Re: V2R3 to V3R2 upgrade sticker shock

Carl,

In a message dated 97-04-29 15:32:33 EDT, you write:

> I just got off the phone with my friendly hardware/software vendor.  I was
>  inquiring on a price to upgrade my E04 from V2R3 to V3R2.  After I got up
>  off the floor I verified that I did hear hime correctly that the price
would
>  be over $9000 for 5 users!!!!
>  
>  We are a very small company and have a RISC model 400 running V3R6
(release
>  7 is sitting in the box ready to be installed) so we have little incentive
>  to spend that much money for the upgrade.  The only real function I want
>  with the new realease for the "white" box is TCP/IP untilities.  
>  
>  Could this really be true??  Is IBM crazy or am I just being pennywise &
>  pound foolish???  Is there any other alternative???  I have tried to order
>  the TCP/IP utilities for V2R3 and was told they are not available anymore.
>  How much do you guys with BIG systems pay for the upgrade.

Consider the age of your box.  In another life, we bought an E04 (as an Agent
firm, and before they were widely available) FOUR years ago.  The technology
is outdated by both the "F" and 1/2/3xx series machines.  Believe me, you
don't want to SEE the TCP/IP stuff pre-V3R1.  An E04 is equivalent to a
486/33 PC (if that).

Depending upon your options, for $9K you can have a NEW 150, and you should
easily be able to justify a 310.  This is why I keep telling Dave that,
although I support him, CISC is a lost cause.  IBM is making the support of
legacy systems SO cost-ineffective as to be impractical.  IBM has advantages
in CISC-RISC that it didn't have in S/36,38-AS/400 conversions -- new
features that people actually WANT and platforms that lease for LESS money
than their predecessors.  The S/36 endured because the after-market could
provide an entirely new system for less than IBM charged in maintenance for a
year.  With a used CISC system, the software is "the rub" and aftermarketers
cannot provide the same functionality in used platforms that they can in new
ones for a reasonable price.

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@AOL.COM

"Clothes don't make a man, but clothes have gotten many a man a good job." --
Herbert Harold Vreeland
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