RE: RE: Elvis Has Left the Building -- MIDRANGE-L

Glen,

Thank you for your interest. IMHO, this is now in the hands of the Freedom Council. It was just a suggestion which they may see the wisdom of or they may not.

I would now like to take the opportunity to take my own suggestion:

I PLEDGE MY ALLEGIANCE TO THE iSERIES NATION (tm) AND BACK ANY AND ALL DECISIONS OF THE FREEDOM COUNCIL.

If I'd thought about it a hair more yesterday, I would have done it then...;-)

Again, thanks for your reply...!!

jJt

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com [mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Glenn Ericson
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 8:03 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Cc: jt@ee.net
Subject: RE: RE: Elvis Has Left the Building
Importance: High

jt
I know Alan Zerwin as a customer, a consultant, a business partner, a vendor & IBMer. Alan is a good choice.
Denny Insell is another. Denny is an energetic evangelistic IBMer.

There is a local area level +1 person, and several Rochester people that come to mind too.

jt@ee.com wrote:

Exclamation point consciously placed on this important announcement

A Tragic Loss... or A Golden Opportunity ?

IMHO, this event, "Elvis leaving the building," should be considered A HUGE OPPORTUNITY...
Not knowing the particulars, I hesitate to make any suggestions. But the fact is that the Heart and Soul of the iNation NEEDS TO BE REPLACED IMMEDIATELY. It would take IBM a while to do this anyway, so iCitizens should recommend two people for IBM to choose from. You will see, after a month or two, EXACTLY where the iCitizens stand in this iNation.

This would server several purposes, besides seeing if the iCitizens actually have any role to play in the iNation.

Might rally the "troops" around Elvis' departure Might rally the AAG around this event Might stir up some real activity in the iNation Might see how wise the Freedom Council is Will definitely show how wise IBM is

The emphasis on all the above is on "might" but I think you WILL see a lot about how wise IBM is, in the way they handle this situation.

While you don't want to normally go off half-cocked, at the same time, you don't want to wait until all the facts are in before you act, regarding why Mr. Haines ("Evis"...;-) left the building ... You'll likely never hear ALL those facts, anyway...

So I make the following suggestion:

The Freedom Council should propose TWO people to take Mr. Haines place as the Heart and Soul of the iNation...! Let IBM pick the one they like best... as they should have a 50% say in the iNation, too.

I take my name out of the hat, TO MAKE IT CLEAR I'M NOT MAKING THIS SUGGESTION FOR ANY ALTERIOR MOTIVES. I've been completely honest with myself, I've looked into my motivations, and I'm making this suggestion with a clear conscience. But I take my name out of the running TO AVOID EVEN THE APPEARANCE of any self-aggrandizement.

The natural tendency would be for the Freedom Council to nominate two of their own, but this will almost certainly bring MANY unfortunate consequences. They should select two people from outside the Council, for the same reason I took my name out of the running.

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE iCitizens of the iSeries Nation (tm) SHOULD START TO RALLY IMMEDIATELY BEHIND THE SELECTIONS OF THE FREEDOM COUNCIL (if any). This will give the Freedom Council the confidence to make this decision, and they will consequently do a better job of it.

Since I'm proposing the idea, I will suggest two people.

BUT:

I PLEDGE MY ALLEGIANCE TO THE iSERIES NATION (tm) AND IMPLICITLY BACK ANY AND ALL DECISIONS OF THE FREEDOM COUNCIL.

I recommend anyone reading this do the same. The less time thinking about it, the less time talking about it, the greater the likelihood something good will come out of all this.

I recommend Alan Jay Zwiren for the job of Heart and Soul of the iNation. We've never met, and never corresponded. If you've seen a few of my posts, my reasons should be clear. It would be tricky for Mr. Zwiren to be acceptable to IBM, because he works for Software Group (which essentially a totally separate company from the Server Group). Mr. Palmisano might have to approve Mr. Zwiren, him being over both "companies" or Groups, in his position as COO.

I recommend one other person, but she has to volunteer herself. I know her, so I can't volunteer her the way I "volunteered" Mr. Zwiren, who can more easily dismiss the notion.

The iSeries Nation is supposed to be IBM -AND- the iSeries Community 50/50, according to my understanding of the one conversation I had with Mr. Haines. I think we owe it to him, to find out if this is, in fact, the case. I think implementing my suggestion is the best way to do this, and will possibly help bring Mr Haines' dream to fruition.

I don't have any special insights to say this WILL benefit the iNation

Any fool could see that this MIGHT benefit the iNation.

The wise will see this as a time to stop talking, and starting taking control of their destiny (just as Mr. Zwiren suggested, just about a year ago).

IMHO, the way to do this is quite simple, actually: EVERY iCitizen should back the Freedom Council NOW, before they've selected their candidates. And EVERY iCitizen should try to get two new people to join the iNATION and they should do this SOON. Then EVERY iCitizen should send to IBM, ideally at the same moment, the same declaration of their Allegiance to the choices of the Freedom Council, IF ANY. (If this happened, this could make the news ! So hopefully at least a few of the activists in the iNation will be willing to back this declaration up with some constructive action.)

Note to the Freedom Council: I propose this in public, rather than to you as individuals, consciously. Mr. Haines and I have somewhat of a bond... We did a "Vulcan mind-meld" in one brief passing of ships, quicker than anything I've ever seen before, in my experience anyway. The natural tendency would be to try to think "What would Mr. Haines want, in this situation". These ideas presented here DID NOT COME FROM THAT PERSPECTIVE. And I believe that would not be the best way to approach this situation, at all. It is much better approached from the point of view: How can I help Mr. Haines' dream become a reality? What can I do to help?

The bond Mr. Haines and I share is that I proposed the concept of the iNation to Mr. Zeitler, President of Server Group, three months before he got the idea himself. But I'm not big enough a fool to claim I speak a wisdom that I know Mr. Haines would agree with, and in fact, I write this knowing that he might be dead-set against these ideas. Makes no difference to me, because I believe them to be right. You all need to do the same, do what you believe to be right... I hope you take this recommendation, and if you do what you believe is right, and you all agree on these issues unanimously, IT WILL BE RIGHT, though ALL decisions, necessarily, give both good and bad results... My heart goes out to you all... Good luck...! I back whatever decisions you come to, implicitly, because I have faith in Mr. Haines judgement. I believe he picked you as leaders of the iNation, based on your ability to listen, ask questions, comment, and then act. You may find that IBM has the wisdom to accept both of your recommendations for the Heart and Soul of the iNation. They might also have the wisdom to add one person of their choosing, and form a troika of leaders which will almost certainly be able to turn Mr. Haines dream into a reality.

Again, I make these recommendations with a clear conscience, because I have no interest in leading the iNation myself... I'd prefer to be coding programs, maybe Open Source programs, perhaps to help the iNation in that way.

Note to David: if this is worthy, you can consider this my submission as an IMHO column...Feel free to correct any typos, please don't let John Carr do it...ROFLMAO... :-)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
[mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Chuck Lewis
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 4:13 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: Evis Has Left the Building

Yep and aren't we BUMMED (and STUNNED...)

Chuck

jpcarr@tredegar.com wrote:

> Again
>
> Evis has left the building.
>
> That about says it
>
> John Carr
>