Re: IBM Spin Doctors on AS/400 Marketing

I do client/server and internetworking consulting and I hear it at least
once a week.  "NT is the future thats the way to go".  I invariably ask
what feature of NT do you specifically want that the platform you have
doesn't offer.  There is either no answer or they claim to need a feature
that ins't _yet_ in NT(but promised REAL SOON NOW).  

I have clients running Unix, OS/2, Novell, OS/400, MVS, VMS, and various
combinations of them all and nearly all of them are at least thinking
about NT.  And one or two can even tell me why.  

There is a mass histeria about NT that is only partially the result of the
marketing MS does.  The other part is the trade press treating it like an
inevitability.  I don't think there is anything IBM can do to counter this
effect other than to run lots of ads and CONTINUE to add great new
technology to the AS.  

More to the point IS people get WDWGTNT(Why Don't We Go To NT) on a
regular basis from managers.  These non-technical managers are interested
in what computers they are using only because it's "Sexy", cool and hip to
talk about computers.  NT(because of marketing and the press) is all of
those things.

Will AS/400 advertising make it at least two of the three?  Who knows.

Jim Blizard
jimb@otterspace.com


On Tue, 28 Oct 1997, Chris Rehm wrote:

> Back to the original point. I still have trouble believing that someone
> sees an ad for NT (I assume in print, I have never seen a television ad
> for NT are there any?) and somehow feels this is going to solve some
> application problem. Probably all that is happening here is that you need
> to fill in some details on the last couple times this happened. My
> immediate reaction is to disregard these claims as untrue, but perhaps I
> am just mistaken. 
> 
> 

+---
| 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
+---