Re: NT vs AS/400

I hope lou and the rest of the gang in somers or armonk thinks the same way
as the majority that have responded on this thread.

Keep in mind that our new expanded iseries is incredibly complex.  ( any
estimate on the nbr of manuals/pages there are now ) The system requires an
army of people in rochester to support and enhance it. That costs a lot of
money.

Rochester insists on limiting the opportunity for 3rd party hardware and
software vendors. Maybe it has to be that way. But the result is no 3rd
party languages, no cheap hard drives, cheap io cards, or cheap main memory.
Very similar to the apple strategy. ( any odds on how long apple will be in
business ).

Sales have to increase to justify the expense.  Otherwise the one who comes
after lou may decide to stop enhancing and start milking the existing
business.

This platform is technically outstanding. But you have to be concerned that
ibm with its high expenses, due to its go it alone strategy, has to price
the system out of the mainstream market.  ( if you say the $12,000 270 is
well priced, I would agree, but you have to explain how you can make a
profit on such a system. )

suggestion: release all the hardware specs and os source code for older
model as400s, the ones that you cant give away on ebay. maybe in a few years
time a whole new market for low cost, innovative as400 offshoots could come
to be. One that ibm can compete in and make money in just as others could.

Steve Richter


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