Re: IBM a personal comment

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 10:22:39 -0500, Shields, Ken <kenshields@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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
> 

The reasons the students are versed in .net are because that
environment is dead easy for the school to set up.  They get the
software dirt cheap or free from Microsoft.  Student's see .net as
having a future, at least more than the iSeries, which most of them
have never heard of.  The other driver is jobs.  You can get a job as
a .net developer.  How many new graduates are needed this year to fill
iSeries jobs?