Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 25, 1995                   TAG: 9508250069
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bloomberg Business News
DATELINE: REDMOND, WASH.                                 LENGTH: Medium

`WINDOWS' TURNS OUT TO BE NOT EXACTLY CRYSTAL CLEAR

Here's a delicious irony: Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95, the new computer operating software touted as oh-so-much-easier-to-use, has spawned a mini-industry to help people figure out how to use it.

How-to manuals jam store bookshelves. Numerous videos and CD-ROMs explaining Windows 95 are available. And Microsoft has trained an army of ``tech support'' people to staff telephones for the expected onslaught of calls from Windows 95 buyers.

``We have over 1,600 support engineers dedicated to Windows 95, all on board and trained,'' said Linda Glenicki, Microsoft's general manager for end-user support in Redmond, Wash. ``We really have left no stone unturned in the planning.''

Microsoft will spend more than $300 million on product support - answering user questions - this year. Glenicki wouldn't say how much of that is earmarked for Windows 95, but said she has worked on the technical support project for the new product for 18 months.

``Microsoft is doing everything possible to make sure busy signals and cauliflower ears - from being on hold too long - don't upset the rocket ride of Windows 95,'' said Robert Johnson, software services director for research firm Dataquest Inc.

``It's a not-so-dirty little secret in the industry about the problems we're going to have this fall'' providing support, said Adam Levin, a computer retail consultant in Cleveland.

Helping buyers use their products is important to makers of computer hardware and software: A buyer neglected is often a buyer lost.

Product support also has become an important revenue source itself. The global market for software support services, mostly for corporate computer users, will reach $20.6 billion in revenue this year and grow 50 percent to more than $30 billion by the turn of the century, Dataquest said.

Windows 95 raises the support stakes even higher. Though it's supposed to be easy to use, it is different from previous Window versions, and experienced Windows users have reported difficulty making the transition. Moreover, thanks to Microsoft's masterful marketing campaign, it's expected to draw a lot of first-time users who will have to be led by the hand.