Weigh in on Fast400 . . . -- MIDRANGE-L

Greetings.

I will say right off sorry for the length.....(as I see this thing growing)

As to whether it would be legal for IBM to change OS/400 to "make sure"
Fast400 won't work....

IMHO there is no legal requirement to make sure the OS will support
Fast400.  If IBM would say change how interactive accounting works so it no
longer changes this "magic bit", it would be up to TigerTools to change
their code to see if they can make it work with this new method. The same
thing stands in the case that mentioned possibly changing the location of
this bit on the system.

Perhaps IBM should have designed the machine so this was not possible.
Perhaps is raises questions as to the interactive feature structure itself.
Tiger Tools has indicated that IBM would not have a legal leg to stand on
if a case were filed to squelch this app. This may or may not be true.
However, If the ability to make this work is seen as a "hole" in the OS,
isn't IBM entitled to close this hole?

Now let's contrast this with a case where the OS would detect that Fast400
was installed and then either remove that software or somehow corrupt the
code etc. to make sure it would not run. There is most definitely a
difference here.

I clearly understand the reasoning behind the pricing structure of iSeries
machines - however, I see configurations every day where folks are paying
$350,000 for interactive capacity and need an oxygen tank standing by when
you deliver the config. That being the case I believe a better model is
most certainly in order.

I believe it would be difficult to find someone on this list who thinks
that pricing for something like MS Office is acceptable at $600 +. I also
believe that if you really dug into it  and got to talking to folks you
would find a number who have less than fully disclosed copies of software
packages loaded on a PC or two. However, this does not change the legality
of the fact that you are supposed to purchase your own license to the
software. The same thing goes for your interactive capacity.

To IBM > I think that if we are going to "WebFace" an app - the dang thing
shouldn't use interactive! But alas they do. This adds to the difficulty of
moving away from green screen applications that cost big $$$ to make use
of.

We know green screen is fast, we know it is the best thing for data entry
on the planet. We all know these facts. But wait....what did I just say? Oh
yea, WE know these things. How we as a community present the box in the
apps we create and the attitudes we have will help dictate its future. We
cannot continually make IBM the scapegoat for not creating client server
apps.

I firmly believe that whatever makes the iSeries more prevalent in the
marketplace is fundamentally a good thing. Whether TigerTools will do this
is in some doubt. Will it extend the number of older technology machines
still in place? Definitely. Could it potentially quell the growth of the
platform in terms of new server sales or upgrades? Possibly. Could you
argue that the influence this app will have is likely to be minimal? Yes.
We could all be massively overstating the implications of this tool. Shops
implementing TigerTools may not have been upgrading anytime soon anyway.
You may be correct. But then again. . .

---------------------
Kevin E. Mort
iSeries Technical Support
Support Net, Inc.
Ph: 888.480.TECH
Fx: 954.428.3991
Mailto:kmort@supnet.com

IBM Certified Expert - e(logo)server iSeries 400 Technology
Lotus Certified Specialist

" i want everything to work. i choose iSeries. "