Re: Future of AS/400

[nina jones <ddi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I am doing an article on the future of the AS/400 (you know, end of year
> prognostications and all).  I thought I would query you folks to see what
> you think is the real (not wished) future of the 400, its technology, IBM's
> future with it, development platforms, etc.  Just shoot anything you think
> worth while.

i have no idea, but here are a couple of thoughts:

a lot of the as/400 future depends on us.  how well do we keep on top of
things, and get the word out as to what the as/400 can do.  most of what
drives the market is perception!

i was at a clients this past week, and they had been on the brink of
switching to a competing, unix system, because it was 'more advanced'. 
they have an older as/400, without client access.  well, i whipped out
my laptop, signed into another as/400, and showed them client access,
and then did an on the fly inquiry into a file thru client access,
pulled off a file in html format, and then called it up in the browser. 
there were gasps from the observers!

then i demoed our gui remote user software, (written in asna's visual
rpg) and a comment was made that it beat hands down what the other
software was offering!  

the second thought came by way of my dad, who is visiting for the
weekend, and they also have a software company that offers a p/c based
product, written 10 or so years ago in commercial basic.  they have been
rewritting it for 2 years that i know of in visual basic.  they
mentioned that the first thing they did was develop a windows 'menu' and
the rest of the product was still in dos, but most of the users thought
their software was then in windows.  just because you could call it up
thru windows.  they were joking that they should have just stopped
there, and saved all the grief.

so the future of the as/400, well, who can know.  a lot depends on what
happens to bill gates.  that is a big unknown now.  and will the market
get fed up with some of his sloppy products.  and how well will ibm get
out the word that the as/400 is rock solid?  will ibm get an advertising
campain that gives out information, instead of kids with wild hair and
dancing schoolgirls?  and how good a job will WE do in passing the word
on to our companies, other computer nerd friends, etc. 

nj
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