Re: "State of the Midrange" by Don Rima

Monday I got latest Midrange Systems reporting on latest IBM Financial Damage 
sustained due to AS/400 contribution-NOT & quotes from Corporate IBM 
illustrating they get-it-NOT as to how this is happening to them.

2nd quarter 2000 IBM results are in
2 % up = Software Revenues increased
2 % up = Global Services
10% up = Global Financing

Decline 6th time in 7 quarters = AS/400, down 23% compared to 2nd quarter 1999
consequently
5 % down = hardware revenues from last year, and
10% down = operating system revenues

IBM at the top expresses theory to explain this is product in transition (for 
2 years ???) such that existing customers in anticipation of next wave of 
upgrades wait to see what is in the next release ... well I know some 
existing customers that do this & some that don't & I wonder if corporate IBM 
spouting this nonsense so as to justify  some policy change regarding future 
rate of evolution of AS/400.

We here know that lack of competent marketing by IBM has been undermining 
their sales & competitiveness for far too long.  

Some of us are also aware that had the ERP vendors made sure their software 
was Y2K compliant instead of being in denial until it was too late to do a 
good job of fixing it, they would have had a reputation of being a competent 
industry, but as it is, their whole strategy was to base profit on sales to 
new suckers & give the finger to their established customers, and they 
painted their reputations into a corner & so there is a wave of ERP vendors 
now going bankrupt, in a slump of their own making, in which they try to 
blame Y2K for their problems.

Several articles in same issue about DH Andrews reports, and one of their 
analysts quoted with some very tame comments, regarding IBM's lack of 
competent AS/400 marketing.  Other articles echoed widespread suspicion by 
customers that this IBM financial decline is exactly what IBM wants ... to 
kill the AS/400 & maybe also IBM.

I know various people have said here that IBM would be incredibly stupid to 
lay the egg of killing their golden goose, but apparently growing suspicion 
that IBM really is that stupid.

Al Macintyre  ©¿©
The opinions expressed are my own big mouth.
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