Re: Model AS400e 600 question

Sheldon Reich wrote:
> 
> Carl, you are correct!
> 
> IBM forces you because of the ASCII WSC (and IBM's Fax/400 card as well for
> the near future!) to either upgrade to a larger 610, or 620 or upgrade to a
> 500 series box. In other words, those of us who eagerly looked forward to
> upgrading a low end 300 (or maxed out 200) to a 600 must "eat" the SPB
> cards not supported on the lowest 600 series box.
> 
> Sheldon Reich

Whoa! big boy....before you get your jets all fired up..take a step back
and look at the bigger picture...

Now before I mount the old soapbox, let me clarify I do not have a
vested interest in ol' Big Blue and as Billy said: "I feel your pain"
;-)

The move for entry level systems to support PCI cards is a rational
business choice.  IMHO any step away from propriatary cards is a good
consumer move. (anyone ever try to upgrade a packard smell?)

I've been down the Fax/400 road and just between you, me and the fence
post, a connected (dedicated) PC would  be better suited to offload the
effort....not that I would admit that to my local agent, just my
clients...

On the plus side, I've been true blue for 20+ years for a verrrry good
reason. When it's delivered..it works...period. Oh, sure, I had to give
up that good feeling old XT like a prom date..but I put that with my
collection of 8 tracks....(BTW I still support 3 companies running
5363's...do you think they received a worth while return on their
investment?)

To put it another way (tongue further in cheek..) do you believe that
your investment of $1,200 in a 9,600 baud modem was a waste of money in
it's time?  Do you really care if the current product supports that
modem?  You can put a LAN connected PC for the cost of that ASCII
controller and throw in some Fax management software to
boot.....relax...have a cup of JAVA....:)

SOAPBOX(*OFF)

Thanks...I feel better now...
+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to "MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com".
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MAJORDOMO@midrange.com
|    and specify 'unsubscribe MIDRANGE-L' in the body of your message.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---