Migrating to TM1 v9.5.1 or TM1 v9.5.2?

[Alan Kirk]

But prior to that, when was the last:
- Bug fix;
- Patch;
- Service pack

That trend is set to continue. IBM mentioned at the 9.5.2 launch that there will not be a service pack for 9.5.1. There'll be a service pack for 9.5.2 scheduled for the end of the year. Presumably there'll be a fair few hot fixes between now and then.

That doesn't surprise me.

{Looks at the list of changes to 9.5.2, which appears to be rather more than a decimal point relase, he says with profound understatement.}
{Looks at 9.5.1.}
{Looks back at 9.5.2, considers how much testing would need to be done for models which were designed for and optimised for 9.5.1}

Yup, "just upgrade" is going to be heaps of fun for those affected.

When it comes to IBM support for any version earlier than the current one and maybe the one before that (although if you're correct about this, you can even scratch that proviso out), I'm reminded of the words of Judge Kent in the case of Bradshaw v. Unity Marine Corporation.

But at the end of the day, even if you put a calico dress on it and call it Florence, a pig is still a pig.

"Upgrade to the current version" is not, to my mind, support in any reasonable definition of the term.

[abcuser]

I have reported a PMR for one of my problems with TM1 server using v9.5.0 and asking for fixpack download page and got answer from IBM: "There is no and there will never be a fixpack for TM1 Version 9.5.0 and 9.5.1. Effectively TM1 Version 9.5.2 is the fixpack for both TM1 Version 9.5.0 and 9.5.1. As of 15.3.2011, the day TM1 Version 9.5.2 was released, we recommend to all customers running TM1 Version 9.5.0 and 9.5.1 to consider an upgrade to TM1 Version 9.5.2."

What bothers me is word "consider". Having a fixpack+new_release in single update! This is not serious!

It is also some other questions that made me little bit frustrated like: Did you install v9.5.0 or did you install Silent Refresh Pack? https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview ... wg21422801
What? They release a product and few days latter they remove the product from download system and release the new product which has the same product number? This is not serious!

Beside that there are "maintenance releases", fix packs and hot fixes. What? They suggest end-user to install some hot fixes? This is not serious. And as I have read hot fixes are cumulative! As of my knowledge fixpacks should be cumulative and not hotfixes, strange.

IMHO, Cognos TM1 has serious problems with providing fixes! I am just wondering when if ever will Cognos TM1 integrate into IBM fixpack policy?

[Steve Vincent]

Get used to it, it's how IBM rolls...

[mattgoff]

Yup, remember when they released two builds with identical version numbers? The only way to identify which build you were running was by file size. You'd think they have to pay to increment the version number!

Matt

[Alan Kirk]

Yup, remember when they released two builds with identical version numbers? The only way to identify which build you were running was by file size. You'd think they have to pay to increment the version number!

They did have different build numbers, but I concur that it's a skull-shatteringly stupid idea to have multiple incarnations of a piece of software floating around which are indistinguishable from one another without looking deep down under the hood. I mean cheezes, even in something as basic as TM1 Tools we have the version and build number pop up on the Options form, how hard would it be for a multi billion dollar company to do it?

Oh wait, I forgot that TM1 doesn't have a full Options form, you change most of the options by hacking an .ini file. How tres Windows 3.1.

It would also help if Blue could get its sodding collective head around the fact that users find it, oh, how shall we say, actually useful if there is some consistency in how patches and fixes are released from version to version. (Hint Armonk: releasing a new version with a different feature set and calling it a "fix pack" is not the way to go about this, since in the real world new version means new testing, and lots of it. Unless of course McKinsey told you that it's "World's Best Practice" because you paid them to. After all, you certainly couldn't argue against that with something as banal as common sense.)

Fix Central, for instance, appeared to last for all of one version (9.4) and one does have to wonder what the Process Of The Week (TM IBM) will be for future versions. Apparently for 9.5 it's "Release hot fixes addressing issues that we won't tell anyone about unless they stumble upon them by accident or read about them on TM1 Forums so that users can waste their time tracing down bugs that have already been addressed, then release a new version and call it a fix pack".

One can only speculate about the wonders that await us in future versions. Assuming that they tell us what the new procedures will be, of course.

PS: I loved abcuser's repetition of the expression "This is not serious!". Yup, that's exactly how one often feels when dealing with Iboglix...