Re: Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch

Trevor,

 You are reinforcing my position!  Who is responsible for getting the word
out - me?  You or IBM?  Who has the resources to do it?  IBM!  Who is the
largest beneficiary of getting the word out?  IBM!

 I need to communicate with customers or potential customers.  People
(outside of the fold) know the IBM Midrange box as AS/400.  (Although
it's usually followed by: "Is that system still around?  I thought it was
gone years ago!")  Explaining that it's the best business platform
around, new technology, new name, blah, blah, blah... usually gets a
polite smile, or an "Oh, really?"  In their minds, even the new
technology is sorely lagging behind (and it's hard to disagree on many
points.)

 Sorry, but pushing the new name is only a paint job on an aging car,
until the gaping holes are filled in.  It's fine to start using the new
name, but it's a small nit compared to the real problem.

 To address your DVD analogy, you can say that you're recording to disc. 
Does that mean a diskette, hard disk, CD-R, CD-RW, CD+R, CD+RW, DVD (with
all it's flavors), mini-disc, etc?  The answer, on a fairly high level,
is that it DOESN'T MATTER!  You are recording to some digital media.  A
similar analogy applies to the IBM Midrange platform.  The user knows
what we mean.  And they usually don't care.

 Its roots *are* in '70s and '80s technology.  That's not always a bad
thing - the technology is solid.  But in many areas that count, it's
showing its age.  Only IBM can realistically rectify that.  IBM should be
a leader, but they're barely a follower!  Around 12-15 YEARS after the
GUI started becoming popular on the desktop and the i5 doesn't have a
native, built-in GUI???

 That's just the reality, as I see it.

 -mark

Mark,

There is no name game refrain here. There is only ONE family name for this
platform - System i. No one knows about System i - yet it is the best
platform on the planet. Why don't they know? Because we keep calling it an
AS/400 - something from last century.

If WE, collectively, would start calling it System i, there would be less
of
the "it's old" refrain. Why this is not obvious, I cannot imagine. It is
like calling my DVD collection VHS - that was the precursor, not the
current
technology. That was the heritage, not the present. Who would you buy a
movie player from in today's world? Not the VHS salesman. Not the luddite
who says VHS is the best thing - even though they are using a DVD - or
even
a DVR for that matter.

We have to STOP saying AS/400 before we lose the System i.

Trevor


----- Original Message -----
From: "M. Lazarus" <mlazarus@xxxxxxxx>
To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 12:01 AM
Subject: Re: Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch

Trevor,

 We've heard the "name game" refrain for a while, but IMHO, that's
missing the mark by a long shot.  That's like saying that the entire
Ferrari line won't sell if I paint some pink.  As "modern" as this
platform is, there are some gaping holes that only IBM can fix, but
they choose not to.  I'll throw out a few, others can chime in with
additional items and details.

1) IBM seems to be embarrassed by the box.  Put a pSeries up against
an iSeries in a potential sale and chances are the pSeries will win,
if there's an IBM sales rep involved.  They don't market it
properly.  All of us in the field recognize that.  Since I don't
believe that the parade of IBM'ers over the years in charge of
marketing the box are stupid, the only conclusion I can come to is
that it's deliberately being sabotaged.  I don't know why, but I'm
not privy to those meetings.

2) A native GUI is mandatory.  I don't want to hear about HATS,
Websphere or other screen scraper technology.  A simple DDS interface
will make it accessible to the masses.  This needs to be part of the
OS, right out of the box, w/ no additional configuration required.

3) Printing and viewing popular PC images are a royal pain, without
conversions or add-ons.  Could you imagine if Microsoft charged extra
to print standard graphics files?

4) Pricing.  Take a page out of Microsoft's marketing
machine.  Purchasing this machine should be a slam dunk for any IT
manager.  IBM loves to throw out the 3-5 year ROI calculation when
trying to make a sale.  I say - keep that value and introduce a new
concept:  Being competitive with a PC server solution -
NOW!  Corporate wants to hear that we can budget and afford this
solution - NOW!  Shareholders want to hear that we saved money THIS
year, not in 3 - 5 years.
-----------

 The many name changes are just adding insult to injury.  But since
they're not marketing it properly, positive brand recognition is not
there anyway.



 -mark


At 12/7/06 11:59 PM, you wrote:

Way too long to read for the lack of any solution. It starts with a call
to
fight, carries on with a call to fight for an OUTDATED server (AS/400)
and
ends with suggestions for IBM to do something. That does not fly any
more -
we have to get off OUR collective behinds and DO something. IBM needs
OUR
help to keep this platform in OUR world.

You can't fight a fight for a system that is no longer available for
purchase - that is, an AS/400. While we keep on calling our platform an
AS/400, and still call ourselves AS/400 developers/programmers/people,
we
will remain stuck in the past and die the betamax death. We can write
all
we
want about what IBM should do, but writing does nothing if you are still
writing about AS/400. And this article switches between AS/400 and
System
i
like they are the same thing. If I.T. collectively thinks AS/400 is
outdated, then painting System i with the outdated "AS/400" brush is the
first thing to STOP DOING.

We work on System i - this is the family of servers which WERE AS/400
servers, THEN iSeries servers, but are now System i5. You do not buy a
new
AS/400 from IBM - you buy a System i5 server. This is THE most modern
platform on the planet, and if we just moved into the 21st century, we
would
not have to be "fighting the AS/400 fight".

Fight the System i fight.
AS/400 is our past, not our present.
AS/400 is our heritage, not our future.
AS/400 is dead. Long live the System i.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Palmer" <neilpalmer400mr@xxxxxxxx>
To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:27 PM
Subject: Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch

Well worth a read:

Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch

http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh120406-story03.html

Neil Palmer, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

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