Re: The future of computing

C'mon John, apples and oranges. If the only computers ever made were the
ones being made in 1943, you think there'd be one in every house?

Tell me honestly, if you needed a pacemaker and it needed a computer running
it (from afar), would you rather have an AS/400 running it or an NT server?

In total honesty, I have felt that the people who deployed NT server for the
majority of applications in critical locations within enterprises over the
last 9 years are simply willing to rip off their employer for a paycheck.

Now, some of those people I am sure convinced themselves that they were
installing the best choice of application server. Some of the cases, it was
the best choice. But in the majority of cases it was not the best choice and
the person installing it either did or should have known that to be the
case.

The reason I feel so strongly about that is it shames me to think that my
profession is not only populated with the kind of whores who will install
whatever makes them money whether or not it is the best choice, but that is
exactly the sort of mentality that makes up the lion's share of this
profession.

I feel that there was a time when people would actually research technology
for a chosen application and would come back to management with what they
felt was the best solution. I feel that it is much more common to just
suggest the solution "I" know most about now. If an AS/400 professional
isn't willing to determine whether or not the AS/400 is the best choice to
deploy the new web app, and the NT professional isn't willing to determine
whether or not NT is the best backbone for the data warehouse, and on down
the line, then they are pretty low.

By the way, you should be careful before taking a shot like that about heads
of corporations, It could lead to some flood of quotes from current heads of
corporations.

Chris Rehm
javadisciple@earthlink.net
"640k ought to be enough for anybody."

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Taylor" <john.taylor@telusplanet.net>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: The future of computing


>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Damato"
>
>
> >
> > I think this group is fairly willing to bash IBM.  I don't see how the
> drive
> > stuff pertains to this future of computing thread.  Neither issue
> mitigates
> > the other.
> >
> > Yes, the price of AS/400 disk drives and current quality issues are
> > extremely troubling.  Comparing these drive issues to the stability of
> > Microsoft's operating systems, and current and proposed Internet
services
> is
> > a bit farfetched.
>
> The "drive stuff"  is the most recent testament to the kind of ignorance
> that always seems to accompany threads such as this one.
>
> I'd managed to stay out of this thread until I saw that post of Steve's
> which I responded to. It reaked of the kind of nauseating, adolescent,
> technology worship that I expect to see on Usenet - not on a mailing list
> comprised of seasoned professionals.
>
> Statements such as "Are YOU willing to bet your MISSION CRITICAL
> infrastructure on Microsoft??", are inflammatory, pointless, and insulting
> to the many professional technicians who successfully manage both IBM and
> Microsoft technologies.
>
> > A shill may be a shill, but this .NET stuff is the mother
> > of all shills.
>
> Pin that one on your fridge, Jim. One day you'll look at it with the same
> level of amusument we now assign to this little gem:
>
>      "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." --Thomas
> Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
>
>
> -john
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> +---
> | This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
> | To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
> | To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
> | To unsubscribe from this list send email to
MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
> | Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator:
david@midrange.com
> +---

+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To subscribe to this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-SUB@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---