Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!lll-crg!hoptoad!farren From: farren@hoptoad.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Cooling down (more on IBM PS/2) Message-ID: <1977@hoptoad.uucp> Date: Sat, 11-Apr-87 02:32:35 EST Article-I.D.: hoptoad.1977 Posted: Sat Apr 11 02:32:35 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 12-Apr-87 01:12:13 EST References: <1750@isis.UUCP> <199@homxc.UUCP> Reply-To: farren@hoptoad.UUCP (Mike Farren) Distribution: world Organization: Nebula Consultants in San Francisco Lines: 68 In article <199@homxc.UUCP> rps@homxc.UUCP writes: [after a long diatribe about IBM predatory marketing practices] > >Only with the PC has IBM been unable to practice FUD. Amazingly, there >was a near rebellion over the unavailable, proprietary modem in the >Convertible. It's not like IBM is alone - any laptop manufacturer who wants to include a modem has to go to a proprietary model. It's just that IBM's was late to market. Well, I don't have time (or energy) enough to list all of the announced, but never available, equipment I've seen touted over the last ten years. It'd probably take 1000 pages. >IBM still gets away with outragous acts that even major magazines like >PC Week complain about. For example, refusal to fix, or sometimes even >acknowledge, bugs in their BASIC language. Who in their right mind would >do business with these people. Please. Not THEIR BASIC, MICROSOFT's BASIC. And if you think it's hard to get IBM to admit to an error, try Microsoft. I found a fundamental error in the random number generation in their Apple BASIC compiler, and when I called, their response was "There isn't any error", even when I offered to send them the proof. (BTW, the error was this: after about 100 iterations, it went into an infinite loop that returned the same 29 numbers over and over. Real random, eh? ) > pluses minuses > ----------- ------------- > compatibility mediocre technology > service for ever low reliability, short warranty > high price > Take-it-or-leave-it attitude Compatibility: I have never seen a clone that used the variable speed fan that IBM uses in the AT. Keeps it a lot quieter. Aside from that, compat- ibility is a null issue. It's too easy to be compatible. I do notice that aside from speed issues, few companies have cared to really improve on IBM's "mediocre technology". From my point of view, as a hardware and software engineer, I have seen NO clones that exhibit the amount of engineering care that IBM put into their products. Good, solid, conservative design, both in electronics and mechanics. I've heard damn few of the people I know who have bought IBM boxes complaining about problems, and have personally used my PC 24 hours a day for almost 4 years with NO problems. High price? Not really. Compaqs and other high-end name brand clones are almost as expensive. Taiwan clones are MUCH cheaper, but then they are much more cheaply built, as well. >Can anyone out there explain why an individual (not a corporation, they >have all kinds of considerations that have nothing to do with sensible >decisions) would buy an IBM PC anything? Masochistic answers are not >valid. Because I wanted a solid piece of equipment from a company I was sure would be around in five years. Because I wanted a company that wasn't afraid to release all of the schematics, technical documentation, and other stuff I can use to fix my own machine if necessary, and to add to it however I like. Because if I buy IBM stuff I get the latest, guaranteed compatible, equipment six to nine months ahead of the cloners. Because in five years of experience I have never found IBM to be anything other than helpful, which is amazing in a company that size. Because I can sell my IBM equipment in three years for a much larger percentage of the original selling price than any comparable machine. Shall I go on? -- ---------------- "... if the church put in half the time on covetousness Mike Farren that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..." hoptoad!farren Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days"