Re: Midrange Computing is liquidating.

You know, I have a friend who thinks that Prince Charles is a shapeshifting
alien planted here on earth and that Reagan was replaced by a clone during
his time in office. I'm sure he could be convinced of this.

Of course, you'll need to come up with a way to link in Cobol, since it ties
other IBM legacy systems back, so you'll have to figure out a way that
they'll be killing off that, too. And you'll have to explain why everyone at
IBM is so stupid they think killing of the revenue source they have is the
"way to survive."

Chris Rehm
javadisciple@earthlink.net
If you believe that the best technology wins the
marketplace, you haven't been paying attention.


----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rockwell" <midson@earthlink.net>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 9:36 PM
Subject: Re: Midrange Computing is liquidating.


> Here's a thought.  What if IBM thinks the only way the iSeries can survive
is by
> getting rid of RPG?  The thinking would go something like this.
>
>    1. Customers are tied to their legacy applications by the programs
they've
> grown accustomed to.
>
>    2. These legacy applications taint the iSeries when it's competing
against the
> latest technologies because competitors dismiss
>        them as old green screen applications.
>
>    3. Most of these green screen applications are in RPG and a lot of the
more
> valuable ones are interactive in nature.
>
>    4. Now what happens if we suddenly make a seemingly unrelated marketing
> change, breaking the pricing of the AS400 into
>        two separate features, batch and interactive, and then charge a
fortune
> for the interactive segment.  And let's make it even
>        more interesting by tuning CFINT so it really does succeed as a
governor
> when you move to versions 4.5.
>
>    5. How long will it take for RPG and the high price of the interactive
feature
> to be linked together, making new technologies
>        like Domino, JAVA, et al, more appealing because they conveniently
run in
> batch as far as the AS400 is concerned (even
>        though this changes the definition of batch a bit)?  Thus through a
little
> sleight of hand the argument changes from language
>        vs. language (with a company usually having to rely on its own
in-house
> programmers judgment) to an argument simply
>        over dollars (with a company having more than enough accountants to
make a
> case against the legacy).
>
> Just thinking out loud of course.  It also makes me wonder about the
requirement
> that you have to move to 4.5 (where the governor works very well) to get
to an
> 820 box.  Some weekend when no ones on the system I'm going to start a
bunch of
> interactive jobs, set them to 0 priority, and see if they can give the
governor a
> run for its money.  (Of course I won't change the class priority value in
case I
> have to re-IPL to get QINTER functioning again.)
>
>
>
> Jim Franz wrote:
>
> > Many posts are asking or pointing to iSeries decline as the reason for
MC's
> > demise. It is clear the iSeries is not growing by leaps & bounds. But it
is
> > also clear the entire tech industry & many other publications are having
> > similar problems. One of the biggest Internet & paper magazines, The
> > Industry Standard www.thestandard.com has shrunk dramatically in size
(more
> > than MC & News) and is in the middle of dramatic layoffs & cutting.
Compaq,
> > Dell, Gateway are all slashing. HP's going to layoff 6,000 workers! Some
> > fiber optics co just took a 45Billion hit. Lucent may die. And look who
just
> > posted a modest return?
> > IBM! and the iSeries division still "made" money. The rumors of our
demise
> > are greatly exaggerated.
> > jim
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Leif Svalgaard" <leif@leif.org>
> > To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
> > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 2:01 PM
> > Subject: Re: Midrange Computing is liquidating.
> >
> > > the not paying attention was just a take-off on your signature.
> > > no need to be sorry.
> > > and lots of other (most?) people are also in denial.
> > > the good news is that IBM apparently foresee a
> > > slow demise of the platform. Extrapolating their own
> > > figures show a 1.5% decline per year. since the
> > > fraction of IBM's revenue resulting from the AS/400 now
> > > stands at about 10%, you can do the arithmetic.
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Chris Rehm <javadisciple@earthlink.net>
> > > To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
> > > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 12:27 PM
> > > Subject: Re: Midrange Computing is liquidating.
> > >
> > >
> > > > That so? So everyone else here has been expecting this but I was in
> > denial?
> > > > Wow, sorry.
> > > >
> > > > Chris Rehm
> > > > javadisciple@earthlink.net
> > > > If you believe that the best technology wins the
> > > > marketplace, you haven't been paying attention.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: "Leif Svalgaard" <leif@leif.org>
> > > > To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
> > > > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 9:04 AM
> > > > Subject: Re: Midrange Computing is liquidating.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > maybe you just haven't been paying attention?
> > > > > It is called denial...
> > > > >
> > > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > From: Chris Rehm <javadisciple@earthlink.net>
> > > > > To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
> > > > > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 10:37 AM
> > > > > Subject: Re: Midrange Computing is liquidating.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > > Well, I'm not sure it is all doom and gloom, but I know it isn't
a
> > > > > > _positive_ sign.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I think it mostly says that the market for AS/400 specific
> > technologies
> > > > is
> > > > > > getting smaller. Which would mean, I suppose, that if the
iSeries is
> > to
> > > > > > survive it needs to compete in more popular marketplaces.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > But what it really says to me is that the market is much further
> > along
> > > > that
> > > > > > road than I thought. I am very sorry to hear that! It caught me
off
> > > > guard,
> > > > > I
> > > > > > guess I thought I'd have heard more speculation about such an
event
> > > > before
> > > > > > it happened.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Chris Rehm
> > > > > > javadisciple@earthlink.net
> > > > > > If you believe that the best technology wins the
> > > > > > marketplace, you haven't been paying attention.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > > From: "Don" <dr2@cssas400.com>
> > > > > > To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
> > > > > > Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 7:35 AM
> > > > > > Subject: Re: Midrange Computing is liquidating.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > UH, What do you THINK is says?! :)
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > At 09:17 PM 7/26/2001 -0700, you wrote:
> > > > > > > >I've got to say, Don, this blows my mind. Unreal. What does
that
> > say
> > > > > > about
> > > > > > > >the state of the market?
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >----- Original Message -----
> > > > > > > >From: "Don" <dr2@cssas400.com>
> > > > > > > >To: <Undisclosed recipients:>
> > > > > > > >Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 3:49 PM
> > > > > > > >Subject: Midrange Computing is liquidating.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > I just recieved a call from Shawnna Allison at Midrange
> > > Computing.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > The company is folding.  They told the employees that
today is
> > > > their
> > > > > > last
> > > > > > > > > day.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > This is a bit of a shock.....
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Don in DC


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