I hope that the IBM'ers on this list haven't interpreted my recent postings
as negative criticism of them or their product.  On the contrary, I do care
about the success of their product.  That's why I raise the issues.  Currently,
I'm in a battle with our PC people.  Their basic feeling is that the mainframe
is useful for nothing except a boat anchor.  Its up to me to sell them on
the idea that products such as ADSM and LFS are going to be useful to them
in the long run.  The better ADSM is, the better my argument is.  Please,
folks, my criticism is intended to be constructive.

I see Leonard's point about service.  However, my comments were more about
the availablity of service, rather than the delivery of it.  I've gotten
used to the idea of OCO products by now and by some standards, the application
of the ADSM service was very simple and easy.  My concern has more to do
with the customer's ability to know what level they are using and what the
next available level is.  It also has to do with the customer's ability to
identify relevant APAR's and ensure that the resulting PTF's are applied
to their product.  It also has to do with being able to fix a specific
problem in a timely manner.  The current ADSM approach is different from
other IBM products.  I'm not saying its wrong, or that there aren't valid
reasons for it.  However, IBM needs to be sensitive to the fact that we are
not used to it.  The ADSM people at the Support Center were very helpful.
However, tools like IBMLINK appear to lag far behind.  Many of us depend
on those tools.  These tools need to catch up.

If the level set approach continues, fine.  Just give me the ability to
easily identify the relevant PTF's and the APAR's that they address.  Give
me a way to tell when a PTF will be available in a level set.  The current
cryptic messages contained it the APAR and PTF reports just doesn't do the
trick.

I realize that the IBM'ers on this list probably have very little to say about
how ADSM service is handled.  However, if they can find a way to bring the
message to the people who do control it, this customer, at least, would be
grateful.

Martha