit.