RE: Upgrading V4R5 --> V5R1

["jt" <jt@xxxxxx>]

Chuck,

I agree with this view completely.  But IMHO, I disagree if IBM thinks this
is a good marketing strategy.  Again, I'm still unconvinced that the OS
simply CAN'T run on existing hardware...  True with Win, for sure.  Not so
sure about OS/400.  But even if so, this is a technical problem that can be
fixed.  The OS could be MADE to run on the old hardware.  Given the
devlopment resources and the will to market to the 400s strengths...

My main beef with this apparent trend is that obsoleting hardware, either
because the OS isn't efficient, OR by decree..  Well, I don't see it working
well for EITHER the customer or IBM.  It gives the appearance that IBM is
going to try to "churn" hardware sales, just like Wintel.  But I don't see
that working well, given that IBM is not yet selling at commodity prices.
JMHO.

That's why I'm hopeful that this is part of some long-range plan (ie a
marketing ploy towards some future plans)...  Because I just don't see how
taking away one of the primary advantages of the 400 is going to work in the
near term...


jt

> -----Original Message-----
> From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
> [mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Chuck Morehead
> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2001 10:42 PM
> To: midrange-l@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: Upgrading V4R5 --> V5R1
>
>
> <snip>
> > I may be overly optimistic, but I'm hoping this dropping of old hardware
> is
> > more of a marketing-"ploy"..  (In addition to being a method of driving
> > revenues.)
> >
> >
> > jt
> <snip>
>
> The AS/400 is so reliable and stable that this may be a way of helping to
> sell new machines.  For example, the company I work for recently did a
> CISC-to-RISC upgrade from a B70 for a large healthcare group.
> They were not
> short on funds to upgrade.  However, the B70 met their needs for 13 years.
> Granted, it was running an auxillary department and not the main patient
> accounting system, but it's incredible that any "server" could meet the
> business needs for this long.  So IBM has a wonderful system, but part of
> its greatness is also a detriment to selling additional systems
> or upgrades.
> Retiring support for older systems helps to encourage these purchases.
>
> Chuck
>
>
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