Re: Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch -- MIDRANGE-L

Mark,

I am not arguing to hold out on a GUI. There are so many people doing GUI onSystem i that is utter crap, but they still do it. And those are the peoplewho give the AS/400 name more bad press.

Yes, IBM seem to be planning your "EXFMT" option. In the meantime, though,there ARE tools that are NOT hard to configure, NOT hard to debug, and NOTresource hogging solutions. Yes, they are third party, but that does notmean they should be avoided. The System i legacy IS THIRD party...


Trevor

----- Original Message -----From: "M Lazarus" <mlazarus@xxxxxxxx>

To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 9:37 AM
Subject: Re: Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch

Trevor,

The name becomes important when the much larger issues get resolved.
Pronouncing the Target store chain "Tar-zhay" does not make them an
upscale store.

When I say native GUI, I don't mean add-ons, screen scrapers, 3rd party
solutions, hard to configure, hard to debug, resource hogging solutions.
I mean an integrated, full player in the GUI arena.  This needs to be as
available to the RPG as the EXFMT keyword is.

The 5250 interface, despite its *vast* array of colors and fonts <vbg>,
looks and feels very dated.  When a demo is given to a prospect, that's
what he feels - that it's old - even if you wrote it yesterday.

If someone can't write a decent screen, then you're right, a GUI wouldn't
help them.  How is that an argument to withold it from those that can?

-mark

And just as you think the name is not important, I don't believe having a
native GUI is key to our future. There are lots of native GUIs - just as
Linux has KDE or Gnome for their desktop, i5/OS has many native IBM and
third party choices for GUI. You just have to use the right one in the
right
manner.

Besides, there are very few System i developers who can even configure
their
iSeries Access windows to show any design sense - how would a GUI help
them?

Get a Designer, get a decent GUI tool, and take GUI out of the equation.
This is already more than possible...


----- 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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