Why does NI forces me to buy a support contract?

[eph1]

When using the application builder I have received an error message with only a code number and the hint to look on "www.ni.com/ask". After loggin in on this page, I could do nothing, because I do not have a service contract.

I was very upset about this. There is an error code, but I must pay if I want to know, what it means? I have paid a lot of money for my license!

I'm sorry for writing this thing here, but the "support" said, this is my only chance. Or I can pay for the support contract...

Greetings eph1

[Dennis_Knutson]

Error codes are explained by Help> Explain Error.

One year of service is included when you purchase LabVIEW. You must have chosen to not renew it. While I understand that it can be expensive for small companies on a tight budget, it is really worth it.

[jcarmody]

1. NI doesn't force you to do anything
2. Having found these forums, you've found all the help you'll ever need 🙂
3. What's the error and what are you trying to do?

[eph1]

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Error codes are explained by Help> Explain Error.

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This doesn't help. The text there does not explain anything.

[eph1]

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Having found these forums, you've found all the help you'll ever need 🙂

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This is the (what I call) "forum problem" or "forum solution", if you are the company. Though the technical problems became more and more complex, the firms tend to reduce the help functionality and give only the answer "look in the forum". So I do not have the immediate help from the people, who know their system. Instead I have to write something in the forum and hope, that there is somebody, who can help me.

This is nothing against the people here, but I am angry about such error messages like "general error, look in the forum". And after this, NI says: "No support contract? Bad luck!"

I am sorry for writing this here, but there is no other place.

eph1

[ejkaiser]

As long as you don't submit error code and some description of your efforts neither NI support nor the forum can help you.

[jcarmody]

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@eph1 wrote:

... NI says: "No support contract? Bad luck!"

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1. Would you expect a car dealership to support your car, for free, after the warranty expired?
2. It would be a wasted opportunity for any company to not take advantage of user forums.

[JÞB]

While the forums offer substantial access to the comunity (and some pretty smart folks) I feel an SSP is absolutly essential for any serious developer.

Granted, I am in a small minority sub-group of the class of "People that use LabVIEW"  To wit: a "Serious Developer" meaning I author, debug, review and integrate LabVIEW code every day.

If your business goals require development of LabVIEW based solutions a SSP is cheap.  At least a lot cheaper than the alternatives of A) Failing, B) hiring a Certified LabVIEW Consultant* ( Who would have a SSP agreement)

Spoiler

*Hiring a CLC can be very cost effective but I AM NOT Cheap!

[Mark_Yedinak]

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@ejkaiser wrote:

As long as you don't submit error code and some description of your efforts neither NI support nor the forum can help you.

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I totally agree. While the OP may be angry he will not get any help here if all he does is gripe. He really needs to post the error message here. That will get an answer for him.

[Jeff-P]

Hi eph1,

There are a number of benefits to the support contract - access to phone and email support from our applications engineers, access to our latest software releases, and access to our expanding online training courses. As Dennis said, one year of support is included when you buy LabVIEW. That being said, if you do not have support and are experiencing problems, the forums really are a great way to troubleshoot problems and learn from other users. The community is full of all levels of users, including a number of very advanced users. Many of NI's application engineers and R&D engineers are active on the forum as well, so, in my opinion, being directed to the forum for support is not a problem. When I was first learning LabVIEW, I found the forum to be a great way to learn... and now I am in LabVIEW R&D, so I can't have been too far wrong 

If you are still running into a problem with Application Builder, I encourage you to post the error and a description of what you are doing when the error occurs. You might be surprised at the quality of helpful suggestions that you get!

Regards,

Jeff Peacock 

Product Support Engineer | LabVIEW R&D | National Instruments