Re: IBM Spin Doctors on AS/400 Marketing

Chris,

In a message dated 97-10-31 20:11:14 EST, you and others write:

> >It happens every day.  It is the ignorant user syndrome.  If you work in a
>  >software development shop, you work with and for people who understand
>  >technology issues.  I work with end users.  People who say 'Just put
>  >Windows95 on my machine and I won't have all these problems' but who
don't
>  >realize that:
>  >
>  >1)Their machine is an 8MB 25MZ 486 with a 200 MB drive and won't run
>  >Windows95. 
>  >2)The problem they keep having is shutting the power off with all their
files
>  >open.
>  >3)The AS/400 has nothing to do with their problem, they are not even
>  >connected to it.
>  
>  I am sure you mean well, but:
>  1) Software Development Houses (surprise!) DO deal with end users.
>  2) Four weeks of working in a software development house isn't likely to
>  erase my memory of the prior twenty years experience in end user shops.

Sorry, but (referring to 2) it seems to have.  Despite mounds of (albeit
anecdotal, it _IS_ the Internet after all) evidence from the list, you still
"stick to your guns" regarding this insane premise that management makes IS
choices based upon facts and "what's best for the company" rather than "what
they've heard" recently.  Granted, I have a mere eighteen years' experience
in the industry, but I have seen EVERY SINGLE ONE of the presented anecdotes
and _MORE_.  You must have either had your head in the sand, or simply not
been listening to management demands.

>  I am familiar with exactly the type of user you describe. I listened to
>  months of complaints from a sales manager who wanted to have OS/2 removed
>  from his machine and Windows installed so that he could get rid of the
>  many problems he was having. His machine _was_ running Windows. He seemed
>  to feel I was lying to him about that. 

Then you _SHOULD_ be able to understand where we are coming from.

>  >But they go into the DP steering committee meetings with with their
thinking
>  >controlled by the following syllogism:
>  >
>  >It says in Family Computing magazine that the AS/400 is proprietary.
>  >Proprietary is bad.
>  >It says in TWA Advantage that NT is open.
>  >Open is good.
>  >Our back office runs on an AS/400, not on an NT server.
>  >I sometimes have to reboot my PC.
>  >Therefore, the AS/400 causes all out problems.  QED.
>  >
>  >This is REAL.  We really have to deal with this kind of 'thinking'.  Read
>  >Dilbert.  This stuff happens.  The solution to THIS kind of problem is
>  >convince IBM marketing to present the AS/400 so that Family Computing
>  >magazine will run articles that say 'The AS/400 is the server of choice'.
>  >Then the syllogism falls apart.  As it is now, we fly in the face of
>  >everything the average power user thinks he 'knows' when we tell him the
>  >truth about the AS/400.  That power use has article after article
bolstering
>  >his point of view and we get accused of being stick-in-the-mud big iron
>  >bigots when we refute with facts.  I know it is all perception, but
>  >perceptions are real too and IBM has to deal with them.
>  
>  If what you say is true, then Unix must be taking over the world! After
>  all, Unix has been "the server of choice", it is touted as the most open
>  platform, and is present in every institution of higher learning in the
>  world. 

Ummmm, what did you say you'd been doing for the last twenty years?  Are you
_SERIOUSLY_ saying that you _HAVEN'T_ yet received the "UNIX is taking over
the world" speech from upper management somewhere??!!  NT is the replacement
for UNIX in the _NEW_ "taking over the world" catchphrase.  After all, it's
so "OPEN".  Ye Gods!  The only way that I was able to avoid the UNIX
onslaught in past "real job" positions was to do some serious research and
present real dollars to management regarding what it would take to switch
from our current platform to UNIX.  This also involved asking "just which
platform would you like?", "just what flavor of UNIX would you like (AIX, V,
HP/UX, SCO, Open/VAX)?", and "what database/security system would you like?".
 UNIX has been a ubiquitous presence in the life of every single IS manager
and IBM salesperson for _AT LEAST_ the last ten years -- I find it difficult
to believe that you would present this as an argument.

>  Aren't you sort of playing the part of one the guys you are talking about?
>  You want the AS/400 to flourish so IBM has to come up with ads to make
>  others want it too. 

Uhhh, yeah, I'd pretty much say that that's the position.

>  I want the AS/400 to flourish too. But I don't think ads will sell it.
>  Sure, I want Rochester to do what they can to give the AS/400 some brand
>  recognition. If they can spend a billion on it, I'll be pleased! But IBM
>  has a lot to consider here. Why should they tout the AS/400 as the server
>  of choice when they also sell mainframes and PC servers? Why treat the
>  AS/400 as a senior brand if the RS/6000 is as profitable and more
>  accepted? 

I think that you're wrong about ads not selling the AS/400.  They should tout
the AS/400 as "server of choice" if for no other reason than that their PC's
(quite frankly, and apologies to anyone offended by such responses) suck,
only select clients can afford their mainframes (and they're _NOT_
particularly good servers) , and the RS/6K is the only thing dragging down
IBM's approval rating in the Midrange arena.  The RS/6000 has failed
_MISERABLY_ among those that need it, and has succeeded as it has in large
part due to the very premises that you attempt to discredit.  People buy the
RS/6K simply because IBM makes it, despite the fact that SUN, DEC, and others
have _FAR_ preferable alternatives.

>  The only thing that will get the AS/400 to stand out is if it can become
>  the premier Java server and Java takes hold. Otherwise, it is just another
>  server and in a few years when NT is finally ready for the enterprise the
>  AS/400 will exit stage left (slowly over many years). 

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  While IBM has made remarkable inroads into the JAVA
world with the /400, JAVA alone _WILL NOT_ make the AS/400 the "premier
server".  Tomorrow's technology, although undefined as yet, is out there and
the AS/400 is prepared for it.  Your own "tag line" spells out why the /400
is _ALREADY_ the premier server -- "how often can you afford to be
unexpectedly out of business?".  You asked what kind of ads I'd like to see
-- how about a depiction of an NT system administrator repeatedly re-booting
the server several times a day, while the /400 SYSADMIN just sits there
monitoring the smooth operation of the /400 (like the Maytag repairman)?

>  Companies ARE developing applications for NT. Many of the articles you
>  read in trades are about new releases of features of products intended to
>  take advantage of 32bit windows. That is why NT has the perception
>  advantage. IBM can't change that with some glossy ads. What they need is
>  new, flashy, feature rich applications. The kind of things that will grab
>  the attention of trade writers and get some article space. 

No offense, but how often can you contradict yourself?  You've done it in
your other notes on this subject, but do you not see the irony in discussing
NT's omnipresence in "the trades" and stating in the same breath that "IBM
can't change that with some glossy ads"?  NT has _NO_ "new, flashy, feature
rich applications".  As was stated in an article on this thread before, name
_ONE_ application for which you should purchase NT.  I didn't think you
could.  So, why is everyone purchasing NT other than management edicts and
the "that's the way everyone's going" mentality?

>  Shoot, I am pretty tired. I hope I didn't ramble or stray, but I have been
>  trying to get three teenagers situated here in CA and ready for Halloween
>  and I am exhausted.

Aren't we all!

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"A study of economics usually reveals that the best time to buy anything was
last year." -- Marty Allen
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