Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen
From: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: IBM Workstations (really, IBM Marketing)
Keywords: IBM, Marketing, Anti-trust
Message-ID: <1227@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Date: 18 Oct 89 17:12:12 GMT
References: <16190@vail.ICO.ISC.COM> <4424@bd.sei.cmu.edu> <1629@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM>
Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen)
Distribution: usa
Organization: GE Corp R&D Center
Lines: 30

In article <1629@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM>, pasek@ncrcce.StPaul.NCR.COM (Michael A. Pasek) writes:

|  This (unfortunately) appears to be the way to "make it" in today's 
|  business world.  You don't have to come up with anything new or
|  innovative, just take somebody else's sweat and make everyone THINK
|  that yours will be NEW AND IMPROVED.  

  I don't think the quote of firm (a) price, (b) performance (if I get
to measure it) and (c) delivery date is a problem. What used to happen
is that IBM and others would say "we have a great new system coming out
in January which will really beat what's on the market." With not
details there was a lot of wait and see.

  IBM was really bashed by a number of people including me for NOT
sharing some near term plans with major customers, because we bought
equipment which really was obsolete in a few months. Right now most of
the major vendors (I shouldn't name them) have meetings with us on a
regular basis, and we make plans based on what's coming. It doesn't
always result in a wait, many time we see that the new product is not
enough better that what we can get now. In a number of companies with a
yearly budget, you *can't* wait, or the money vanished at the end of the
year.

  I admit that I don't really like IBM, but information which improves
planning accuracy is a big win for the customer, and nothing to criticize.
-- 
bill davidsen	(davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen)
"The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called
'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see
that the world is flat!" - anon