Re: IBM focused on i5/OS accounts instead of i5 system sales

["Steve Richter" <stephenrichter@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 5/7/07, Holden Tommy <Tommy.Holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I love your anti-iSeries rants/ravings....from the same articles (which
> you chose to exclude:
> "What I learned was that enabling more than 3,000 applications was not
> enough," Shearer said. "By having a more focused approach, we have been
> able to generate far more demand for the System i. We have found this to
> be a more effective approach compared to generic advertising and generic
> marketing."
>
> In the keynote address, Shearer said that since he has taken the helm of
> the System i division, IBM has invested over $1 billion in processors,
> operating system enhancements, systems software, and application and
> certification for the i5/OS platform.
>
> And he conceded that many i5/OS shops have told IBM that it charges too
> much for the i5, which has just about everything bundled in as well as
> integrated, and the new user-priced i5 515 and 525 systems were designed
> to address these concerns. "Many of you have said that you do not mind
> paying a fair premium for a System," he said, but indicated that going
> forward, IBM has understood that technical integration does not have to
> be equated with bundled software and functions. (Many of us have been
> banging this drum for years.) Shearer explained that with the new i5 515
> and 525 machines and the changes that IBM made software pricing on the
> existing i5 550, 570, and 595 machines--which can now have am i5/OS
> license for application serving that does not include DB2/400--were
> aimed at "pricing the i5 system to the value delivered." Such an
> attitude is, of course, something that many of us welcome for the i5/OS
> platform. And Shearer hinted that this was just the beginning. "We will
> bring this across the line, but it is not going to happen over night."
>
> As usual...you are anti-iSeries(or whatever they choose to call it)..so
> again I have to ask...why are you here?  As pointed out many times in
> the past...if we went to a Mac or Windoze forum or list and spouted
> stuff against the platform we'd be banned in 10 mins...

what are you giving me a hard time for? I am as disappointed as anyone
that the systems fortunes are lagging.  You have to listen to what the
IBM execs are saying. They have changed their thinking to see i5
accounts as an opportunity to sell IBM products. Same as Oracle or
Microsoft sees it.

-Steve