For several years now IBM maintenance is a bundle that covers
"support" and "right to use new versions". Most software vendors have
and most of the time impose this kind of bundle.

The question is: what do customers expect from the maintenance fee?
What do they receive for their money?

Concerning what they receive, for new versions, looks simple, but it
isn't. So let's turn to support.

What is this, to pay for support? It is not a education service it is
not a consultancy service, so what is it good for? Let us see what
customers do with it. They do enter calls. Why, beacuse they believe
the software is not working as expected. IBM checks, and issues a
statement: improper use, bug, or design change request. Are the last
two categories the same? Up to now IBM says no, but this a model that
fits in an unbundled world. The customer wants to do something with
it's software: if it does not work because it is a bug, it will not be
possible. If the feature is not available, it will not work. The
result is exactly the same as IBM gives no guarantee to maintenance
customers that a bug will be fixed. There is only one invoice for
maintenance from IBM, so when something after PMR analysis is put in
the basket design change request, that has to be discussed again with
other people at IBM which can not be tracked as PMRs, this is not what
customer pay for and not what they are intitled to expect (IMHO).
Besides this, as the customer pays in it's maintenance fee also for
new versions, he should have the right to participate in new
capabilities. This is what customer are also entitled to expect. As
always, if they are not heard, the only thing they can do is vote with
thir money and see if the grass is greener somewhere else.

Bernard Dhooghe

Bernard,

If I'm not mistaken you have received visitations by our very own chief
architect.
When was the last time the chief architect of your car manufacturer
knocked on your door?

Cheers
Serge

--
Serge Rielau
SQL Architect DB2 for LUW, IBM Toronto Lab
Blog: tinyurl.com/SQLTips4DB2
Wiki: tinyurl.com/Oracle2DB2Wiki
Twitter: srielau

Hello Serge,

I believe cars and software, it is not the same (yet, as cars are more
and more driven by software these days).

To answer part of the remark, my car has 5 years total warranty (one
can argue it is included in the acquistion price) and the warranty can
be transfered to a new owner. I don't pay for maintenance upfront, and
indeed I have no acces to new features (model can change when software
functions need no or only minimal HW changes).

Best regards,

Bernard (Dhooghe)