I have been happily using Microsoft FolderShare for the last 6 months. It is a wonderful program that keeps my working files synchronized between my home, office, and laptop computers. A recent update and move to Microsoft Live, made it imperative to update to the new version of FolderShare. The old version stopped working, so there was no choice about whether to upgrade or not. I upgraded my laptop and home computer without a glitch, but the office computer was another story.

We run a file server with Windows Server 2003. According to all the Microsoft documentation, the new version of FolderShare should work on Server 2003. However, it would not install. The error was “FolderShare does not support this version of Windows.” So I checked again. Microsoft said it was supported. So I put in a support ticket to Microsoft.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a response within a few hours. I was, however, shocked at the stupidity of the reply. Here it is:
“Hello Sandy,
Thank you for writing to Windows Live FolderShare beta. My name is Sheila and I understand that you are unable to install the new version of Windows Live FolderShare in your Windows 2003 Small Business Server. I know how inconvenient this issue can be. I am here to provide you assistance today.

Sandy, our product team has confirmed that FolderShare no longer supports earlier versions of Windows due to product instability. We recommend that you upgrade to either Windows XP or Windows Vista to continue using the free service. Our FAQ page will soon be modified to reflect the current operating system requirements for FolderShare.

We apologize for the inconvenience this software upgrade may have caused you. For your comments and suggestions, please go to https://feedback.live.com/default.aspx?mkt=en-us&productkey=wlfoldershare

We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available. Thank you for using Windows Live FolderShare beta.
Sincerely
Sheila
Windows Live FolderShare beta Support”

As you can see the email was nicely personalized. Sheila even stated that she knew that I had inquired about Windows Server 2003. However, her ridiculous suggestion that we upgrade to Windows XP was unbelievable. Even the totally uninitiated would know that you cannot upgrade a computer running server software to Windows XP.

We figured out the solution without Microsoft’s help. We needed to install Service Pack 2 on our server. After we did this, FolderShare would install. Then, however, we had the problem that you had to be logged into the server for the FolderShare to work. This means that if the server reboots after an update or because of a power outage, FolderShare would not work until we relogged in. This was not acceptable as I needed FolderShare to be constantly working for it to be of value. The problem was solved by installing FolderShare as a service.

If anyone else has this problem, see the Microsoft instructions for doing that.

Microsoft offers tech support for a program that is free. Kudos for that! Microsoft responded quickly. Kudos for that! Microsoft totally screwed up the response and didn’t provide the answer. Why does Microsoft always seem to screw up a good thing?