Tomorrow morning, we return to our regularly scheduled programming on procurement, sourcing, trade and supply chain related matters. But I can't help but chuckle that the personal hell that MSFT has put me through these past few days has gotten such attention today on TechMeme and other sites.

Before signing off for the night, I'd like to set a couple things straight for the record:

- My trouble ticket with Dell requesting a free "downgrade" to Office 2003 (and XP, if they recommend it) it is still open -- so much for a fast resolution!

- Others might have no issue with Vista and Office 2007, but the fact that they're not working properly on such a powerful notebook after being installed by an OEM provider is unacceptable. How MSFT could have shipped Outlook 2007 knowing full well that they would have such problems even with a minority of installs is a crime.

- Even though I'm a bit of a geek, I'm not a Microsoft expert, nor do I ever want to be. My story reflects the trials and tribulations of one technically inclined user -- not a Microsoft guru. Period. I'll leave further analysis of the situation to the MSFT pros. Also, I have no vested interest (financial or otherwise) in what's happened.

- On second thought, my original title might have been too sensational (I should have been more personal and creative with it, rather than making a blanket statement, but I was at my wit's end).

That's it from me on the subject (at least until I dig into SAP SRM and Duet in more detail in the coming months). It's time for a drink.

- Jason Busch