Re: IBM Spin Doctors on AS/400 Marketing

In a message dated 97-10-28 20:12:06 EST, you write:

> How do you define a dinosaur?
>  A state of the art  system?
>  
>  It is all in perception and image. 
>  Being a  leading  edge technology solution  vehicle.

Exactly - it is all perception and image.  Unfortunately for us Microsoft has
the image of being leading edge, with it, modern, future-looking, cool, and
allied with the forces of goodness.  They also have about 99.95% mind-share
in the market.  The AS/400 is perceived as closed, slow, proprietary,
backwards, and allied with the Dark Force.  Of course, we know this is wrong
and we fight a lonely battle against users who barrage management with
articles from Family Computing and TWA Advantage showing how world hunger
could be solved with a simple desktop voice-recogintion lash-up to an
internal modem and a Microsoft Access database.  Of COURSE they are wrong
but, to put it starkly, there are people out there that would rather have NT
and reboot twice a day then have an AS/400 - even after you prove the AS/400
is cheaper, faster, better, more stable, and uses more advanced technology
than any PC.  This is a perception problem and it is up to IBM marketing to
blitz the world with the message "The AS/400 is the latest, greatest,
fastest, coolest server in the universe and if your company does not have
one, you suck."  This is the message the Microsoft and Intel have gotten
across and now IBM needs to.  Then I would not have to fight the perception
problem and could implement solutions based on the merits of the platforms.

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