On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 11:14 PM, Brian Westerman < brian_wester...@syzygyinc.com> wrote:
> I'm not really sure if software delivery on physical tape is a benefit or > not. Personally I don't think so, but I also don't think it costs IBM > anything to provide it if someone (anyone) might need it. What would be > kind of cool is if they could provide it in some standard virtual tape > format. > Hum, I would disagree. The cost to IBM would be in hardware (the tape drive) support (maintenance) and media. And then there's is the cost of writing the physical tape, having "something" (automated?) remove the tape, package it securely, move it to the "mail room", followed by the payment to USPS, FedEX, UPS, DHL (et alias) to physically deliver it. Then on the receiver end, there is the cost of the "mail room" to receive the package and route it internally to the proper person. Who must then take it to a tape storage area. Eventually somebody (a robot?) will need to mount it. And, once done, what should one do with the tape itself? Keep it forever? Recycle it? Send it back to IBM? As you can likely tell, I am complete sold on electronic delivery of "intangibles" such as software (and books/documentation). OTOH, my manager dislikes it immensely. He wants a "dead tree" version of a manual so that he can have physical book marks, highlight sections with a _yellow_ pen, and put notes in the margins. The physical book remains a single "unit" which is transportable and can be read without electricity (well, if it is sunny out). I would argue about his, except that most electronic manuals are in PDF format and PDF does _not_ allow updating the PDF file itself to contain highlighting & notes. Or, if it does, I don't have any software which can do this. > > Brian > > -- We all have skeletons in our closet. Mine are so old, they have osteoporosis. Maranatha! <>< John McKown ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
