IBM a personal comment

["Shields, Ken" <kenshields@xxxxxxx>]

Group Hi

        I recently discovered that IBM , out of the goodness of their hearts 
made a large contribution of software to a local 
        College.(There was probably some tax implications here)
        The College has gone on to become a full fledged University, and 
Institute of Technology, which for the purpose 
        of this writing will be unnamed

        To this date, no courses in that E-Commerce software have been 
initiated by the Institute. I imagine the reason 
        given , is lack of attendance (on the College's part), but also because 
there probably exists no 
        computer equipment, and CA programs , on which to test and educate the 
student population.
        I imagine the plan was to offer the College/University the free 
software, and then have THEM purchase the 
        /400...ISeries base to initiate the courses
        That last step probably was outside the realm of the College's budget 
(just surmising here)
        To be fair, there are other Colleges in the area which offer /400 
classes , but are not current and again, they too
        cancel classes because of lack of demand. (I wonder why?..)

        My personal feeling is that IBM will continue to lose the  market 
share, NOT because they make an inferior product,
        but because they are not getting proactively involved in the education 
of our students.
        I'll wager most graduates are quite converse with Microsoft software 
and .NET, but haven't a clue about IBM 's 
        offerings.
        And just whose software and world will these budding graduates look to 
in the future?
        
        The old adage " You have to spend money to make money", is no more self 
evident than in this very critical area
        of people's lives.

Regards

Ken Shields
PPG Canada Inc
Ph: 905 725 1144 (326)
Fx: 905 433 8712