RE: MIDRANGE-L Digest V1 #635 -- MIDRANGE-L

Bill,

Bill, the fact that IBM didn't support TWINAX, but said they did. Is wrong. 
That fact that they were told by me and other that TWINAX didn't 
work--many, many times-and did nothing about it is wrong. The fact that 
they had a good twinax driver in PC Support, but decided to drop it for 
something else when the only really issue with the IBM driver was the lack 
of an installation program, is wrong.

IBM is a $60 Billion a year plus, company, I am currently not in the 
software business. I didn't say anything about their products that were 
similar in nature to my own.

And, finally, the fact that I am quote "high profile" is the very reason I 
did it. I was sick and tired of them shipping PTF after PTF after PTF 
without fixing the TWINAX issue. I spent months without productive work 
waiting and waiting for a fix. All I got back from IBM was

Rochester->What kind of PC do you have?
Cozzi->IBM
Rochester->What kind of 5250 card do you have?
COZZI->IBM
Rochester->Maybe call Aptiva support and find out if there are any issues 
with your configuration.
Aptiva Support->Of course it works, try this, try that.
Cozzi->Nope, it still doesn't work.
Aptiva->My supervisor say's we only support Aptiva's in the home AND small 
office environment.
Cozzi->The AS/400 I have is for a small office. And that office is in my 
home!
Aptiva->Ah, we don't support it.
Cozzi->Can I return the PC and buy a DELL?
Aptiva->That's up to your retailer.
Cozzi-> [calls up Rochester support, explains the conversation with Aptiva]
Rochester->That's not a good solution. Perhaps you should call Aptiva and 
ask for a supervisor.
Cozzi->I did that.
Rochester->Let me send you the current CUM PTF package.
Cozzi->[Receives the wrong PTF package. Calls supportline up again]
Rochester->Sends out correct PTF package
Cozzi->[Receives the wrong PTF package, again. Calls support line up 
again.]
Rochester->Sends out another PTF package.
Cozzi-[Receives the proper PTF package and installs it.]
The PTF package succeeded in avoiding having to re-boot the PC everytime I 
loaded CA, but it still would not connect to the 5250 session on the 
AS/400.
Cozzi->Calls Rochester to let them know.
Rochester->Uh, we don't support Aptiva's with CA/400 when they're connected 
via TWINAX.
Cozzi->Takes his AKA 47 on top of the local water tower. <g>
Cozzi->(Seriously) calls his buddies in Rochester. They tell him. "Yeah, we 
know about Aptivas and TWINAX. It is an Aptiva program, but they don't want 
to fix it."
Cozzi->Goes to COMMON and the rest is history.

NOW HAVING SAID ALL THAT.  The people at IBM that fixed the twinax problem 
with a new 5250 emulation card should be given a medal. While I still have 
several issues with CA/400, I can now connect to the 400 on a regular 
basis. Granted I only have 64 meg of RAM, and CA does eat up most of that, 
I can still launch MS Word, and CA and a file transfer. And typically only 
of them locks up after several hours of work. But that would just be the 
design of Windows.

I think if Personal Communications included an SQL-like interface for file 
transfers, I'd have absolutely no use for CA/400 today.

------------------------------------------------------------------------  
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Remember folks, this is not a bitch letter. It is a reply to Bill's e-mail
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
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Bob COZZI
www.RPGIV.com




On Thursday, September 04, 1997 3:57 AM, Bill Robins 
[SMTP:brobbins@ix.netcom.com] wrote:
> Bob,
> Yes I did think it was irresponsible for you to say it in that way.
> Someone once said to me "If you complain about something and don't offer
> a solution, you are bitching".  At the time, and even now, I believe
> that CA 95 has a lot of promise. Unfortunately, the implementation
> leaves so much to be desired.  I truly wish they had implemented the
> basics and gotten it right, then worried about the flash. I have had my
> share of blood, sweat and tears with this product. But I would never
> call it a piece of crap.
>
> I believe that you as a producer of computer products would be extremely
> sensitive to an unqualified (meaning "here is why I think this")
> blasting of a product in a very public forum.
>
>
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