Re: [Thinkpad] any reasons not to buy dell instead of ibm

In other words, what ever I post you will post something contrary.
Go bother someone else, please.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Graham" <grahamj@virtue.cx>
To: "Bruce Markowitz" <scosgt@worldnet.att.net>
Cc: <thinkpad@stderr.org>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 7:51 AM
Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] any reasons not to buy dell instead of ibm

> On Fri, Mar 12, 2004 at 11:01:29AM -0500, Bruce Markowitz wrote:
> > AND
> > In the past, they refused to sell me parts at all, unless I had a serial
> > number of the appropriate machine, and then even later, they would not
sell
> > parts to the public at all.
>
> Actually if you manage your channel right this is how you do things. For
example suppose I manufacture 20 000 Thickpads. Part of your manufacturing
cost is estimating warranty repair. If there's a 10% chance in the first 6
months that the CPU fails, 1% for every month after that until the four year
mark and at lest 20% after that. Then you make a decision on how long you
will support the product. Then you make (or order) the appropriate number
of CPU's.
>
> So if you allow just anyone to order parts then you can no longer
guarentee that you can profitably support the machine.
>
> > What nonsense, IBM is only too happy to overcharge you for parts and
> > shipping. They'll do that all day long and make a fortune doing it.
> > Shame on you, Sony
>
> Your assumption that IBM is actually making a large amount of money on
this seems to be based on ignorance. I don't pretend to know exactly how
profitable the IBM part business is. IBM is a company with a rather large
number of BU's to it's rather difficult to tell where they're actually
making a profit.
>
> There are lots of reasons that companies should be ashamed. IBM would be
included in this list (most recently for their 'Deathstar GXP' drives which
evidence suggests they knew had a failure rate ten times the industry
average) and so would any other company. However I really don't see why a
company should be maligned for not wanting to sell you parts.
>

_______________________________________________
Thinkpad mailing list
Thinkpad@stderr.org
http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
Received on Fri Mar 12 11:53:56 2004