Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!crdgw1!davidsen
From: davidsen@crdgw1.crd.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 386 problems kinda resolved
Message-ID: <10977@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Date: 13 Aug 90 21:31:32 GMT
References: <9008112237.AA08032@emunix.emich.edu>
Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 58

In article <9008112237.AA08032@emunix.emich.edu> stretch@EMUNIX.EMICH.EDU (Brian Stretch) writes:

| What lessons have been learned here? 
| 
|  o. If you beg, plead, nag, and kiss ass long enough, you can get good info
|     out of Intel.  But it'll be too late to do you any good. 

  This information appeared in virtually all of the magazines,
newspapers, and newsletters which cover the PC world. I believe it was
on TV on the _Computer Chronicles_. My point is that the information was
widely available, and perhaps you should be going back to your vendor
rather than Intel. They kept the offer open for three years, and I
personally thinks that's pretty good support.

  I assume that you got the system used or you would have done the
upgrade while all the publicity was out. Perhaps the person who sold it
to you will halp cover the cost.
| 
|  o. Intel, as a company, is a disorganized mess. 

  I deal with many companies in the Fortune 500, and I believe that
60-70% of them are either disorganized or over-organized. I have had
some good and bad experiences with Intel, and honestly more good than
bad.
| 
|  o. Pre-production boards can be a royal pain.. altho my problem is present
|     in several thousand full production chips. 

  Both stements totally true. That's why it's the bleeding edge. You
should anticipate some problems with early versions of hardware and
software.
| 
|  o. It's no wonder why several major PC software developers are happy as
|     hell to be supporting a certain new non-Intel-based multitasking,
|     multiuser machine that'll be hitting the markets in the next few months.

  There are new machines hitting the street every day. They are not
useful without software. Software support means either PC compatible or
it runs UNIX (it is possible to write a UNIX clone which really runs the
software, but I haven't seen it).

  I support a lot of software on multiple platforms, and the thought of
a new platform to support certainly doesn't give me joy-feels. Or anyone
else I know who is in a similar situation. A really new machine doesn't
generate revenue for some time until it gets accepted, but it generates
expenses as soon as you start deciding if you should support it or not.


  I would regard the problem with the CPU the same way I do any other
bad chip. If it went bad you would replace it, and it sounds as if this
chip has been giving satisfactory service for four years. While I would
like to have everything run forever, I can regard a design flaw in the
same light as a total failure. If you can't afford maintenence you can't
afford a computer. I think a replacement for $150 is a pretty good deal,
myself.
-- 
	- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdgw1.crd.ge.com)
	GE Corp. R&D Center; Box 8, KW-C206; Schenectady NY 12345