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Several years ago, an "IBMer" on the IT Advisory Group (that I'm also
a member of) of my local community college "drove the final stake in
the heart of the System i curriculum" when he insisted that the System
i was "Sunsetted Technology" to the group. He was from the "Thomas J
Watson Research Center of IBM" and I was just a "local businessman",
so who were they to believe?

I don't think that he has shown his face at another advisory group
meeting since that evening ... that @#$%^&*( ...

It really stinks when I have to fight with an IBMer about trying to
keep IBM technology in the classroom ... and the M$ oriented
department head throws this guy's statement in my face each time that
I try to advocate for the System i !!!!

On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 2:50 PM, Don <dr2@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Pete,

It's not related to platform sales, it's directly related to platforms in
service AND perceived platform relevance... Even **IBM** is referring to
the system i as "legacy"....

D.Rima

-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pete Helgren
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 12:01 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: An IBM user group's final message: pwrdwnsys *immed

"Not "knowing" the product is a function of the lack of marketing and
the lack of presence in the education system."

I absolutely agree with that statement, I just haven't seen that the
demise of the UG's have been *directly* related to declines in platform
sales. Your experience runs counter to my experience and I find that
illuminating. I wonder if the other i related groups (with the
exception of the ones mentioned in the article that seem to be affected
more by the rise of the Internet) have had the same experience?

Something for me to ponder.

Pete


Don wrote:
Disagree...and it's perhaps a combination of both...

We in DC ANNUALLY called all of the past attendees of our conference for
the
last 3-4 years... ANNUALLY! EVERY YEAR! THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE that
we
got for the reason people didn't return to the conference was because
their
company had made the decision to leave the product. And the reasons were
due to applications and that the new management didn't know the product.
Not "knowing" the product is a function of the lack of marketing and the
lack of presence in the education system.

DR2



-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pete Helgren
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 11:33 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: An IBM user group's final message: pwrdwnsys *immed

Rich, I second that. The user group community, even the Microsoft
operating systems user groups that I used to participate in have nearly
evaporated as well. Where is COMDEX? Hey, it isn't needed since you can
research the net for new technology solutions rather than taking a
junket to LV to find out the latest and greatest (although the Consumer
Electronics Show indicates that the die-hards that really want to be
entertained AND write off a technology trip are still out there).

So, yes, stuff in the i world has changed, but it is really unrelated to
user groups. Probably the only UG's that are surviving have a training
component as part of the group's mission. Perhaps half day and full day
workshops at low rates are what are keeping the remaining groups going.
There are always some analog folks like me who enjoy face to face
meetings over cybermeetings but we are becoming fewer and fewer.

Pete Helgren

Rich Loeber wrote:

I hate to point out the obvious, but the article clearly points to the
fact that the information that they used to share with one another is

now

easily available over the Internet. Hence, the demise of their group.

It

has nothing to do with IBM's support or lack of support for the box.

.... just trying to head off a new thread of rants here.

Rich Loeber
Kisco Information Systems
http://www.kisco.com



--------------------------------------------------------------------------

John Myers wrote:

As someone who first put my hands on a System 38 in 1980, I feel their
pain ... but see this as the long-term cost of IBM's marketing
missteps for this outstanding product line ... namely, the:

- lack of product differentiation for the "i" line (or the System/38
for that matter)
- constant name changes (and the shrieking of "System i advocates" if
I don't use the name of the week) ... like the "IBM genius" who
decided to rename the operating system for the current processor ...
knowing that the next generation was right around the corner

At the same time, we must move onward ...

I've tried to post a job for a System i PHP programmer on the midrange
jobs list yesterday & have gotten a bounce message that implied that
this "wasn't a System i job". My RPG programming staff is happy &
busy, but with IBM's support for PHP on the System i, I need
additional staff with different perspectives (yes, we do believe in
promotion from within ... to anticipate the inevitable retort ...).

PHP is a great alternative for most System i shops. While it is
robust enough to develop enterprise level applications (we are
building one now), it also is great for the typical System i shop that
needs 5 to 10 web pages that expose data from the System i to selected
users on a website (we have done this with about seven System i shops
to date and have a quickly growing backlog). It doesn't have the
up-front license cost / learning curve / heavy hardware requirements
that the other primary web development methods for the System i have.

The Internet is all about servers ... the best server should win ...
both my staff and I believe that the System i is the best server ...
as do our customers.

I've never supported the "learn Java or else get ready to flip
burgers" school of thought. At the same time, we must be open to new
technologies, and embrace them when appropriate, or else we will one
day need to "pwrdwnsys *immed" too.

John Myers
President and CEO
Strategic Business Systems, Inc.
17 S. Franklin Turnpike, Ramsey, NJ 07446 USA
jmyers (at) sbsusa.com
www.sbsusa.com

Free Sports League Management - Powered by System i
http://www.ScoreBook.com

Get and route intelligence from your IBM AS/400 web site - WebSurvey/400
http://www.WebSurvey400.com

On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 8:15 AM, Chuck Lewis
<chuck.lewis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


With Restart *NO ?

"A Cleveland-based user group says it's been pushed offline by the
Internet"

http://tinyurl.com/67v7fb

Chuck




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