Darius Vaskelis <U39648@uicvm.uic.edu> (05/21/91)
Let me preface my remarks with the following: I am biased. Big-time. Or actually, more accurately, part-time. I work part time for IBM and am a full-time student at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The following are my views alone, and not necessarily of IBM or UIC. I was once an IBM-basher, but after working there for almost a year, I have the upmost respect for IBM products and services. (I wish I could say that for each and every individual I've had to work with at IBM!) >$PC World Aug. 1990 pg. 88 states that "IBM does not, however, support >$800 by 600 super-VGA operation." :( > > Why should they? IBM doesn't make any super-VGA adapters, and we all >agree with IBM that nobody uses non-IBM hardware, right? Just out of curiosity, if IBM feels that way, why might they be encouraging OS/2 2.0 beta testers to try running it on non-IBM equipment? Or how about IBM announcing that they will supply OS/2 2.0 to other vendors if Microsoft will not? Or how about the scads of non-IBM printer support in OS/2 1.3? IBM's "official" reason for not having VGA go beyond 640x480 is that they felt the VGA standard was not robust enough to supply enough speed to applications at resolutions beyond 640x480 with 4 bits of color. They initially offered the IBM PS/2 Display Adapter 8514/A, and more recently the IBM PS/2 Display Adapter XGA/A for higher resolution displays with more colors, but at a much higher speed than VGA. > Personally, I wonder why anyone would buy IBM hardware in the first >place. I've found that most people buy IBM computers for the following reasons, in no particular order: - Support (applies more to larger institutions than home users) Any larger IBM customer gets pampered and has top-notch technical support on their side. IBM offers support that ranges from helping find the right third-party hardware and software to sending out Systems Engineers to help setup a LAN. - Service Most vendors that offer on-site service restrict it to certain areas, or only during business hours, and only rarely come out on the same day. IBM on-site service tries to maintain a four hour response time in emergencies, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Also, if a a really fast turn-around isn't needed, you can take any piece of IBM equipment to an IBM Service Center and they try to maintain a forty- eight hour turn-around, although they can often exchange the item on the spot. Or, a last line of defense, a IBM dealer can repair any piece of IBM hardware, although turn-around depends on the dealer. (Most try for forth-eight hours.) - Reliability The IBM PS/2 line is the most reliable line of personal computers. This means they last the longest and break down the least, period. Your personal feelings aside (see your quote below) IBM does try to make every component in every computer they sell amongst the most reliable in the industry. If IBM introduces a new PS/2 model, the designers MUST show the higher-ups at IBM that the new machine is more reliable than the computer it replaces or the line it fits into. - Price (!?) Although IBM prices are astronomical compared to component gatherers like Gateway that change components weekly, they compare favorably to their name-brand competition. (Zenith Data Systems, Compaq, etc.) - Innovation IBM almost always sets the standards that everyone else tries to clone and/or improve upon. CGA, EGA, VGA, more recently 8514, the PC bus, the AT bus, even a growing number of Micro Channel clones, were all initially made by one company and everyone else took these and tried to either copy them, or improve upon them as bases. - (Partial) CPU upgrades By this, I mean the ability to replace the 25MHz 386DX in the PS/2 Model 70-A61/21 with a 25MHz i486, the totally upgradeable CPU card in the 20MHz i486SX, 25/33MHz i486 PS/2 Models 90/95 XP, and the availability of the Aox MicroMASTER 386/486, a third-party Micro Channel card made by an IBM Business Partner that allows all Micro Channel machines to have a bus-mastering CPU replacement, or even a second/third/fourth/etc. CPU with the right software. (i.e. It's not an accelerator card, but a general bus-master.) - Micro Channel Fits the needs of many customers needing a high-performance bus. It helps that any IBM dealer or marketing rep can show you a catalog of over 2500 third party Micro Channel adapters. > IBM hasn't had a PC that's on the leading edge in the IBM PC >and compatible market since the 8 MHz AT, What about the very first i486 product? (The 486 Power Platform for the PS/2 Model 70-A61/21, and the i486 based PS/2 Model 70-B21/61.) And if you can't consider the monster PS/2 Models 90/95 XP as leading edge PCs, then perhaps you have a different yardstick than the industry. >their products are overpriced, Not overpriced when compared to their competition. See above. >they keep coming out with machines that aren't 100% compatible with >their previous products, If they had a machine that was 100% compatible with the original IBM PC, that's all it'd be, an IBM PC. They keep trying to improve upon past designs, and as I mentioned before, a new design MUST be an improvement on an old one in order to become a new product. Whereas most clone vendors keep reinventing the IBM PC/AT (circa 1984), IBM (and a few other innovative vendors such as Compaq, AST, ALR, etc.) try to innovate. >and their hardware is not as reliable as that of many other >manufacturers. The PS/2 line is the most reliable line of computers today. See above for criteria. Please don't take my comments as meaning IBM can do no wrong. I have quite a few gripes of my own about IBM equipment, but I felt your particular ones were completely out of left-field. IBM has made many mistakes, and will probably make more, but unreliable and non-compatible computers that no one has a reason to use or buy and not amongst them. - Darius ========================================================================= BITNET: U39648@UICVM | "I'd rather laugh with the sinners Internet: u39648@uicvm.uic.edu | than cry with the saints, ====================================| the sinners are much more fun, "Don't set fire to strangers." | and only the good die young." - Mr. Zarniwoop | - Billy Joel