RE: The Perpetual Myth of iSeries Obsolescence

>>  Me-
>> I do think it's ironic that the platform is perceived as 
>> obsolete because it hasn't forced its apps into
>> obsolescence.
>> I do think it's ironic that other platforms have been 
>> perceived as modern because they have forced previous
>> iterations into obsolescence.

>  JHHL-
>... The DOS/WinDoze world, on the other hand, has 
>always operated on a basis of "how can we dupe people into 
>buying more memory, fancier peripherals, or a whole new 
>system." Mac and Unix/Xenix/Aix/Linux/*x have mostly been 
>somewhere in the middle.

I've never really felt that the heart of the problem was a conspiracy to
resell.  There were (at least) two major factors though:

1)      There was no commitment to backwards compatibility.  For
relational databases and open operating systems, for example, despite
the claimed openness version upgrades often required a recertification,
recompile, or reengineering.  The platform dragged the apps along.
Those that weren't able to make the effort became obsolete due to
incompatibility.

2)      Apps were built on technologies that weren't worth upgrading, or
weren't worth carrying along for the ride.  Look at the evolution of
environments such as VB.  The original architecture doesn't have much
meaning in today's world.  New technology and new ideas made the
original premises impractical or irrelevant.  It has evolved from a
programming language to a methodology for presentation of applications.
There's no meaningful way to leave hooks in the code to allow legacy
programs to exist.

At any point in time these new technologies seemed obviously superior to
the primitive, monolithic, green-screen legacy applications.  I can
remember having similar "Wolverine can beat up Batman" arguments with PC
programmers back in the early days of client server development.
Neither side would imagine that the code they were developing would have
to be reworked for upgrades, trashed in the name of better products and
architectures, and redeveloped (probably more than once) in the coming
decade.

-Jim