Lars writes:

>At 12:33 30.03.1998 -0500, Jim wrote:
>>I have opened an HPRC call for this, so while I am waiting on a
>>call-back, can anyone give some idea of what's happening here?
>
>Okay, only speaking for myself but with a little RC engineer bias,
>of course... I have seen quite a number of postings in the past
>that started with such a phrase or similar wording.
>
>This makes me wonder...
>
>Does the "let's better ask HP RC and 3000-L at the same time" give
>an indication that you do not trust the HP RC to call back within
>reasonable time (depending on the priority/criticality you indicated
>when starting the RC call) or to be able to deliver a reasonable
>solution?

Well, speaking only for myself, the reason I did it in this instance 
(I don't ask both sources for *every* problem that I call the HPRC 
with) is because I know there are people on the list who maintain 
their own hardware without HP support.  I look on it as a valid 
and valuable second opinion (sorry, but HP support has proved to 
me NOT to be the end-all of HP knowledge).  Sort of a way to 
gauge whether the RC engineer who eventually responds to the 
call is knowledgable or just a UNIX geek who was forced into 
taking an MPE call.

And there is the time element involved in the response.  I've 
had to wait 24 hours for a response before (on non-critical 
problems such as this one was).  So, it's helpful to me to 
hear from others who have been there, done that.  Sort of 
gives you a warm feeling that you're not alone in this vast 
electronic frontier.

>When there is a helpful response from HP3000-L then the RC engineer
>will basically have wasted valuable time he could have been spending
>helping other customers... So would it probably be reasonable to ask
>HP3000-L first and call the HP RC later on, if still needed?

I disagree.  First, I'm paying for the privilege of having an RC 
engineer respond with HP's official answer.  And second, I want 
to know what HP's official answer is.  In the case of switching 
from the BNC to the AUI on the LANIC, there appears to be some 
question as to whether that change would be supported by HP if 
the change is not made by HP (although having the RC engineer 
tell me to do the change myself is anecdotal evidence that HP 
would still support the system).

>Hey, not trying to sound offensive... just curious...

Didn't take it as offensive.

>(yes, I admit working at an HP RC... but only speak for myself here)

Brave soul! :-)

Jim Phillips                            Manager of Information Systems
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