ranking on IBM (was Re: AT&T Joining OSF)

[Barry Margolin]

In article <6855 at potomac.ads.com> jtn at potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson) writes:
>IBM probably sees to it that you NEED that support by developing
>hardware and software that is either unreliable or unapproachable by
>anyone except trained individuals.

Where have you been for the last thirty years?  IBM has one of the
best reputations in the industry for their hardware.

As for self-service, how many computer vendors actually allow sites to
do their own servicing?  I doubt that there are many mainframe systems
that are serviceable by untrained personnel.  Field service is a fact
of life in the large-system world.  And IBM's field service
organization also has a good rep.

Of course, I wouldn't ever want to have to use IBM systems much, but
that is because of the software.

Barry Margolin
Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar at think.com
{uunet,harvard}!think!barmar