RE: Saving the System i: Fight Rather Than Switch

The user and vendor community could build a new GUI that works with green

screen apps, but such a thing would likely go nowhere if the base i5 remains
geared down and over priced.

This is one of the big downers of the iSeries IMO.  How does one gain access
to one if you don't work for a company that owns one?  I don't think
timeshare services count here as most people want to "play" like they "play"
on their PC.

What would absolutely rock is if IBM could expand their Virtual Loaner
Program to hobbyists instead of just ISV's.  I have used that service and
think it is very well put together and VERY automated.  It goes like this:
You create a reservation that allows you to have access to a VERY NICE
partition on a machine for two weeks or 1 month. At the end of the
reservation you can configure it to save an exact image of the partition
that you can then specify when you create your next reservation.  Very cool
approach.

Renewing your reservation every month is kinda a bummer, but well worth it
based on how easy it is (takes about 15 minutes to do it, and about two
hours for the instance to be loaded).

I just purchased(lease) my first machine and it was around $12k (entry
level).  Wonder what it would take to get that number down to $5k or even
$2k?  I am sure they could limit it enough to ensure that it was kept at a
"hobbyist" level.  Entry into the iSeries market is high for somebody that
has heard about it and "just wants to check it out".

Hmm...
Aaron Bartell