IBM iSeries Advertisements -- MIDRANGE-L

William and Rick,

Re: the new advertisements showing how the iSeries is different and
superior:

William:  The rest of the IT world(the group the advertising supposedly
is targeting and not the iSeries groupies) is easily convinced about the
iSeries being "different" but what argument or statements are used in
the commercials to convince the IT world the iSeries is "superior". 
Superior?  Watch saying that in the rest of the IT world or they will
take you to task, they will see you as another religious zealot and
therefore not be seen as an objective IT professional.   

I can understand the iSeries world wanting some publicity, to be "seen"
by the rest of the world and to look like they are not an "also ran"
with respect to the rest of the IBM platforms and OSes.  The thing that
worries me is everyone even talking much about the new advertisement. 
It sounds too much like the fervor that happened in the OS/2 world where
its users and developers felt like they were not really in the fold, and
they weren't.    And, of course, we all know what happened to that OS.  
But, there is hope, ... if the iSeries devotees move toward the rest of
the IT world, at least from the outside while keeping their good stuff
on the inside, they might not find themselves worrying so much about how
much "play" they get in the advertising world.   They will be getting
all the play they need because they will be thought of as a serious
contender for new web apps, etc., and not Windoz 2000 or better or some
Unix flavor.   

Rick:  You wrote the following: "I agree. It certainly does the heart
good to read some good news about the 
> iSeries.
> 
> Joe, in the article you urge us to "Show them the benchmarks that
prove
> that
> RPG outperforms Java by a wide margin; even IBM's own internal
numbers
> show
> it." Can you point us to where we might find these benchmarks? I'd
really
> like to see IBM's numbers."

Here, again, I'd be careful in saying this outside the iSeries world as
other IT professionals will laugh at statements about comparison between
RPG and Java.  The main reason is Java..., for good or ill, is a WIDELY
accepted programming standard for building WEB apps, which is where
everything is going and not "green screen" RPG apps.   While RPG has
been around for a long time (I first learned it in 1970), you won't find
it even TALKED about in normal IT circles that are building apps for the
Web.  What I'm suggesting is, learn the new way of building
applications, before staying with the old too long makes you a member of
an group not much in demand on the world stage.   

While some, still tout benchmarks(boy, again does this take me back to
the days of the OS/2 wars), you have to be realistic and look at the
"lay of the land" with regard to where apps are being developed, on the
whole, get on the band wagon and be careful of falling on your sword
with respect to picking nits over benchmarks.   Now , I'm not saying
that Java is the end-all, be-all and it probably does perform like a
dog, but...What I'm saying is, think about developing anything new in a
modern language and not a legacy one.  It will make you more valuable to
your employer and yourself.   

I just want the iSeries and its devotees to be seen as a modern
platform that is seriously considered  in the overall world of
application development.

Take care,

Dave