RE: Zeitler call comments

Bob,

A very interesting response; a different angle I hadn't considered.

However,

>I don't know a single IT executive that is willing to put his
>shop at risk by replacing their existing applications with new
>applications to take advantage of new technology.

You've never seen a shop throw away an AS/400 system with proven
corporate-duty applications for an unproven Oracle system (because it was
newer, and the CIO just "knew" it would cost less to operate)???  I've seen
it.  They're out there.  (From what I've heard, they're still throwing money
into the pit.)

- Dan Bale
(I am *NOT* "Dale"
http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l/200105/msg00281.html )
SAMSA, Inc.
989-790-0507
DBale@SAMSA.com <mailto:DBale@SAMSA.com>
  Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur.
  (Whatever is said in Latin seems profound.)

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
[mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of BOBC@ri-net.com
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 8:19 PM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: Zeitler call comments


This is a multipart message in MIME format.
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Jeff,

<<Bingo!  Somebody else gets it.>>

I took Zeitler's presentation in an entirely different way.  I'm hearing
that iOS (or whatever OS/400 will be called) is the clear winner.   Will
it be the OS/400 we've all know with CL, DDS, etc.?  Probably not.  But
will it run RPG, mainframe COBOL & CICS applications?  You better believe
it.  I didn't get the LINUX thing for awhile until I saw a recent report
where IBM is selling iSeries like crazy in Asia Pacific and parts of
Europe.  These guys bought into LINUX because it was free and it got them
going.  Now they can't run their apps on Intel machines and need the
scalability of the iSeries.  So the bottom line is if LINUX brings in more
customers for IBM more power to the e-UNIX!


I also predict the reimergence of PASE only with a fury and within each of
the specialty partitions.  I see being able to call a LINUX, AIX, or zOS
program from an RPG program.  Likewise I see a CICS COBOL application
running in the zOS partion being able to call an RPG program runing in
OS/400.

Think about a few critical factors driving IBM.  1) There are millions of
RPG programs in the iSeries world and thousands of RPG programmers.  2)
There even more COBOL programs and programmers in the mainframe (zSeries)
world.  No company is going to abandon their legacy applications that
currently run their business for new technologies.  You will see Java
enter the shop and new applications or front-ends or B2B interfaces
emerge.  Look at the tooling, it bears out my argument.  IBM is trying to
give us tools to frontend our legacy apps with Java and Websphere.  No one
is saying hey go rewrite those old programs!

I don't know a single IT executive that is willing to put his shop at risk
by replacing their existing applications with new applications to take
advantage of new technology.

I think that we will see more integration of both hardware and software
technologies and I think that's what I heard Bill Zeitler saying!  We will
all benefit from a convergence of technology.  If you read Frank Soltis's
article we clearly have the upper hand with OS/400 and the SLIC.

But don't knock the other platforms.  AIX and LINUX bring us XWindows --
we want a self-contained machine with its own gui interface.  Its in
there.  We want to gain control over those ever srpeading PC's and PC
servers -- xSeries integration is a start in that direction at least
addressing administrative cost and complexity and improving reliability of
an out of control area of our shops.

Just my two cents.

Bob Cancilla
IGNITe/400
www.ignite400.org