A Younger Prospective (was Re: NT vs AS/400)

Hey all,

I just wanted to throw in my two cents (or for you Pentium fans, 
that's 1.9839238325732899032 cents) on the NT vs. iSeries discussion.

I'll be blunt - I'm mad.

Since the first time I ever typed "LOAD *.*,8,1" into my Commodore 
64, I was using MS-DOS.  Eventually, I got my Tandy 1000TL 
and "upgraded" to Windows 3.1.  From there, things only got better - 
Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, and most recently, 
Windows 2000.  Interspersed in with 95-2000, I started getting UNIX 
experience thanks to the University of Delaware, waking that deep 
seated text-based DOS knowledge out of it's coma.  I've even started 
taking a jab at Linux.

Let's suffice it to say that I was used to two extremes:

1. User-friendly and unstable, or
2. Mostly baffling (or as my friends titled it, user-surly) and 
slightly more stable except when under multiple user duress.

Then, one day, I found myself staring dead on at a machine that I had 
never even heard of - as AS/400.  Having played with servers in the 
past (NT, mainly), I was skeptical at best.  Then I started learning 
what the thing is capable of.

If you have two AS/400s, your practically guaranteed 100% uptime.  
Though it may cost you a small fortune, you'll probably never have to 
buy new hardware (or base OS/DB software, with the right 
subscriptions) for, say, a couple of decades.  UD runs at least 5 
different UNIX servers - with the main mail/web server dying at least 
once a week for the past 5 years (much to my chagrin, usually), and 
ALWAYS running slower than molasses on a cold day in northern 
Alaska.  Let's not even get into my experiences on an NT server.  
Suffice it to say that a 6 computer network frightened the thing into 
a BSOD coma three times a day.

Oh, and Java?  We've all seen what happens with Java on the iSeries.

So, to make a long story short (too late, I know) - I've finally seen 
a server that could effectively serve as a true business machine 
without having to run upwards of 20 different server nodes and a 
staff of 10-15 people on call 24 hours a day.

Blessed relief for my server angst, right?

Wrong - for just the reasons we've been talking about on this list.  
Yes, the machines cost a small fortune.  Yes, IBM supports their 
customers that have the thing - but they seem to be the only ones 
that even know it exists.  Yes, IBM seems to not really care if the 
line lives or dies (at least if you just pay attention to the 
marketing).

Frankly, my reasons for not wanting to see the iSeries die are 
probably a lot different from most of yours.  Most of you don't want 
to see it die because it's your livelihood and you know it inside and 
out.  I don't want to see it die because I really like the concept 
behind the machine, and I'd love to learn more about it - if it goes, 
I lose that chance.  I lose the change to learn about the best 
business machine that it seems no one has ever heard of.  I know it's 
selfish, but I'd rather not lose that chance.

Thanks for indulging my little rant here about the direction I'm 
coming from, but I hope it helps some people understand a different 
prospective on this whole thing.

- Erik
http://www.baron-inc.net
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