🚀 go-pugleaf

I tried to respond to this via email.  It bounced, of course.  I should
have learned by now not to try to mail to people at IBM...

I have been amoung the most vocal critics of IBM support policies on the
net.  So I think it is only fair that I speak up now, given the chance.

>   I am one of those "not very technical" level 2 persons so many of you have
>been writing about recently.  However, UNIX/AIX is a LARGE product; and
>although I'll give it my best shot, I don't think I can become a guru on
>every single LPP/OPSYS/VRM topic.

You have my sincere sympathy, honestly.  I hope that one of the things
that has come through in my criticism of IBM on the net has been that
my most serious complaints are about the *policies* that IBM has about
support, not about the people who are trying to provide that support.
I've found the support people here in Switzerland to be sincere, eager,
and willing to put in a lot of effort to try to find and resolve the
problems I've had.  I only wish IBM's policies would make their jobs
easier, instead of more difficult.

>   Having humbly said that, I am writing this note to invite everyone to
>submit to me their requirements for improving the current support structure
>for AIX/RT (or any other AIX platform).  From what I've been reading in 
>this newsgroup, seems like a "posting of bug reports/fixes" is one of the
>highest concerns --> what else?? 

In my opinion, it is not *one* of the highest concern; it is *the* highest
concern, period.  It is absolutely ridiculous for IBM to treat bug reports,
fixes, patch diskettes and the like as if they were some sort of confidential
or privelidged information.  The result of this policy is that people like
myself end up calling IBM support and trying to get the latest patch disks,
without knowing exactly what is on them, because there is always a chance
that they will contain something that will fix a bug that has been causing
me a lot of trouble.  Or just as likely, and probably more importantly,
that they will fix a problem that I haven't discovered yet, and thus will
save me hours/days/weeks of tracking down that problem needlessly.

Hmm.  Perhaps that is where I find the single largest flaw in IBM policy.
They seem to have the attitude that if I find and report a problem, they
will be happy to send me the fix; but from my perspective, I don't want to
have to spend a lot of time, effort and money tracking down something that
IBM already knows about.  My employers feel strongly this way, too; they
hired me to produce software, not to track down a known bug for the 100th
time.  They are very rapidly losing patience with IBM over this.

In fact, I probably don't really want to get all the patch diskettes from
IBM automatically.  I would prefer to get a list of known bugs, indication
of which ones are fixed, which ones have workarounds, and which are still
open.  It would even be nice to see information on unconfirmed bugs, as I
have often seen in the past that this kind of information can lead to more
reports, confirmation and isolation of the real problem.  Given this kind
of information, I can then make my own decisions about what patches I want
to install, and what I can live without.

>   IBM IS listening to our customers - please speak up.
>
>So, in addition to all the "flames" that have been flying around this
>newsgroup, please send me a list of what YOU think IBM should do to 
>improve its service of AIX products.  I'll compile the list and give
>it to a very interested person who just happens to run the entire AIX
>support center...  

I can think of one other major thing IBM can do, but perhaps this is
unique to Switzerland.  We were told by the IBM office in Zuerich that
there is a bulletin-board type of system, which is available world-wide
to IBM customers (and support engineers, we were told), where problems,
solutions, workarounds and such can be discussed.  However, it seems to
be only available via synchronous modems; this seems to me to be a relic
of IBM mainframe installations.  This is the world of Unix - we don't
have any synchronous modems, and we certainly aren't going to buy one,
get the software for it, and figure out how to install and use it, just
to get access to this one resource.  If IBM offered the same service via
asynchronous modems, it would probably be very useful.  *EVERY* RT/PC we
own has at least one asynchronous modem; I don't even *know* anyone who
runs Unix and has a synchronous modem, on any kind of machine.

Another thing which would probably take a lot of heat off of IBM and
their support people would be providing a good explanation of their
support and update procedures.  Someone posted an explanation of the
PTF system, 1000 series vs. 2000 seris, the other day, which I found
very enlightening.  It would really clear the air a lot for IBM to
explain *why* they are doing things this way.  I think most of the
customers in the position I was; we know IBM has a lot more bug info
and patches than they are telling us about, and it seems to be causing
us a lot of trouble.

The final thing I can think of which would be a big help is providing
more complete information on what has been fixed (or attempted) in the
PTF diskettes.  The very brief history info on the diskettes helps, but
it is often so brief that it adds more to the confusion than anything
else.

I hope at least some of this is helpful.  I really like my RT; I've had
one at home for well over a year now, and I've been very pleased.

jw