Re: v5r4...how much time is left???

Scott,

I'm thinking you guess good. The one additional factor that applies to i5/OS 5.4 that does not apply to any other release is that you've got object conversion issues. Yes IBM did a great job of assuring that software compiled since V5R1 will migrate but.... There is still software out there from V4 days and even some V3 stuff still running and if the program templates have been removed then those programs cannot migrate. If you've lost source or lost contact with your vendor (for any of a variety of reasons) then you've got no remedy besides 'replace' and you're in that 'stuck on 5.4' group. I believe that's why IBM has extended support for 5.4 further than we've observed for 'old' releases in some time.

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

Hi Charles,

Anything I say in this message is a guess.

When announcing 7.1, IBM made the promise that they would support the
current release, plus two releases prior. (As opposed to the previous
policy of supporting one current release, and one release prior.)

Currently, that means 7.1 is the current release, and 6.1 and 5.4 are
the prior releases.

I suspect that when IBM internally "feels good" that the next release
(7.2? 8.1?) is imminent, they will announce end of support for 5.4.
Since the releases are typically 2 years apart, I'm expecting the next
release to be in spring of 2012. And I'm expecting IBM to "feel good"
that it's coming in summer or fall of 2011. So in summer or fall of
2011, I expect them to announce end of support for 5.4... which means
that support will end in summer of 2012. It might be spring of 2012.

I don't see it being before spring 2012, because that'd break IBM's
promise of supporting a current release and two prior releases.

I don't think they'll drop 5.4 in 2011. Why not? Well, as you know,
the earliest they can possibly end it would be end of September 2011.
_and_ they promised to support 2 prior releases, which means they can't
drop program support for 5.4 until the next release (7.2/8.1) is
released... I can't imagine them breaking that promise just to spare
themselves 6 months of 5.4 support... so if the next release is in
2012, 5.4 will also be here til 2012.

That's my guess, anyway.

If support for 5.4 goes beyond spring 2012, they might be supporting 4
versions for a short time, but I don't think it'll be for long. I
suspect 5.4 is going away pretty quick after GA of "next release".