Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!pitt!vax.cs.pitt.edu!jonathan From: jonathan@cs.pitt.edu (Jonathan Eunice) Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix Subject: Re: 3-rd party 8mm Drives Message-ID: Date: 14 Apr 91 17:58:11 GMT References: <1991Apr11.185853.17502@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <1397@cameron.egr.duke.edu> <1991Apr12.184449.24330@ico.isc.com> Sender: news@cs.pitt.edu Organization: University of Pittsburgh Computer Science Lines: 38 Dick Dunn writes: jpe@egr.duke.edu (John P. Eisenmenger) writes: > ...As it turns out, IBM decided the standard Exabyte PROM was a bit > crufty so they replaced it with their own. A standard SCSI 8mm drive > will therefore not work with the RS/6000... I think "crufty" is a little more interpretation than the situation deserves. Would it be too cynical to suggest that they only wanted to support the drives they sell...and that the way to achieve this was to make the drives they sell incompatible with other 8mm drives? No, I'd say that's about the right level of cynicism to use regarding one's vendor. ;-) But, I'm not sure if "make the drives they sell incompatible..." is a fair description. I think what IBM did was to sell a specific 8mm drive with an AIX device driver for it. Exactly as DEC, Sun, etc do. If the drive or the device driver happen to be incompatible with the Exabyte driver, that's unfortunate, but hardly conspiracy. System vendors can't provide drivers for every XYZ add-on device on the market, or even all of the popular ones. Think about the *years* it's taken Microsoft to get its driver act together in the Windows market, where the requirement is much greater and the payoff is much higher. Third party hardware vendors are responsible for providing drivers for the platforms they want to sell on. Of course, IBM could make its customers happy by either providing a stock Exabyte driver, or by working with Exabyte to develop one Exabyte could provide. That's good business practice--and mandatory business practice in the UNIX/open systems world. Hopefully IBM will see this point; if they're having a little mental block at the moment, bring it forcefully to their attention. But I think if you look at other vendors, or read the Sun, DEC, etc newsgroups, you'll see that the "my vendor didn't provide the XYZ driver I need" story is pretty common.