Re: Interactive vs. Batch

[booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

I am not entirely convinced of the "premium price" comment.  Expensive, 
yes, and talk about "total cost of ownership" is beginning to sound 
hollow, but I buy into your comments 100% Nina. 

When I go into Barnes & Noble and see shelf after shelf of thick and 
expensive books from Microsoft Press I realize these books are selling and 
that the buyers are reading these books on their own time.  When was the 
last time you saw an AS/400 shop's employees spending their own money to 
buy 2" thick books to take home and read on their own time?  These are 
real cost advantages for Microsoft.  How they get people to do that 
willingly is beyond me.  On top of that, these same people fall all over 
themselves to attend $3,500 certification classes but would think taking 
$15 to pay dues for an AS/400 local user group meeting was exorbitant.

My only point is that Microsoft is not cheap.  Neither is IBM.  Microsoft 
has a different and more fun-filled method for extracting their money, but 
they extract it just as completely as does IBM.  IBM just doesn't know how 
to do it with flair; IBM will use Interactive vs. batch as a 
differentiator.  All that does is upset people.

In my opinion.

_______________________
Booth Martin
Booth@MartinVT.com
http://www.MartinVT.com
_______________________




nina jones <ddi@datadesigninc.com>
Sent by: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
04/21/2001 10:42 AM
Please respond to MIDRANGE-L

 
        To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
        cc: 
        Subject:        Re: Interactive vs. Batch
> I think you need to look at this from a marketing perspective. IBM has a 
large installed base of AS/400s running traditional green-screen 
applications. This group of customers is used to paying premium prices for 
the AS/400 platform.
> 
> On the other hand, IBM needs the e(logo)server i-Series to compete 
against other servers, such as Windows NT/2000 on Intel hardware and many 
hardware platforms running UNIX/Linux. These folks do not pay premium 
prices for anything.


i'm sure you have a point, and it's disgusting. 

what ibm does not seem to realize is that most all shops these days have
the p/c expert amoung them.  and they are not fans of the as/400 or ibm
for that matter. 

so applications are slowly being bled off the as/400 onto microsoft (or
other) platforms.  and any occasion to bash the as/400 and ibm is done
with relish.

ibm need to realize that the old shops of total ibm loyalty are gone. 
the old traditional applications do have their place.  forcing people to
pay outrageous prices for interactive sessions is not a way to inspire
customer loyalty! 

the way to get revenue from the as/400 is to provide the best equipment,
at the best price, with the best tools, and the best education.  and
then promote it! 

did anyone see the lastest i/series ad?  i saw it about a week ago on
ibm's web page.  it had an as/400 with a guy on a piece of playground
equipment.  y'know, the thing you spin on until you get so dizzy you
can't walk.

compare that to the current microsoft ads, showing servers that don't
require attending, that will interface with anything.  we all know that
these are bold face lies, but that's what people want these days, so
that's what microsoft is pitching. 

but to be fair, ibm does have an ad that i like.  the brainstorming
session where everyone is tossing out their ideas, and a lady mentions
that they now have 8 or so platforms.  and the boss says 'is that a good
thing or a bad thing'. 

nj
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