Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!uwvax!oddjob!tank!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxg.cso.uiuc.edu!uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: block copy & VAX MOVC (was Re:
Message-ID: <46500026@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 28 Sep 88 13:55:00 GMT
References: <2220003@hpausla.HP.COM>
Lines: 25
Nf-ID: #R:hpausla.HP.COM:2220003:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:46500026:000:1392
Nf-From: uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald    Sep 28 08:55:00 1988



>In short, use the system-supplied routines for preference, and if they
>prove to be slow, replace them yourself AND SEND THE CODE to the company
>that wrote it.  They'll probably be grateful.
                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

They won't be grateful. They (particularly IBM) won't even look at it.
IF you send code to IBM it gets looked at by a special person whose
job it is to see if the code is USER WRITTEN APPLICATIONS CODE
illustrating a bug in THEIR software. If it is that, this person then
sends a description off to the responsible group. If, on the
other hand, you send in a proposed improvement in THEIR software,
two things may happen: one is that the special filter-person shreds
you suggestions and then goes off to special super-secret room where,
using the fruits of super-secret research, his brain is wiped of
all memory of the event. OR, he sends it to their legal department
for legal action: they sue the sender for having looked inside their
software to find the bad code. Big companies aren't interested
in suggestions for improvements direct from customers. They are afraid
that if they were to even look at it, someone else might have used
it in the past and could sue them. They want to code THEIR WAY and
only their way. Indirectly, of course, they must know whether their
code is any good (through benchmarks and user comments to support
reps).