Xref: utzoo comp.sys.apollo:5960 comp.sys.hp:5759 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!usc!samsung!munnari.oz.au!metro!news From: jimr@maths.su.oz.au (Jim Richardson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo,comp.sys.hp Subject: Re: Netpower: Support via Internet Summary: HP should use a diversity of support methods, including the Internet. Message-ID: <1990Jul30.072518.8055@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU> Date: 30 Jul 90 07:25:18 GMT References: <1990Jul23.100007.2429@metro.ucc.su.OZ.AU> <1990Jul23.120147.25435@math-cs.kent.edu> <920065@hp-ses.SDE.HP.COM> Sender: jimr@maths.su.oz.au (Jim Richardson) Reply-To: jimr@maths.su.oz.au (Jim Richardson) Organization: Dept of Pure Mathematics, University of Sydney Lines: 83 In article <1990Jul23.120147.25435@math-cs.kent.edu>, bkgray@encore.kent.edu (Brian Gray) writes: >But what about customers who don't meet the "acceptable purpose" test? >It seems to me that you are asking HP to develop and maintain one support >method for academic/research installations and another for comercial >(for-profit) installations. If I worked for HP and were involved in >providing support services, I would want methods that works for ALL >customers. ... Rob Robason has told us that HP is a $12 billion company. I doubt it is beyond them to provide a variety of different support mechanisms to suit their very diverse customer base. > ... It seems that customer access to the HP internal network >via a local HP sales office machine would come closer to serving the >needs of both for-profit and non-profit installations. > >>Secondly, if routine support questions, which hundreds of different customers >>might want to ask, can be answered by the customers themselves through >>reference to a public archive, HP support resources will be freed to process >>tricky non-routine questions more effectively. ... > >That's what SupportLine does (although HP needs to keep it a bit more >up-to-date). I haven't been able to find out much about SupportLine: it seems to allow dial-up access to some sort of database in your local HP office. My sales rep here in Australia is trying to arrange something, but the service does not seem to have a high profile here. There have been a few references to it in the newsgroups before, but no one has sounded very enthusiastic: note Brian's own reservation. Is this service available and relevant to Apollo customers? I'd be interested to see a description of SupportLine from someone who uses it. A dial-up service, say via UUCP, to a local HP office machine could be helpful, if some provisos were met, e.g. materials up-to-date at all offices; enough phone lines; sufficiently high data-transfer rate. I suppose I would use such a service if nothing better were available, but for me it would come as a poor second in convenience, flexibility and maintainability to an Internet email service and FTP archive. HP should be encouraged to adopt a diversity of approaches: Internet support for those customers with access and rights to use it; dial-up or newer alternative networking approaches for other customers. Walter Underwood (wunder@hp-ses.SDE.HP.COM) gives us cause to hope that HP *is* looking at a variety of methods in article <920065@hp-ses.SDE.HP.COM>, where he writes: >I agree that a proposal to support only academic institutions, only in >the US, would probably fly. It might not even need review, since it >is pretty clearly within the limits of the policy. [This could work in other countries as well, either via public international links, or through HP affiliating with and linking to the relevant national networks, such as AARNET in Australia.] >I don't think that is adequate. We have a *lot* of customers that >need this support, and only a small percentage of them are at research >institutions in the US. We must address reasearch and commercial >institutions world-wide -- that is our customer base. Right now, we >have private IP links to some customers, but that is obviously not a >long-term solution. >... >Since the Commerce Department doesn't seem interested in building a >subsidised network, it is up to private companies to build IP networks >for commercial use. HP is checking out the commercial IP networks >(ALTERNET and PSI) so that we can do business over IP. This is good, but it will take time, and many customers, especially outside the US, who can use the Internet will not have access to such commercial networks. So you still won't cover everybody. HP should be moving quickly, to catch up with Sun, Apple, and other companies who are already using the Internet for support. A public FTP archive, main- tained by HP and freely accessible from the Internet, could be set up now, without breaching commercialism guidelines, and would be a big step in the right direction. Open Letter: The final version should be out by Wednesday. Again, apologies for the delay: start of semester here has kept me busy. -- Jim Richardson Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia Internet: jimr@maths.su.oz.au ACSNET: jimr@maths.su.oz FAX: +61 2 692 4534