RE: The future of computing -- MIDRANGE-L



>
> 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?

Honestly? Neither.


> 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.

Really? I guess that makes me unethical, selfish, and a disgrace to my
profession.


> 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.

And since I'm well acquainted with the AS/400, that makes my decisions
irresponsible at best. Perhaps I can chalk it off to my obvious delusions.


> 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.

And I presume that an IBM BP selling a low-end 270 with an
FSIO-Whatever-it's-called-now as a file/print server would not be considered
such a whore?



> 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.

Now I'm confused. Did you just acknowledge that the AS/400 might not be the
best choice for everything that involves a computer?


> 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?

> 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.


And those that chose to do so would only be displaying that they've
completely missed the point. It was not a shot at Mr. Watson, or at Jim. It
was an example of the dangers inherent in adopting an isolationist attitude.


-john

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