Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-crg!mordor!sri-spam!sri-unix!hplabs!tektronix!uw-beaver!tikal!hplsla!hpvcla!neff
From: neff@hpvcla.HP.COM (Dave Neff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Help needed with IBM BASCOM
Message-ID: <4740002@hpvcla.HP.COM>
Date: Thu, 11-Dec-86 15:45:24 EST
Article-I.D.: hpvcla.4740002
Posted: Thu Dec 11 15:45:24 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 15-Dec-86 06:55:43 EST
References: <6454@alice.uUCp>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Vancouver, WA
Lines: 37

Daniel's problem with the IBM compiler is another example that supports
one if my strong beliefs:

DON'T EVER BUY PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FROM IBM!

Why?  The tools were really written by someone else and IBM gives
little support and infrequent updates.

Long ago I bought Pascal 1.0 and Masm 1.0 from IBM.  These were 
written by Microsoft and had some serious bugs and limitations.
Microsoft continued to upgrade its own version of these tools
but it was sometime before IBM finally had any upgrade available.

I needed some of the features the newer Microsoft tools had (8087,
overlays, and 32 bit integer support) so I could not wait for IBM to offer
an upgrade.  I threw these tools into the garbage and bought the latest
ones from Microsoft.  I did the right thing.  It was another year
before IBM finally updated their tools.  I heard that people who bought
the IBM 1.0 Basic compiler had similar problems especially the lack
of Dos 2.0 and later directory path support.  Finally IBM updated
the Basic compiler but it was very slow in coming.

In general, it is best to by any software from the company that
originally made it.  You will get better support and faster
updates.

I know that Daniel seems to be "stuck" since I understand that the
latest Microsoft Basic compiler does not have some of the nice features
of the IBM compiler so moving over to Microsoft's latest version may
not be practical. But its worth considering.

By the way, I'm no great fan of Microsoft.  Their software has
more bugs than it should and their documentation is average at
best.  But they do have above average product support.

Dave Neff
hpfcla!hpvcla!neff