We are near a pub called the Three Jays.” I looked up – we were passing the Three Jays

This was an in-car navigation system. “The nearest station is 1.4 miles, at your 11 o’clock,” it said We headed off, and the computer kept up a commentary “Destination 910 yards … I hit a couple of keys on my laptop computer, and it spoke to me. You should find the answer to common problems such as conflicts where two packages will not work alongside each other.. We were driving down a leafy Berkshire lane in a canary yellow BMW convertible, looking for the railway station. If you have a modem and a connection to the Internet or CompuServe, it is worth checking the”user forums” covering different sorts of software, or looking at the World Wide Web page for the software company.

Washing machines usually work perfectly first time; computers do not.There is an alternative to the phone call. “It’s one factor that differentiates ourselves from other software suppliers,” he says. It also benefits the software designers, who have up-to-date feedback on users’ opinions about the package.As the PC becomes a volume consumer product, retailers are starting to provide support. Dixons offers a helpline, PC Plus, over premium-rate numbers, for customers. This specialises in getting users up and running – and highlights the difference between computers and, say, a washing machine.

Despite this, the price for its home and small business finance package, Quicken, is only pounds 49.95 including VAT. Alex Merrifield, Intuit marketing manager, says support is a key sales tool for Quicken. Intuit, which publishes accountancy and tax software, offers unlimited telephone support during office hours. “If you stay current with the product, you continue to have free support most of the time,” he explains.Not all publishers are following the “industry line”.

Novell charges $25 for this service in the United States.Ronnie Johansen, the company’s director of software support in Europe, says that customers will accept the arrangements, especially as each software upgrade brings six months’ support. Beyond that there will be an annual subscription option, but it will also be possible to pay by the query. It plans to limit software support to six months of free assistance, again from the first call. It does give a safety net.”Novell is taking a similar approach with its Wordperfect line. “The idea of the 90 days is that it covers the early life of the products. In the past, users paid a higher price for software and support came with it The new policy is more flexible, he says.

Microsoft now offers 90 days’ support with its desktop applications, from the date of the user’s first call. After 90 days, the helplines will not accept calls from anyone without one of the company’s add-on support services These are not cheap. The entry-level package, Priority Desktop, costs pounds 175 a year and allows 35 calls – expensive given that the price for Microsoft’s wordprocessor, Word, is around pounds 225.
This is an industry-wide trend, according to Tony Rees, manager of Microsoft’s product support services. However, the practice of offering free support is being abandoned by many companies as they move into the high-volume, low-margin, home and small business markets. They handle 65,000 calls a month, from how to install a game to critical questions about operating systems. Software companies operate telephone helplines, where calls are fielded by staff who know the programs intimately The scale of these operations is large. Over half of Microsoft’s 600 UK staff are involved in the software support operation.