Re: Fast400 Value to iSeries community is less than zero

From: "Chris Rehm" <javadisciple@earthlink.net>
> If IBM has been using such means to maintain a profit and
> they can no longer use those means, what will they do?
> Will they decide that they've lost the battle and now they
> just have to go ahead and sell their products at lower prices
> regardless of their profit or loss? Will they just find some
> other way of protecting their margin? Will they just
> discontinue the line of (without artificial protection) less
> profitable hardware?

I suggest that IBM get rid of its cycle burning governor, and ask a price
for a 5250 license.  My prediction, however, is that Rochester will close
the loophole that Tiger Tools discovered, and continue business as normal.

> Is it worth it to your customers to modify the system in order
> to beat IBM out of some revenue if this threatens the future
> viability of the platform?

Maybe I haven't been clear.  I don't want customers to screw IBM.  I don't
want IBM to lose money.  I don't think Tiger Tools is a good solution.  I
hope nobody buys their product.

On the other hand, I'd like IBM to remove the governor, and sell Interactive
Features as software.  You seem to be saying that a cycle burning
interactive governor is good for IBM.  I disagree.  I think artificial,
contrived stuff like this alienates IBM from its customers and hurts IBM in
competitive situations.

> Well, I know that I've written some code that this would
> kick off the iSeries. Just because I know I like to use the
> 5250 screen (its easy to code to) and remove the heavy
> labor to server jobs. So I have some POS stuff that would
> become a lot more expensive. Right now, those screens sit
> around waiting for a sale most of the time.

Two points.  5250 workload is not a constant.  Sometimes it's 100%.
Sometimes it's 0%.  Companies must buy according to peak demand, even though
usage between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. may average 3%.  A session license is
not much different.  Having the service available, when you needed it, is
what counts.  Secondly, its usually pretty easy to convert POS stuff to use
a data queue, socket, or BSC interface.


Nathan M. Andelin
www.relational-data.com