Fwd: 1998 Predictions

> Subj:  1998 Predictions
>  Date:        97-12-22 01:31:19 EST
>  From:        DAsmussen@AOL.COM (DAsmussen)
>  Sender:      mcsnet!midrange.com!midrange-l-owner@Mcs.Net, owner-midrange-l@
> midrange.com
>  Reply-to:    MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
>  To:  midrange-l@midrange.com
>  
>  Hello All!
>  
>  As usual, these predictions are meant to be fun rather than prescient, so
>  don't stake your portfolio on them (regardless of the outcome of last
year's
>  flock)!
>  
>  1.  AS/400 sales will remain flat, due in equal parts to most companys' 
> focus
>  on the Y2K issue rather than technology enhancements, and IBM's _IDIOTIC_
>  pricing decision for V4 which has alienated the group that would have been
>  "first in line" with JAVA solutions for the AS/400.
>  
>  2.  Network station sales will remain flat as well, precluding an 
> announcement
>  from IBM that allows users to run PC-based applications without the 
> expensive
>  NT server requirements.  The hardware has fallen in price, so where is the
>  software?
>  
>  3.  Lou G will resign as head of IBM, seeking "new opportunities".  Real
>  reason?  He's made all of the management changes he can at IBM, and will 
> leave
>  to allow the company to "sink or swim" based upon its own technology and a 
> new
>  leader that will pursue that focus.
>  
>  4.  "Native Notes" will fail at inception, because nobody has time to
>  implement it _AND_ Y2K compliant software.  Should have come out with it 
> last
>  year...
>  
>  5.  IBM will announce several hardware platforms to "fill the gaps" in its
>  current product lines, most of which will be met with a "big yawn" due to 
> the
>  above stated pre-occupations with Y2K over hardware.
>  
>  6.  JAVA/400 will gain a real foothold over other languages/400 because
>  vendors that are already Y2K compliant will focus their efforts there.
>  Vendors that were averse to converting their software to C++ for the
(proper)
> 
>  reason that UNIX wasn't as "OPEN" as most would have you believe will begin
> to
>  port to JAVA.
>  
>  7.  The US Justice Department will _FINALLY_ deliver Microsoft its come-
>  uppance -- have you _seen_ the c###, uh stuff, that MS tried to pull?
>  
>  8.  OS/2 will finally bite the dust, although undeservedly.  IBM's
>  incompetence, rather than OS/2's relative value, will finish it off.  The
>  revenue stream is just too small for the effort required by the
manufacturer
>  to "keep it current".
>  
>  9.  Y2K will have all of us busy for the next four years, at least.
>  
>  10.  As with last year, we'll all meet here next year and be equally as 
> wrong.
>  If we meet last year's averages, that wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?
>  
>  Regards!
>  
>  Dean Asmussen
>  Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
>  Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
>  E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com
>  
>  "The saints are the sinners who keep on trying." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
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