[JJBauman]

This is an email I tried to send to RIM higher-ups. It didn't get delivered because I don't have a support contract. The points in the email make it clear why I decided to leave BB.
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To whoever reads this (and I hope that includes Mr. Yach and Mr. Heins),

I updated the OS on my BB Bold 9700 on receipt of a broadcast email from RIM. The update caused me to lose connectivity with the Desktop Manager and I have spent no less than 15 hours trying to chase down a solution. I have read all available help files from RIM and from countless other users who've had the same problem and the same frustrations. I have done uninstalls and reinstalls of the software and the drivers, pulled batteries, rebooted dozens and dozens of times, and keep getting the message from Vista that it cannot recognize the USB drivers you make available.

It appears from the record that these problems with your USB drivers go back all the way to 2007 in one form or another. My particular problem has not only defeated me, but it appears to have also defeated many experts on the user's forum. You've had systems knowledgeable people saying that your programmers have turned out a junk product and they don't know how to correct it.

The issue of buggy software aside, the larger issue to me is that you seem to let this problem persist and are doing nothing but relying on your user base to trial-and-error its way to a solution. Except the solution is not there; there are only reasonable guesses to what might work, and none of the guesses do work. I cannot see from any of the email trails any helpful information from your support staff. Indeed, it's not even evident from your web site that you have a support staff at all. There is no contact information, other than an unhelpful form to email to some unspecified staff with a 24 hour turnaround. And there is no phone support. This is not a service. It is a disservice.

I can face the consequences for breaking hardware and software when I do it myself, but I find it highly objectionable to be punished for the damaged goods that a technology company foists off on me. As much as I've liked the BB when it worked, my eroded confidence says it would not be a good idea to stick with your product line any longer.