sun!bugs == /dev/null?

[Chris Barry]

# I've sent several bug reports to sun!bugs. The mailer didn't return them,
# but I never heard of them again. I began to wonder, "Is anybody
# listening?" So I sent an inquiry, "Yooohooo. Anybody there?"

Brent Chapman writes:

If you have a support contract, you should send bug reports (INCLUDING
your support contract "Site ID" prominently at the beginning of the
message) to sun!hotline; this is supposed to be exactly equivalent to
calling a problem in through the answer center (it will have a service
order number assigned to it, and be routed to an engineer, and so on).
Now, we all know how long it takes Sun to actually _respond_ to any such
problems, so don't hold your breath...

sun!bugs is for people without service contracts, and since Sun is having
so much trouble just keeping up with their paying customers (like me) at
the moment, I sure _hope_ they aren't spending much time on sun!bugs...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I tested Brent's hypothesis here about hotline at sun.com being a high
priority outlet for reporting HW/SW problems.  My group pays plenty for
SUN service.  Our hardware support is great; software support leaves much
to be desired, though SUN is finally making the effort.

I recently received a phone call from a SUN Mt. View Engineer who claimed
that sending mail to hotline at sun.com is the *least* efficient way to do
business with them.  He advised me to use 1800USA4SUN to log all hw/sw
problems (e.g. panic crashes, documentation problems, etc.).

I have never included my Site Contract Id in a hotline msg (I'm not sure
what it is) .  I *have* always documented calls with the Serial Number of
the machine that crashed/died/panicked.

Also, my understanding is that hotline at sun.com is exclusively used for
logging SOFTWARE problems.

My impression is that the folks receiving hotline at sun.com msgs may not be
skilled enough to know where to route them to.    

	Chris