Re: Fix Central Again

I'm in to my third week now of this struggle.  At first I
thought it was just a flukey thing (and hey, it wouldn't be
the first time that something "just happened"... think I've
even seen a bumper sticker or two about it) so I just waited
a couple of days and re-ordered.  Hiper Group, WebSphere
Group (which would also kick in with DB2, JAVA and HTTP
Groups).  Eventually (think it was about 30 or 40 minutes)
got the notification it would be shipped on CDs.  Yeah, it
did seem to be taking a longer time than normal-- both
times.  
After the first set of CDs came in, I just sort of looked at
them and said to myself "It figures;  I suspected something
was hinky about that whole episode." and set them aside. 
Then, I got the second set.
The problem I have is that there isn't anything *meaningful*
on the external CD labels that shows me what the 4 CDs
represent.  "Meaningful" to me is what I've seen in the
past-- SF99xxx Lvl nnn, SF99yyy Lvl nnn for as many Groups
as I ordered;  apparently IBM no longer thinks that is
meaningful so it is just gone.  The label just says "Pkgid:
iSeries - OS/400 Service Order" on all 4 CDs, nicely labeled
with the _01, _02, _03 and _04 sequencing, and the usual
referral to the README Directory on the _01 CD.  Ok, I'll
see if I can cope with it but first I look at the hardcopy
documentation.  Same thing-- no evidence of SF99-anything,
nothing to show what Groups were ordered or shipped, nothing
but a list of PTFs.  Looked at the README/PKGLIST and it
gets worse--  :
Detailed Packing List                                       
        
  The Group PTFs are on the following CD-ROMs: 
Then, I get the volume info for xxxxxxxx_01 followed by
volume info for yyyyyyyy_02 *IF NECESSARY*
Ooooops!  (I got myself all worked up again, describing the
problem.  "If necessary" wasn't capitalized, I just did that
for emphasis.)  How in the world could I get such a
discrepancy?  I actually received 4 CDs, and a detailed
listing of all the PTFs... the printed summary says 673
selected fixes and 1,993,572 Kilo-bites of data shipped on 4
volumes.  I'm looking at 4 physical CDs and the README says
there MIGHT be as many as 2?  Doing a "Find" on the README
for SF9 produces zero results.  There's nothing that
identifies what Groups are on the CDs-- however many there
are.
I had some back-and-forth in an electronic PMR about it and
was basically told that's the way it is designed to work
now, if I want to fill out a DCR for the design team I am
welcome to do so.  "It's all part of SI19413 and life should
be so easy now all you need to do is GO PTF Option 8 one
time... "  <hey, that's what I've *been* doing for a couple
of years now>.  
Huh?   Does this make sense to anyone else?  I know we are
being encouraged to download fixes and I think I do my share
of them but for some things-- especially keeping track of
Groups and levels-- having the CD is just better all around
for me.  Having IBM burn and ship them is also better for me
and that's been my preference and I thought that is one of
the things that the maintenance contract was supposed to
cover.  If IBM wants to encourage customers to download CD
images and burn their own CDs, they should discount the
maintenance cost, not make the normal (dare I say "legacy"?)
method painful.
Maybe I missed a big whoop-ti-do announcement about changes
in delivery and documentation, but this would be a huge
change (if indeed it is a change and not a strange
combination of java level, my network, routers somewhere
between here and Colorado, etc... or, indeed, a problem). 
Also, I admit I've been spoiled rotten:  I'm used to the
maintenance cycle being rock solid dependable.  I order, I
get what I order, it applies without a glitch or a hiccup
almost every time.  (Repeat as needed.)  Now, ordering takes
noticeably longer, I can't even tell that I got what I
ordered and quite honestly I am not all that confident that
it will load or apply without a glitch.  And, how in the
world is the system going to keep track of what the level is
of any Group that has had maintenance?  (I know... that's
the system's problem and it probably can handle it much
better than I can, but I am having trouble getting past the
hurdle of losing confidence in the PTF process.)
Boy am I glad that there's an LPAR I can drop this into; 
normally I put the maintenance in it and go about my
business but I'm gonna watch this sucker like a hawk.
Is this unique to me, or has someone else noticed a
difference in CD labelling of Group PTFs?