RE: Fwd: "State of the Midrange" by Don Rima

Folks,

I found Don's article to be quite insightful, and the "eunuchs" reference to 
be rather funny to us AS/400 folk rather than an affront to other system 
proponents.  Considering the fact that most UNIX professionals, even on AIX, 
earn an average of 20% less than do AS/400 professionals, this should be 
_YOUR_ concern as well.  AS/400 professionals earn more, obviously _NOT_ 
because the system is harder to use, but because we generally understand 
business processes that most computer professionals of other ilk do not.

I somehow doubt that those of us that participate frequently in these lists 
be able to come up with the cash necessary to run a full page ad in "The Wall 
Street Journal"; however, we probably _COULD_ come up with the funds for 
publication in a similar national forum.  Frankly, if we had WSJ money, I'd 
be more than peeved that David has to beg for donations every year for the 
maintenance of these lists.  If you'd like, I'd solicit "the trades", as 
including publications such as "USA Today", to see what they'd charge for a 
full page ad.  IMO, less than a full page ad would be ineffective.

We could solicit "open letters", vote on the results (if David were amicable 
toward such an arrangement), and vote on the publication in which to post 
based upon advertising rates.  What we _NEED_ is someone to research, or who 
already knows,  how to place donations for group advertising in an account 
for which contributors would be reimbursed if we didn't meet the advertising 
dollar target.  We'd also need a method by which to offer amendments to the 
"open letter".  But, finally, we'd need a method by which to solicit 
donations from persons and enterprises other than those that are members of 
midrange.com lists in order to receive the necessary financing.

I'm game, is anyone else?  Any alternative plans or ideas that would enhance 
this one?

Regards!

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

"The greatest joy in life is doing what others say you cannot do." -- Walter 
Bagehot
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