Re: Why Do We Need Software Support

I worked in a shop a few years back, that had a lot of RS/6000 talent and
were running the mainframe OS on AIX like we are doing with OS/400 now. We
had two contractors working on the small AS/400 that wasn't under service.
We had a number of wierd things happen but no one to contact about problems
and I don't think they had many/any PTF's on the machine at all.

I told the lady I was working for about being able to call IBM at no extra
charge when anything questionable happened. How frequently you call about a
problem, and they check the big computer in the sky and say order PTFnnnn.
You do that and it often is the end of the problem.

I told her how if you had software a software service contract, you can call
IBM and have their tech people stay in touch with you until  the problem is
resolved.

Finances for the company got tight and they had to end the contracts for the
two of us who knew about the AS/400.

She did get them to put the computer under service contract. Some time
later, she was doing something requiring re-IPL. She was used to the fast
IPL of the RS/6000 and PC.Half way through, she  thought it failed, so she
hit the button again. Needless to say it crashed hard and had to be
completely restored from tape. They walked her evertything that needed to be
done, at no extra charge. If she hadn't had the contract, it would have cost
hundreds of dollars per hour for the everything they helped her wth. She
told me later how thankful she was for that advise, and how it had saved
their shop.

IBM is a company that makes some amazing computers, with amazing software
that isn't perfect. If you know about PTF's and calling when it does weird
things, you know that in the past they have been good about fixing problems.
I wouldn't own an AS/400, iseries,I5 or whatever they are calling it without
IBM software support any more than I would drive a car down the road without
insurance.

Dwight HoganCamp