I've been watching the various postings on the new IBMLink with
interest and I feel that I've not been supportive by not having added
my voice to the chorus of protest, but I've felt that we're fighting
a losing battle. I once had green screen IBMLink. I could do
wondrous things with it, more often in VSE than in VM. Then I left
that job and no longer had IBMLink until I went to work for an IBM
business partner who had the new IBMLink. I hated it for all the
reasons that have been mentioned. I no longer work for the business
partner and at the moment I don't have IBMLink anywhere. I've made
use of some of the publicly available urls to answer some of my
questions (Kris posted a url yesterday that typifies what nowadays
seems to be available to everyone), and I've appreciated the fact
that I can get to these tools with no special permissions. But I
feel that I can no longer do the kind of active support for my
software that I was able to do with the old IBMLink.
Calling for support these days can be a really frustrating experience
compared to the old days. Luckily if I call for VSE or VM product
defect support I usually am able to talk to someone who's helpful and
knowledgeable. I empathize with Alan when he tried to call about
IBMLink 2000. I can feel my blood pressure rise when I read the
paragraph quoted below. I've come to the conclusion that upper IBM
management is trying to move all its customers to the PC/Microsoft
model of software support: apply the latest service level, cross
your fingers, and be quiet if all hell breaks loose. After all, you
took the risk by applying the service, and aren't you able to back it
out? I'm not suggesting for one moment that this is the attitude of
the VM or VSE labs (and it's probably not even the attitude of the
OS/390 folks, but I never speak with them), but it's undoubtedly the
attitude of people who populate the highest levels in IBM, who foist
IBMLink 2000 on us as if it's an improvement, and who direct our
concerns to someone in another country who has absolutely no
experience doing the work we do and who, no matter how motivated he
or she might be to provide excellent service, is absolutely incapable
of understanding our problem.
Probably one of the things that's most irritating is the way advances
like this are portrayed as if they're all in the service of progress,
veritable gifts from the gods. It's a newspeak that at times can
become almost frightening (one thinks of Healthy Forests and Clear
Skies, but here I'm afraid I'm veering off the subject into verboten
territory).
This is why people of our age look toward retirement with renewed interest.
- Tom.
At 03:54 PM 1/8/2007, you wrote:
How do I do this in IBMLink 2000?
I called their 800 number and spent 30 minutes trying to explain my
problem to someone in India who knew absolutely nothing about ESOs. He
said level 2 would call me back, but I am still waiting.
Is it any wopnder I hate IBMLink 2000?
Tom Cluster
County of Sonoma
Santa Rosa, CA
(707) 565-3384 (Tuesdays and Wednesdays only)
