RE: lack of usable new OS features (was RE: Since when is adding DASD so difficult?)

Rob,

In answer to your question about my background. I am the
typical (or atypical depending on your view) AS/400 guy
that started out with a System 32, moved to a System 34
and then got one of the original System 38's back in 1980.
I actually worked for IBM during their troubled times back
in the early 90's working with about $30M+ in AS/400 hardware.
Did some testing in Rochester when the first RISC machines
were produced. When not working on the AS/400 worked on
a very elegant totally object oriented package in C++
that still in many ways defines state of the art for me.
I still think the 400 is one of the best machines ever!

My current environment is primarily vendor supplied legacy
code that dates back to 1975 in some cases. I don't really
care about all the web stuff or Java on the iSeries since
it complicates our licensing and we have other fast, robust
systems that handle it very well. Most of the current OS
releases are aimed at this other group of users. I would
love to see them get back to enhancing my environment by:

1) make interactive performance cheaper
2) Finish SQL, how about an update join?
3) Enhance the native toolset as well as the languages
4) Finish and enhance the MS connectivity, the idea of
        using VB as a front end to 400 data was great but
        never quite finished.

Recent IBM moves such as harrassing BCC over using IBM
drives in an IBM system while IBM sells their disk business
to Hitachi and using Seagate drives does not impress me.
Raising software subscription prices by 25% does not impress
me. Apple has seen the light and done a great job of ensuring
their future through OS X and becoming price competitive,
I hope IBM sees a similar light. I am not selling my IBM stock yet!

Regards

Konrad