luner@werewolf.CS.WISC.EDU (David L. Luner) (10/13/89)
A number of individuals have mistaken my earlier statement >Please use your local branch office as a resource for questions as much as >possible. This is the only way they will build the expertise so that they >can answer your questions in the future. as my suggesting that customers have the responsibility to teach their local branches about AIX(tm) and UNIX(tm). What I am suggesting is that you can't expect a support structure which knows all about "CI-splits", "//SYSIN DD *" and "ABEND 0C5" to turn about on a dime and know all about "fseek the /etc/passwd grep and cat it" overnight. Furthermore, they still have to support the former. As I said in an earlier posting: > Technical Support: > > If you purchased your system directly from IBM, call the Marketing > Representative who sold it to you. They should put you in touch with > the Systems Engineer at the local branch who is either responsible for > your account or generally responsible for AIX systems. If you do not > get satisfactory support from this individual, speak with his or her > manager. > > Caution: Systems Engineers are *not* Unix gurus. If the one > you are dealing with has a substantial amount of AIX expertise, so much > the better. If not -- remember they're not supposed to have > intricate knowledge of system internals. They will, however, know > how to find out virtually anything you need to know. This takes time. > First they may have to understand the problem and then must bring it > up through the layers of the IBM support. This can involve many > electronic and real phone calls over a number of days. The keys here > are patience (I omit an explanation) and planning (don't expect a > very detailed problem or question to be resolved the next day -- plan > in advance for what you will need to know and when you will need to > know it). If you don't use the resources provided, they will assume that the documentation is perfect and the code has no bugs because nobody ever calls them with problems. If you feel that your local branch is lacking in the expertise or responsiveness that you need to get your work done, talk with the management. "You can either be part of the problem or be part of the solution." -- David David Luner Systems Engineer IBM Madison 608-273-5243
dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) (10/13/89)
In article <8843@spool.cs.wisc.edu> luner@werewolf.CS.WISC.EDU (David L. Luner) writes: >"You can either be part of the problem or be part of the solution." I can't believe that you choose to insult IBM users here by baldly implying that they're part of a "problem". I won't waste any more space on this topic. -- Steve Dyer dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer dyer@arktouros.mit.edu, dyer@hstbme.mit.edu
ibmjb@garnet.berkeley.edu (10/15/89)
In article <216@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: >In article <8843@spool.cs.wisc.edu> luner@werewolf.CS.WISC.EDU (David L. Luner) writes: >>"You can either be part of the problem or be part of the solution." > >I can't believe that you choose to insult IBM users here >by baldly implying that they're part of a "problem". I won't >waste any more space on this topic. > >-- >Steve Dyer Obviously IBM customers aren't the problem - we're learning the unix business very fast in IBM. But if you don't complain, some of the problems won't get fixed. Josh Bersin IBM Representative, Oakland California
dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) (10/16/89)
In article <1989Oct14.214720.5145@agate.berkeley.edu> ibmjb@garnet.berkeley.edu writes: >Obviously IBM customers aren't the problem - we're learning the unix business >very fast in IBM. But if you don't complain, some of the problems won't get >fixed. So who's not complaining? :-) The issue really is one of exhaustion in *trying* to deal with a large, seemingly monolithic organization when it's not being responsive. That was my experience when trying to order an RT upgrade last year. Whom you complain to (other than comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt) when the branch isn't returning calls so that you can order the damn thing, wasn't (and still isn't) clear. It appears that quite a few IBM folks read this group, and complaints here seem to magically get forwarded to people who can solve them. I'm sure this is not optimal for any support structure, and I'd prefer to go thru channels, but after a while, you use what works. For the record, I'm as happy as a clam right now--what I have works. Everyhting I've been saying has been in reference to my interactions with the branch office last year. -- Steve Dyer dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer dyer@arktouros.mit.edu, dyer@hstbme.mit.edu
CWUGC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (10/17/89)
The local support in NYC in my limited knowledge for RT/AIX/AOS staff is broken down into Educational and Business etc. The educational support at times are behind the schools in terms of information and have a typical answers such "I'm sure you'll get it from the network" ...."Gee I'm sure there is an answer but I cannot figure one out of hand...let me get back to you later...". We only call support via the Marketing reps only if all else fails. keep in mind (I speak of NYC) most reps in Madison Ave. do not have access to local IBM bbs or netnews and depend on standard memos (I believe that is what gives them the bug reports info). SO David not all fingers are equal. Wu