Support gets better in Whistler
Microsoft has done considerable work on its help system in recent years, adding HTML help in Internet Explorer 4 and using a task-based redesign in Windows Millennium. Whistler, due late next year, also sports an improved Help system, including one extremely cool new feature: You can request that another user provide support by taking remote control of your system.
Let's say you're a relative of mine and you have a computer problem. Obviously your first inclination is to call me, but if we're both running Whistler, you can also ask me for remote assistance over the Internet. To activate the remote feature, you go to the Help system and choose Interactive Support from Whistler Support Services.
Choose Send a Remote Control Invitation in the left pane and you enter a wizard on the right. After explaining how the feature works and that you should only request support from someone you trust, you come to what is essentially an e-mail screen. You give the e-mail address of the user from whom you want support (you can use the system address book) and provide your name and a message. Next, you say how long you want this invitation to exist, with times ranging from one hour to one day. You can also specify a password that the user needs to enter to take control. Once you've filled in these options, click Send to make the request.
The message the supporting user receives contains an attached file, your message, and a lot of text on how to proceed. The supporting user runs the attached file and is asked for the password you assigned. Once your system validates the password, a dialog box appears on your screen, asking if you want to start the remote user session.
The attached file that gets e-mailed to the supporting user contains (no surprise these days) XML. There are only a few tags, some of which are obvious — the IP address of the system requiring support, the start date and length of the invitation status, and so on — and more than half the file is consumed by a binary, and apparently encrypted "ticket," which the systems use to validate each other.
The remote control program is not especially rich, but it's effective. The supporting user can run programs on your system and check your configuration, and (ahem!) not have to trust your descriptions of them. A small popup chat window lets the two of you type and send files to each other.
Back on the Interactive Support page there is also an option for Microsoft Assisted Support, which links to a placeholder page in beta 1. The message there says that you will be able "to interact with a Microsoft Support Professional," which leads me to believe that the mechanism will be similar to the remote control support.
It would be really cool if Microsoft allows software developers to plug themselves into the Interactive Support screen and infrastructure. You'd then see listings such as "Lotus Assisted Support" or "Oracle Assisted Support." Software developers looking to take advantage of the client would run Windows 2000 Terminal Services at their support facility and use its built-in remote control facility. It would be a smart move for Microsoft to open all of Interactive Support's capabilities to software developers, principally because it would encourage them to actively support Whistler.
This may actually be easy, as the remote control client is based on RDP5 (Remote Desktop Protocol), the same protocol used by Windows 2000 Terminal Services — though it's not a simple Terminal Services client and, unlike with Terminal Services, only another Whistler user can provide support. Similarly, Whistler's remote control chat option is not a standard part of Terminal Services, but apparently an application of Terminal Services "Virtual Channels," which allow an application to communicate through the Terminal Server independent of the RDP protocol.
Anyone who understands computers knows how helpful this new capability will be to those who don't understand computers. Engaging in phone support is torture for me, because I know the novice on the other end of the line is not accurately describing what's happening to his computer. Interactive Support should make support faster and easier for both parties.
Larry Seltzer is a freelance writer and software developer and the author of ADMIN911:Windows 2000 Terminal Services. He can be reached at larry@larryseltzer.com.