Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!topaz!rhsu
From: rhsu@topaz.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Cooling down (more on IBM PS/2)
Message-ID: <10938@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Sat, 11-Apr-87 19:53:43 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.10938
Posted: Sat Apr 11 19:53:43 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 12-Apr-87 06:03:33 EST
References: <1750@isis.UUCP> <199@homxc.UUCP> <1977@hoptoad.uucp>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 60

> From: farren@hoptoad.uucp (Mike Farren)

> ...  I do notice that
> aside from speed issues, few companies have cared to really improve on IBM's
> "mediocre technology".

That's because the "technology" is mediocre to the point where
it is virtually impossible to make any real improvements.

>  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.  

Which doesn't say much for IBM.  Most clones come from places like
Korea and Taiwan, where there is no such thing as computer
engineering. The fact that even these places can produce clones is
a comment on how poorly built the IBM machines are.

However, in the hands of real computer engineers, the design can
be improved a little.  I've worked with the AT&T 6300 and (briefly)
the HP Vectra, which are both better than the IBM.

> Good, solid, conservative design, both in
> electronics and mechanics.  

For electronics, it's got an Intel chip.  That ruins it
right there.  Then there's the mechanics:  A keyboard that's made
for people who consider reaching for the shift keys an adventure, and
expansion slots that's so clumsy that you need to insert the board
really carefully so you don't damage anything, then tighten ten screws
to hold it in place.  Yeah, really solid.

> I've heard damn few of the people I know who
> have bought IBM boxes complaining about problems.

That's because most of the people using them are business managers who
are computer illiterate and secretaries who are fired if they
complain.  The rest are IBM fans for whom the IBM name has a special
ring to it, and whose love for Big Blue blinds them from discerning
quality from mediocrity.

> > [Why would any individual buy an IBM anything?]
> Because I can sell my IBM equipment in three years for
> a much larger percentage of the original selling price than any comparable
> machine.  

Why wait three years to sell it?  Do it tommorow!
Besides, if you like it so much, why are you thinking about selling
it?   Maybe subconsciously you really don't like it.  B-)

>                  "... 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"

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Hsu		  DISCLAIMER: I disclaim any responsibility for 
rhsu@topaz.rutgers.edu 	  inaccuracies, misinformation, and fabrications
...!rutgers!topaz!rhsu	  that appeared in the preceding article.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Vidi, Vici, Veni"	-Caesar