Re: Staying current on releases? (was: Are there any System i sites on the Internet that offer accounts?)

Tom,
That is true regarding some utilities and even program products, but not so easy to justify a release upgrade that does nothing for the bottom line and costs $$$.

Jeff Young
Sr. Programmer Analyst
IBM -e(logo) server Certified Systems Exper - iSeries Technical Solutions V5R2
IBM Certified Specialist- e(logo) server i5Series Technical Solutions Designer V5R3
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----- Original Message ----
From: Tom Liotta <qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 8:02:43 PM
Subject: Re: Staying current on releases? (was: Are there any System i sites on the Internet that offer accounts?)

Jeff Young wrote:

For programmers, the new cool things are indeed a good reason to upgrade, but for the C level people, if the current system is working without any problems and the needs of the business do not require anything beyond what the current system provides, there is no incentive to them to upgrade just for its own sake.

This is very true, but it _can_ be manipulated under some circumstances.

Way back in approx 1985, I was working a contract for a City south
of here. State auditors happened to be there for the periodic audits
at the same time. Also at that time, I just happened to be
evaluating a brand new product for the S/38 -- SEQUEL (from ASC --
Help/Systems).

The City Manager's office was asking for new reports of all kinds of
stuff to give to the auditors and SEQUEL made a major difference.
(And it was nowhere near as capable as what the product has since
evolved into.)

The DP Manager was easily convinced to request funding to buy a
license. IIRC, the cost was $1200. But that was deemed too expensive
by whomever above denied the request.

A day or so after the denial, a bunch of new requests for new
reports came down and I sent back a "two weeks" estimate on how long
it would be to fulfill the requests. A City Manager rep came down to
find out why all of a sudden ad hoc reports where two weeks out when
they'd been returned the next morning for the previous few weeks.

I said "We've been using an eval copy of a nice product. The eval is
up and request for purchase was denied. Now I have to create
everything."

Approval for license purchase took less than two full days to come back.

C-level and other execs _can_ be swayed. They just need to know how
_they_ will be affected.

Tom Liotta