Re: Buell Duncan

From: Leif Svalgaard <leif@attglobal.net>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 5:46 PM
Subject: Re: Buell Duncan


> From: Jon Paris <Jon.Paris@Partner400.com>
> > >> Uh oh... Leif made IBM mad!  =)
> > ROTFL - if you think that was "mad" it just proves that you don't know
> Anne.
> >
> > As to Leif's comment - well it's too silly for words anyone who has
worked
> > with IBM as long as he has should have been expecting this for 12 months
or
> > more - I have to assume that he only made it to fulfill his daily quota
of
> > gloom and doom statements <grin>
> >
>
> Bob Tipton (whom you just *might* know) said it better:
>
http://www.iseriesnetwork.com/resources/artarchive/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewa
> rticle&CO_ContentID=15700&channel=
>


If you can't access the article, here is a quote from it:

To quote Yogi Berra, seeing the problems with the iSeries
 marketing was like "déjà vu all over again." Discouraging,
frustrating, maddening. The AS/400 seems to be dying, and
nobody at IBM is doing anything substantive about it. And
it's not just the customers saying it - it's the vendor
community and some IBM insiders as well.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I know that calling
customers four times a year doesn't cut it. Real relationships
require investment, desire, and a commitment to the long term.
Further, with the constant churn within the ranks of the
iSeries executive team, the passion and commitment to
the platform seem to fall away faster and faster.

----

I take exception to the comments that some people have
made that my remark was insulting and a slap in anybody's
face. Maybe I didn't say it as eloquently as (our Gold speaker)
Bob Tipton, but my version was a least shorter and still
saying the same thing.