RE: V5R2 Quality - Notes from the field

No outrage here, this is (mostly) an academic issue for me.  However looking
at the product line I see 13 currently available systems that do not support
V5R1, which is now officially supported until May, 2004.  Three(now four)
versions of the model 810 do not support V5R1, even thought they are all
S-Star processors - which should support V5R1.

How many more companies would buy new hardware if they weren't constrained
by software issues?

In my own case I would like to consolidate my P20 720 and my P30 620
workloads on a new 810.  But the 620 is at V5R1 and the application people
will need two - three months testing before they will approve an upgrade.
Meanwhile the software subscription is up on the 720 at the end of May, and
I have been told that I will need to renew that for a year at the P20 level
($8500) because the 810 (SS $2000) won't be delivered until the end of June.

The 810 is a good deal, but if we can't save money by moving to it we won't
buy one.

I understand that new hardware will require new software, but what's the
point of announcing software capabilities (+/- 1 release support) that
hardware can't support?  I may have a software application that will
instantly transport you anywhere in the world, but it's no good if there's
no hardware that supports it.

Scott Ingvaldson
AS/400 System Administrator
GuideOne Insurance Group 

-----Original Message-----
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 07:17:58 -0400
From: "Andy Nolen-Parkhouse" <aparkhouse@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: V5R2 Quality - Notes from the field needed

Scott,

I think that you're expecting too much here.  When IBM releases a new
processor, it also releases a new operating system written for that
processor.  Backward compatibility with the new processor will be
maintained in future releases.  Because these are real, hardware-based
partitions, as opposed to virtual guest operating systems, it makes
perfect sense that you can only run the operating systems written for the
processor.

My opinion only, I do not share your outrage.

Regards,
Andy Nolen-Parkhouse