RE: Fast400 Value to iSeries community is less than zero

Brad,

Thanks for the "inciteful" comments and questions...

jt


"Have a GREAT day...!  And a BETTER ONE TOMORROW~~~:-)" (sm)


>
>
> Sorry I came in late. What is INation? (Yes I own 400s - three or
> four of them for development, and Rs/600s , and unix, and NT)

http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/nation/ It's either a WIP, or a
theory, depending on POV...  I think somewhat unheard of and/or
misunderstood in the general Community.



>
> Hey I got a letter from an IBM sales rep this year - first
> personal contact from IBM since we bought an AS/400 12 years ago!
> He didnt call or come by, of course. We got to be a business
> partner for a couple of years, but then since we only had our
> software running on 500 AS/400s (at the time, twice that now) they
> took away our business partner statis because we didn't do what
> they really wanted - sell new boxes. We just made software that
> encouraged people to stay int he AS/400 market.

Goes in the category, sad.. but true...


>
> I have come to the conclusion that IBM is run by a bunch of
> squirrels, and I dare anyone to disprove my thesis. That doesn't
> mean it is staffed by squirrels - the people there are top notch.
> Fortunately there is enough of a disconnect between the sales
> force and partners vs. the upper management, that they stay in
> business. They've got great products.

My experience is that there is too much of a disconnect between the sales
force and upper management.  I've had brief contacts with Mr. Gerstner, Mr.
Zeitler and some of the top execs at IBM, as well as one teleconference with
Mr. Haines and Ms. Stevenson.  It was 99.9% me writing them.  But the .1%
indicated that they gave me a serious listen.

I have a 170-2291 (I think?) and am half of a Mom-and-Pop consulting
business, and nobody's heard of me.  Go figure...

I assure you that they try, to the utmost, to satisfy the customer.  They
gave a serious listen, which is far more than I expected.


>
> >  If you look at these lists, you see all the
> > contradictory views that are expressed about what IBM should
> do...  Should
> > OS/4i be put on Wintel...?  Should IBM develop the low-end more
> > aggressively...?  Should IBM put a lot more resources into
> support...?
> > Should IBM lower prices...?  Should IBM make the iSeries more
> > industry-standard...?  Should IBM concentrate on it's
> proprietary strengths
> > (DDS and RPG)...?  Should IBM spin off the iSeries as it's own
> company...?
> > Would the iSeries survive, if IBM did...?  I haven't seen clear
> answers to
> > these multitude of questions.  And thay don't even begin to
> scratch the
> > surface...
>
>  How about an Iseries that was just an Integrated X server - IBM
> reliability on a NT platofrrom.
>
> (go ahead, laugh.)

It's been mentioned on these lists, over the past year from time to time, so
I would presume IBM is seriously considering it.



>
> > IBM is asking the Community for it's views...  Make no mistake
> about that.
> > The Consult-L thread this week was an opportunity missed.  There
> were some
> > great thoughts, but it broke down into a p*ssing-contest and the
> thread was
> > short-lived.  A gentleman from iSeries University requested
> comments early
> > this year, over on IGNITe.  Maybe he got some useful comments
> off-list, but
> > what I saw posted was less than useful.  In fact, it was quite
> > contradictory.
>
> That can still be valuable. A non-monolithic response is called
> for. That is information in itself.

No doubt.  I can't agree more...!

Didn't mean to imply to the contrary.  But it frequently degenerates, once
all the focus is on the points of disagreement, and focus is completely lost
on the points of agreement.  That's when it degenerates into a
p*ssing-contest, and that frequently happens.

The challenge is for the Community to present a non-monolithic response that
doesn't just blow the direction the wind blows.


>
> > The iNation would be quite useful if there were two things:  1)
> Some
> > filtering mechanism so the best ideas rise to the top.  2)
> Follow-up on
> > results, and adjustments made.  These are two relatively simple
> problems.
> > Or rather, these are problems that everyone connected with the
> iSeries deals
> > with each day at work.


Thanks again, Brad.