RE: Also Leaving MidRange Equipment

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Don
> 
> Steve,
> 
> won't happen.  This is part of a heavy trend away from the 400...and
to
> SQL Server/.net and unix/oracle...
> 
> Sucks...but that's all they're being taught in school nowadays...

Don, you need some fiber in your diet, or something.  Exactly how many
of the RPG programmers you know learned it in school?  How many took
CPF101?  Damned few of my acquaintances took any IBM midrange classes in
school.  School has always been about one of two things: real
programming (a/k/a machine and assembly language, Boolean logic and
database design) or the fad of the day, be it C, Pascal, or Java.

There will always be people who make Excel spreadsheets and VB
inquiries.  And there will be those that call this programming.  These
are the people who can't quite fathom what a subfile does, and get lost
in the land of file locking.  They may be able to spout the Benefits of
OO, they may have half a dozen MS Certifications, but that doesn't mean
they can code an order entry program.  You see them on the lists even
today asking iSeries 101 questions.

And there will always be body shops that hire these people and then rent
them out at inflated prices while babbling whatever the mantra of the
week is ("Everything must be platform independent!", "All database
access should be SQL!", "Java is faster than RPG!", "Elvis is still
alive!").

And there will always be shops that hire these companies, give them
tasks far more complicated than anything they've ever done, and then
blame the consultants for the failure of the project.  These are
typically IT managers who have gotten to their place via the Peter
Principle and who really are unequipped to be able to actually make
technical decisions, and so they can blame the consultants, who in turn
blame the industry or IBM or cosmic rays.  And these companies will move
to Windows and Oracle for no good reason except their consultants told
them so.

But so too will there always be shops with technical managers who have
the balls to stand their ground, and CEOs and CFOs who have the brains
to trust their staff over some yahoo from Microsoft or Bill and Ted's
Excellent Outsourcing, and those shops will do just fine on their IBM
midrange server, thank you.  And the funny thing is that if you wanted
to bet on a firm staying in business (and thus providing a consulting
firm with steady income), I'd be a lot more likely to bet on the company
with the iSeries.

Whew.  Okay, glad I got that off my chest.

Joe