Re: Re: Hello World -- CONSULT400

I hear and see the stories too.  What I don't see is finished conversions. 
 They must exist somewhere but I don't see them.  I see partial 
abandonments, I see works in progress, and I see discouragement and 
management & staff changes but I do not see finished conversions to either 
the *nix environment or the Microsoft solutions.  The most common scenario 
is to see the key applications still running on the old and outdated 
AS/400 while the budget money pours into the hot new web pages, 
intra-company e-mail,  Power Point training, and other specialized 
schooling.  The usual corollary is to hear some pontificating about how 
outmoded the AS/400 is and how thankfully they are making The Big Move. 
(Its always "The Big Move").  I have learned not to mention that V2R3 has 
been replaced.


_______________________
Booth Martin
Booth@MartinVT.com
http://www.MartinVT.com
_______________________




Pike4@ix.netcom.com
Sent by: owner-consult400@midrange.com
07/17/2000 02:06 PM
Please respond to CONSULT400

 
        To:     CONSULT400@midrange.com
        cc: 
        Subject:        Re: Re: Hello World

I feel that there is a general depression in the AS/400 community, and 
particularly among consultants, that we are witnessing the continual 
decline of this great platform. As I am also involved in recuiting work, I 
can tell you that not a week goes by when I don;t hear of an assignment or 
full time spot, in a company, large or small, that is converting from 
AS/400 to Unix. This does not bode well for the future. I can remember 
just 2 years ago, having to choose between three excellent assignments. I 
think that many are beginning to make alternate plans, and that is why 
this list is not generating any interest or action.
Phil Kestenbaum


CONSULT400@midrange.com wrote:
> >>I joined this list sometime ago and was wondering if I am alone
here, because I do not receive a single mail.


You are not alone.  It seems a lot of us want to listen in on discussions
amongst consultants, but none of us have much to say...

That in itself presents an interesting image, as many of us are not known 
for
being quiet...

There are several hundred people signed up now, so perhaps it is time to 
hone in
on what we want to talk about...

Here are some questions we could contemplate:
  - Is business starting to pick up now after the Y2K hiatus for anything 
other
than web related consulting?
  - Have any of you had direct hands on experience with V4R5, yet?  How 
rapidly
would you advise your clients to consider installing it?
  - What about PASE?  It seem fully functional now with the V4R5 
implementation;
any thoughts on how/if to leverage it?
  - Are consultants truly so bashful that they can't start threads of
discussion?
  - IBM claimed they were going to kick off a new X-Treme ad campaign for 
the
400, has anyone seen signs of it yet?

Janet Krueger, in Minnesota, trying to start a snowball rolling...