FW: OS/400 upgrades for CISC

I am forwarding to all of you an e-mail that I sent to Mr. Zeitler back in 
March.  As was the case with Dave Mahadevan, I received a reply from Wynndel 
Watts.  I'd post the response here but there's no sense in taking up the 
space (besides which I've since deleted it) - you've already seen it.  The 
response that I received back was 100%, word for word, IDENTICAL to the 
response that Dave received to his e-mail (hmmm ... perhaps Wynndel Watts is 
an autobot?).  It is very difficult to believe that IBM takes this issue 
seriously when their response is to send a 'canned' reply.  I'm curious ... 
has anyone else received the same canned response that Dave and I have? 
 Show of hands?

 ----------
From: Bob Clarke           3rd x4502
To: 'zeitler'
Subject: OS/400 upgrades for CISC
Date: Thursday, March 13, 1997 5:01PM

Dear Mr. Zeitler:

It is my understanding that you are responsible for AS/400 operating system 
software development.  I am writing to express my displeasure with IBM's 
handling of CISC customers with regard to future plans for OS/400.

 As I understand it, IBM does not plan to include any OS/400 upgrades for 
CISC beyond V3R2.  However there are many new features being included in 
emerging RISC OS/400 upgrades that I would be interested in taking advantage 
of.  Unfortunately, it was only 2 years ago that my employers expended 
considerable funds to upgrade to our model 310 advanced series (and 
concurrently to V3R1).  As such I am hardly in a position to request yet 
another capital expenditure for a RISC upgrade.  Nor do we neccesarily 
require the benefits of RISC at this time.  I am, quite frankly, largely 
disappointed that I will be unable to take advantage of future OS/400 
revisions.  Furthermore, I fear that this limitation might cause a shift in 
our corporate technology direction, toward Intel based solutions.

I do hope that IBM will consider that, while continued RISC development is 
both important and needed, there is still a large CISC customer base to 
consider.  IBM should not assume that most or all of their CISC customers 
will upgrade to RISC.  As I am sure you are aware, there are many non-IBM 
computing solutions coming to the market every day.  When one is forced to 
consider a relatively expensive upgrade, it makes good sense to re-examine 
one's options.  IBM should carefully consider to what extent they are 
willing to forego the needs of their CISC customers in favor of RISC 
development.  Again, I can certainly agree that IBM needs to continue RISC 
development in order to maintain their position in the market.  However to 
do so at the expense of CISC customers is not the answer.

I do hope that IBM will consider continued OS/400 releases beyond V3R2, with 
the same functionality as RISC OS/400, for CISC customers.  I am certain 
that I am not alone in wanting to see this.  Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Bob Clarke
(clarke@teri.org)
         
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