Re: IBM needs more than cool tattoos, say users

IBM will NEVER market OS/400. In my opinion here's why:

1 - they make way too much $$$ by constantly selling hardware to support 
bad software that constantly has to be upgraded. They learned that from M$ 
and the fact that each time M$ upgrades, usually new hardware is required 
to support the new M$ software. Same with 3rd party vendor DB upgrades on 
the unix box.

2 - OS/400 would kill the competition in their own business. How would IBM 
be doing without xSeries sales? pSeries? Some iSeries can perform as well 
as zSeries. Do the math. IBM Thinkpads running windoze or PowerMacs 
running PowerPC? Which does IBM sell more of? Which is the better PC? 

3 - IBM doesn't care about loyal OS/400 users - they just keep throwing us 
bones (tattoos) with the hope that we will stop nipping at their heel (for 
the moment).

Perhaps at the next Common, the attendees at the soundoff should all get 
in line at the mic, and just say "I'm leaving the iSeries because if IBM 
won't promote it, why should I?" Maybe if they heard that from a few 
hundred users they'd get the idea. But a loss of a few hundred iSeries 
shops wouldn't hurt IBM because that loss could probably be recovered 
after about a year of Thinkpad sales.
 

Regards,

Gerald Kern
IBM Certified AS/400 RPG IV Developer & RPG IV Programmer
MIS Project Leader, Lotus Notes/Domino Administrator
The Toledo Clinic, Inc.
4235 Secor Road
Toledo, OH 43623-4299
Phone 419-479-5535
gkern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx