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From: gors@well.UUCP (Gordon Stewart)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt
Subject: Re: IBM bug notification/update policy
Message-ID: <13089@well.UUCP>
Date: 10 Aug 89 20:08:32 GMT
References: <550@pan.UUCP> <990@ks.UUCP>
Reply-To: gors@well.UUCP (Gordon Stewart)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 39

In article <990@ks.UUCP> drake@ibmarc.UUCP (Sam Drake) writes:
>I'm not an official spokesman, so ignore anything I say below.
>
>Things aren't quite as bad as portrayed in the earlier append.  For example,
>when calling Support you don't have to "play 20 questions" to get the
>latest service; simply say, "I want a copy of the latest service for xyz" and

Sam, Sam... This presumes that you know what corrective service you need.  
What we are complaining about is IBM's series of hoops -- technically, we're
supposed to post a query to IBMLINK (dreck!!), then go through our SE, or
possibly Product Support, Defect Support, wait by the phone for a call-back,
etc.

WHY THE @#$% CAN'T THEY SIMPLY POST THE LATEST BUG REPORTS AND MOST RECENT 
VERSIONS OF THE FIXES TO A MEDIUM LIKE THIS ONE -- INSTEAD OF WASTING
WEEKS (LITERALLY) OF MY PRECIOUS TIME ON INCREMENTAL PROBLEM FIXES!!!????

The biggest burden is that, for a straightforward technical problem, I usually
have to speak to a minimum of three people before the one person in AUstin
who knows what I'm talking about calls me.

It's every bit as bad as we say -- And the problem is a policy one -- there
are plenty of competent, eager-to-help support people at Big Blue -- the
process of getting to them is AWFUL!

Maybe this crap works for most of IBM's products -- but they're in OUR
ballpark now, and they need to listen to us.

If I didn't care, I wouldn't carp -- but I can't seriously recommend
an RT running AIX over a SUN, Apollo, HP -- it would be last on my list.
And it's a shame, since the hardware is great.

As my uncle Luigi says, "The Shpaget's good -- the sauce, a little strange.."


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