RE: V5R3 - ready for prime-time? Al?

Make sure you follow all the instructions.

Do not assume that just because you've been doing this for years that you
know what to expect.

Do not assume that just because the Early Ship version installed well that
the GA version will.

Most of the problems I had were packaging related rather than the OS code
itself. The OS worked fine for us once installed.

I hit a few bumps with GA that I didn't with ESP. Some were my fault because
of those two assumptions. Some were IBM's fault, such as LICPGMs not present
on the media, media being scattered around in 5 different boxes/shipments,
and their pitiful Fix Central piece of junk not working when I needed it
once again. 

I still feel the need to take one more shot at whoever is responsible for
eliminating the hardcopy of the Software Installation manual. I wish that
idiot had to maintain several machines for a year in addition to doing their
"real" job. Then we would see how much they like having extra stumbling
blocks to deal with for absolutely no good reason.

I ended up with a working system but it was not a fun day. Like I said, much
of it was my fault for not doing enough preparation, but my ESP install went
so smoothly that I didn't really expect problems. I was not on guard.

Between this advice and the verbose feedback (nice word for it) I gave IBM
that day, hopefully some others can avoid these same problems. I must
commend a number of IBM people for putting up with me that day because I was
not a happy customer and they helped me through it in spite of my
less-than-understanding demeanor. They did a really good job.

My two cents only. Other's mileage may vary. Hopefully for the better. Do
your homework. CYA.

-Marty