Re: Wow. -- MIDRANGE-L

> message: 2
> date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 12:17:33 -0500
> from: "Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> subject: Wow.
> 
> <disclaimer>
> I write for MCPress, and have done so now for many years.  My books are
> published by them as well, so take this post with the appropriate grain
> of salt.
> </disclaimer>
> 
> I found out today that iSeries Network has leapt brazenly into bed with
> Microsoft.  They are in fact teaming up with Microsoft for the "Midrange
> Modernization Tour" (shall we call it ".Net-apalooza") in which they
> promote the concept of "integrating" the iSeries into your "enterprise".
> 
> By this they mean first moving your applications off of the iSeries,
> using it as a big SQL server, and then finally moving your data to SQL
> Server.  They pay some lip service to "integration", but the primary
> players in this are folks like ASNA and their Monarch migration tool, or
> Iteration2 which migrates SAP customers to Microsoft Axapta.
> 
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/midrange/default.mspx
> 
> It's starting to get ugly, and it's interesting to watch who jumps ship
> first.
> 
> Joe

Joe,

Please define "jumps ship".  This is not some "Survivor" style contest
to see who can be last standing on the 400!  I am an ISV: because my
customers are local governments, I have precious little control over
what platforms they require.  I get fewer and fewer opportunities to
even BID on projects because the terms are already set in stone, and
more and more those terms require SQLServer.  As I see it, I have two
choices: I can be an iSeries loyalist and sink, or I can develop
alternatives.  I choose to develop alternatives, and I'm doing so with
IBM supplied tools such as the .Net Managed Provider.  One of my goals
is to help my customers keep the iSeries a viable part of their IT
structure, but my primary goal is to stay in business.

Truthfully, I like to stay out of these kinds of discussions, but I
worry though that we focus too much energy on being "anti-X", where X
can be Java, or Microsoft, or WebSphere, or Linux, or whatever
technology you want to choose.  Heck, some in our community are
anti-ILE!  We all have some technology that upsets us.  Many of us want
to go back to the days where our black boxes were the end-all-be-all of
our IT worlds.  The tough news is that it isn't going to happen.  Some
people on this list may make it to retirement as primarily RPG
programmers.  For most of us, however, it is time to embrace additional
technologies.  You, for one, have already done so with Java, WebSphere,
and Eclipse.  Please don't be so quick to judge people just because they
use Microsoft products instead of what IBM says they should use.

The little guy like me is left in the lurch, and if I have to turn to
non-IBM alternatives, that's IBM's fault, not mine.  They are already
forcing small Business Partners out of the loop: this year we will lose
our partnership for the first time in 20+ years because we weren't
"selected" by IBM to bid on a our own best customer's new hardware. 
These are people we speak with daily and have a great relationship with,
but since IBM won't approve us for the sale, we can't offer the discount
that some other company can.  The BP program has turned disgraceful, but
I digress.

So have I jumped ship because I code in .Net?  Have I jumped ship
because the software I'm developing runs equally well against SQLServer,
MySQL, PostgreSQL, or the iSeries?  Have I jumped ship because I don't
blindly follow the IBM party line?  I still enjoy RPG, but I want GUI. 
I want Object Oriented programming.  I want an easy to use IDE and I
greatly prefer .Net over Java.  Since I can't make customers buy what I
build, I'll have to build what customers will buy.  

The future is not in any single platform: it's in all of them.

Joel Cochran
http://www.rpgnext.com