Microsoft Security: It's All About Dry Ice

Hurricane Isabel, a mere tropical storm when it reached my area, took out power and Internet access for much of Friday, Saturday and today. Even now, most of my neighbors don’t have power and still may not come Friday--or according to the official estimate. Local utility Pepco handed out dry ice free to its powerless customers Friday and Saturday. Pepco did this at its own expense, and, frankly, was under no compulsion to do so. After all, the utility has a monopoly on electricity in my area, so what could customers do? I suppose, complain to regulators. But Pepco could quite legitimately blame natural causes for power outages beyond the utility’s control.

Handing out the dry ice was the right thing for Pepco to do, and I can’t say all utilities serving the various parts of the Washington metro area showed the same amount of good will.

The dry ice handout got me to thinking about Microsoft’s recent rash of security problems. Why doesn’t Microsoft take a little more responsibility when there is a major virus outbreak, such as Blaster, to give out assistance to customers?

In a way, the company already does. During Blaster, Microsoft volunteers chipped in to handle the overwhelming number of support calls. That handy help some customers received might have been a top executive rather than a lowly tech-support contractor. During the next crisis, if that tech support person says, "Hi, this is Bill, how may I help you," I’d check to make sure his last name isn’t Gates. Ditto for "Steve" and last name Ballmer.

Another example: Microsoft recently beefed up its Software Assurance licensing program with extras, like free training and support. I highly recommend every Software Assurance subscriber to look into these goodies; there’s some real value there. Unfortunately, many customers, particularly smaller customers, don’t have Software Assurance. According to a recent Jupiter Research study, nearly three-fourths of SMBs--companies with 1,000 or less employees--don’t subscribe to a Microsoft volume-licensing program.

Unfortunately, there is little I see in Microsoft’s virus crisis response that is truly synonymous with the dry ice handout. Customers caught by Windows vulnerabilities are looking for answers--and, frankly, a little compassion. And compassion could go a long way to helping customers return a little understanding back to Microsoft. Pepco’s power outage giveaway will go a long way to winning customer goodwill and, in some cases, that might be enough to salve anger at the utility. "I guess it’s not their fault and they’re doing the best they can," is one sentiment I can imagine among some dry ice recipients. (We’ll see how long that good will lasts as the power outages stretch out a week or more.)

Microsoft could learn a lesson here that might really help with customer relations. Certainly, the company deserves credit for Web security guides created to help consumers, following the Blaster outbreak. But why not show some sacrifice that customers can see--that says the company shares the pain? A good start: Something like offering all customers free technical support of any kind within, say, 48 hours of a major virus outbreak. Microsoft could heavily promote the goodwill gesture, which would demonstrate something tangible customers could see. After all, it’s hard for customers to see all the things Microsoft does to improve product security; but customers certainly know when their software has been breached or a Windows-specific virus infects their systems.

Posted by Joe Wilcox at September 21, 2003 09:10 AM