Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!steinmetz!ge-dab!codas!killer!jonm
From: jonm@killer.UUCP (Jon Meinecke)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: No problem AT clones (Flame on Compaq)
Message-ID: <2415@killer.UUCP>
Date: 10 Dec 87 16:42:36 GMT
References: <2001@briar.Philips.Com> <3151@bnrmtv.UUCP> <636@qetzal.UUCP> <483@hscfvax.UUCP>
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 56
Keywords: naive' expectations doom frustation, exasperation
Summary: A grain of salt

In article <483@hscfvax.UUCP>, pavlov@hscfvax.UUCP (G.Pavlov) writes:
> In article <2363@killer.UUCP>, jonm@killer.UUCP (Jon Meinecke) writes:
> > 
> > ...... long "defense" of his employer, Compaq .....
>   ending with:
>  
> ...[ quote from my posting ] ...
>
>    greg pavlov, fstrf, amherst, ny


If you've dismissed all my comments on this subject as merely partisanism
by a Compaq employee, "hit 'n' now"!...


My response to Mr. White's posting regarding problems that he had
transferring data from a Compaq PC was not meant to be a "defense" of my
employer, but rather a response to what I believed was a poorly formed
assessment of a PC manufactuer's compatibility and corporate motives.  I
would have taken just as much exception, though perhaps not as much
interest, to the "put-down" of any PC-compatible system on the basis of
Mr. White's complaints.  Examine my responses to the specific problems
discussed by Mr. White and if the responses have no merit, dismiss them.

You will get no argument from me that there are many excellent PC-compatible
systems which cost less than a comparable Compaq system.  If I were
purchasing a system for my own use, I would probably buy the lowest cost
system which met my performance, compatibility, and support requirements.
Such a system might well *not* be a Compaq if I were buying an AT class
desktop computer.  There is intense price competition among the makers
of such systems, with prices reducing some of the other concerns regarding
long term support and service.  If I needed a portable 386 or high-end
desktop 386 system, then the story might be different...  These systems
won't be "obsolete" (hopefully) as soon as the PC and AT class machines
and therefore comprise a longer term investment and a different set of
puchasing criteria.

Some of the largest rocks concerning compatibility and ease of service
of Compaq systems are thrown (internally) by Compaq employees.  When
these stones hit their target, the problem is corrected, usually
before the system "hits the street".

Read my postings with appropriate skepticism, if you will, but hopefully
I can contribute some perspective on PC issues.  Compaq is not the first
manufaturer of PC hardware for which I have worked and I believe that my
background is broad enough to add to the "signal" rather than the "noise"
component of this news group.  I'm a software engineer, not a hardware
designer or marketeer,-- primarily a "consumer" of PC hardware rather than
a "supplier".

					Thanks for reading this response,

					JonM

These are my own views (really!), and do not necessarily reflect the
views of my employer.