RE: Also Leaving MidRange Equipment

[Don <dr2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 4 Feb 2005, Joe Pluta wrote:

>  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.


Joe,

CEO's don't run thier companies with systems...they run them with
APPLICATIONS.  People don't care what hardware or o/s the stuff runs on as
long as the APPLICATION does what they want.

This was a phenomena trend that started just before the Y2K fiasco and
really didn't show itself quantifiably until after Y2K was over because
people needed to be in business on 1/2/2000  when their hangovers wore
off...

So, what CFO's, CTO's, etc.O's, are asking me is "why do I have to pay so
much to do a disk upgrade on my iSeries when I just added a quarter
TERABYTE to my mirrored windows server for less than $500...with NO
additional TIER PRICING charges in the hardware...OR o/s...OR application..."?
 Any idea the financial impact on a AS/400 for just that simple upgrade?  And I
don't have the time to go futher on that topic...but clearly cost is a
factor...  But I digress....

People come out of college with a comfort level based on what they know.
They know what they learned in school.  They BUY and PROMOTE systems based
on what they KNOW.  They bring the tools to the workplace based on what
they KNOW.  And, as many out of work AS/400 folks are learning, they also
hire on what they know...   They are not coming out of schools knowing
what OS/400 is.  Ergo, no reason to buy or promote it in their workplace.

Joe, we've had almost a full IT generation come through the school systems
since IBM really stopped promoting midrange in the schools on a serious
basis...and I don't consider a handful of PIE community colleges serious.
The vacuum left in the schools has been gleefully replaced by Microsoft
and unix mutations/dialects...and that will eventually be linux
mutations/dialects.  THAT TREND IS CLEAR.  Even IBM will admit it and
has in public futures sessions of user groups.

Joe, I still think this platform is the technically strongest and
supported by some of the best folks available.  It is and will be my
platform of preference to promote and develop on.  However, I'm not sure
that alot of the market place agrees with either one of us...which really
sucks...

...and I'm actually writing this before coffee....amazingly coherent for
this hour of the morning... :)

Don in DC