Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!well!gors 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.." -- {apple, pacbell, hplabs, ucbvax}!well!gors gors@well.sf.ca.us (Doolan) | (Meyer) | (Sierchio) | (Stewart)