On Thu, 4 Feb 2010 14:46:30 -0600, Tom Marchant <m42tom-ibmm...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 4 Feb 2010 13:25:52 -0600, Mark Zelden wrote: > >>On Thu, 4 Feb 2010 12:50:02 -0600, Tom Marchant wrote: >> >>> >>>We can disagree about this. >>> >>>... if they are able to make money selling the systems with >>>kneecapped engines, it is a marketing gimmick to sell the exact same >>>hardware that is allowed to run full speed. >>> >> >>I see what you are both saying. I guess it's the "gimmick" part I don't >>really agree with. Finding ways to manufacture something cheaper but >>still giving the consumer a product for the same price that does the same >>thing or better (if you consider the technology dividend in the specific >>case of system z) doesn't seem like a gimmick. It's smart business. > >I don't follow what you are saying here. Of course it is good to find ways >to manufacture something less expensively. The kneecapped machines are not >less expensive to manufacture though. > They are less expensive to manufacture than it would be to have different designs / parts / etc. etc. for low end models. >>In other words, to the end user, what's the difference in the inside parts >>changed and I am still getting a good deal. Would you feel better if >>IBM manufactured **130 different engine types for the z10 and you got >>the one rated at the MSU level you get today? > >No. That would be absurd. What is the benefit of 130 different capacity >settings? Only one that I can think of: Software costs. > That benefit is to you - the consumer, not to IBM in manufacturing costs. I think we've probably killed the horse by now, but I will use a similar analogy that I saw in the law suit. I have a cable box and pay a vendor to supply me a basic set of channels and some premium channels. There are many more premium channels that the box can get using the same hardware and cable connections already coming into my home but I can't get them. Is it a gimmick for the cable company to want to charge me more to get those channels? Or are they providing a service and want to be compensated more for increased service. Mark -- Mark Zelden Sr. Software and Systems Architect - z/OS Team Lead Zurich North America / Farmers Insurance Group - ZFUS G-ITO mailto:mark.zel...@zurichna.com z/OS Systems Programming expert at http://expertanswercenter.techtarget.com/ Mark's MVS Utilities: http://home.flash.net/~mzelden/mvsutil.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
