RE: The AS/400 mentality -- MIDRANGE-L

The best AS/400 marketer I have ever seen never mumbled this
AS/400-coexistence-and-interoperability-with-other-platforms nonsense.
Instead, he stressed AS/400's superiority. IBM and Rochester are so used to
being on the defensive, they end up casting away their own  architectural
solutions in favor of their sleek and trendy, but hopelessly inferior
rivals. SNADS is giving way to FTP, display and printer files (outdated, but
true attempt at object orientation) are being replaced with the UNIX concept
of handling all I/O from inside the program (C++ and Java classes are OK,
but where is the ultimate set of screen-handling classes?), etc., etc.
AS/400 just can not be the best of breed server for Windows applications.
The best of breed for Windows apps is Windows! The same goes for UNIX. Why
is PASE so great, for heaven's sake? Under the covers it means downgrading
tag-mode enabled PowerPC processor to the unprotected mode. Support for as
many industry standards as possible is nothing but a sweet euthanasia pill.
Takes time to do its job, though. And as for the credits...I think,
Microsoft is high on the list.


Lo

> -----Original Message-----
> From: boothm@earth.Goddard.edu [SMTP:boothm@earth.Goddard.edu]
> Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 2:03 PM
> To:   MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject:      Re: The AS/400 mentality
> 
> Your venting makes sense.  On the other hand how many times does Microsoft
> 
> have to poke a sharp stick in your eye before you figure out that 
> Microsoft's end game does not have room for IBM (or any MS-competitor for 
> that matter)?
> 
> From OS/2 though curly quotes and on to Internet Explorer the MS strategy 
> is scorched-earth, plain and simple.
> 
> I hear all of what you are saying but underlying it I believe that 
> Microsoft is perfectly willing to poison the village well for their small 
> gain.  On principle alone I avoid making alliances with these sorts of 
> people so your plea falls on deaf ears in this house. 
> 
> What's the old cliche?  "Lie down with curs, you get fleas." 
> 
> Sorry Ken, but that's the way I see it
> _______________________
> Booth Martin
> booth@martinvt.com
> http://www.MartinVT.com
> _______________________
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ken.Slaugh@cm-inc.com
> Sent by: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
> 05/28/2000 09:43 PM
> Please respond to MIDRANGE-L
> 
>  
>         To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
>         cc: 
>         Subject:        The AS/400 mentality
> 
> Maybe I'm just venting. Maybe I'll just feel better in the long run. But, 
> I
> think my thoughts and technologies aren't far from the mark.
> 
>      First of all, has anyone else noticed that AS/400 solutions are
> accepted when the are an exclusively an AS/400 solution? That is to say, 
> if
> any other platform is involved then the AS/400 popularity is diminished. 
> As
> a Client/Server programmer, I find the AS/400 to be a powerful server. But
> what is the client? Another AS/400? What's the point.
> 
>      I attended a conference about five years ago sponsored by the 
> 400Group
> called 'Microsoft and the AS/400'. This conference was a huge success for
> both IBM and Microsoft. Each had their own delinquents speakers including
> one from the 400Group. Roger Pense himself spoke to an enthusiastic crowd
> of hundreds of IS personnel. I don't remember other names, as Roger was my
> favorite. If nothing else, I left the room feeling that IBM had embraced
> Windows as the desktop of choice.
> 
>      My RPG skills didn't help me much with Windows. Instead I had to
> evolve in to a new direction. I had Fortran and COBOL in school but they
> wouldn't help either. I tried to understand C but fell apart at the 
> thought
> of 'pointers'. The Basic language didn't take such a leap and provided
> Windows capability with Visual Basic. I wrote a few programs within the
> first six months.
> 
>      IBM has greatly increased OS/400 connectivity and openness. The
> Internet has been the latest focus operating systems and is becoming 
> widely
> excepted. But when it comes down to actual strengths, the AS/400 has the
> best large-scale database, integrated toolset and hardware reliability, 
> bar
> none. But as third party tools are added to the operating system the
> original OS is degraded. RPG still runs the best on the AS/400 and with 
> the
> advent of RPG/LE the AS/400 environment has been enhanced. Fact is, RPG
> retrieves data and processes information faster than any other language or
> add-on to the AS/400.
> 
>      What bothers me most with AS/400 people and specifically AS/400
> publications, to this day, is that if Microsoft is involved within a
> application solution.... Keep it quiet. Giving Microsoft even minimal
> credit might in someway diminish the AS/400 based solution. Let it be 
> known
> that the staff of Chouinard and Myhre use Microsoft products but choose to
> protect our information on the AS/400. Our AS/400 customers all supplement
> their AS/400 applications with Windows as well.
> 
>      Last month I wrote an article using both the AS/400 and Windows. I 
> was
> asked to submit it to publication without success. The article can be 
> found
> at http:/www.cm-inc.com/whatsnew/usingiis.htm and describes a 
> client/server
> technique using the AS/400 as an Application Server. Something it was
> designed to do in the first place. I believe many single AS/400 shops and
> solutions could take a Client/Server approach to 'Internet Enable' their
> existing AS/400 applications.
> 
> Ken Slaugh  (707) 795-1512 x118
> Chouinard & Myhre, Inc.
> AS/400 Professional Administrator/MSE
> Client Access Specialist
> http://www.cm-inc.com/
> 
> 
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