This week I've got an update for you on Bugs Online. First, though, a bit of news on what we're doing behind the scenes here in ESRI Support.

• Revising our internal search tools. With the most recent set of Support Center improvements safely out to pasture, we're turning our attention inward for a few weeks, with an eye towards improving the tools and resources that our support staff (both here in Redlands and at our Regional Offices) use while they're assisting you with a problem or question. One of goals during this time of introspection is to revise our internal search tools, to give our staff a more central location and a more standardized way to find internal-only information stored in a variety of sources and formats. It will soon be easier for the ESRI staffperson helping you to search for answers in draft Technical Articles, select internal email aliases, and other ESRI-internal information stores.
• Planning for greater use of screen-sharing technology. If you've contacted ESRI Support for help with an issue, the analyst may have suggested using a nifty web-based technology to view the problem directly on your computer. Historically, analysts have been instructed to use this technology only in situations where it's very important to be able to see your screen. For example, when installing ArcIMS with certain web server / servlet engine combinations, there are text-based configuration files that need to be edited very carefully, and if one character is wrong -- a backslash instead of a forward-slash, for instance -- it can cause problems that are very difficult to troubleshoot.
  Of course, being able to see what's happening on your screen could be helpful in resolving all sorts of other issues as well! So, we're exploring options for making this screen-sharing technology more available and easier to use for our staff.

Bugs Online: Status Update
We're very close to unleashing info about our creepy-crawlies onto the Support Center. It might even happen before my next post. At this point, we're waiting on a few last-minute changes that will help make sure that the bug info you'll be seeing will make as much sense as possible. If you haven't already done so, go ahead and set up an ESRI Global Account; you'll need to be logged in in order to see Bugs Online in your search results. There's plenty of other advantages to being logged in, too... click here for the details.

Next week, we'll see if Bugs Online has emerged from its cocoon. I may also have another interview to present next week -- this time, I'll be talking with Aaron Z., the Operations Manager for ESRI Support Services.