AHA!
ROB is the the problem!
He is the one that is driving up IBM services revenues!
(sorry, couldn't resist that)
rob@xxxxxxxxx
Sent by:
midrange-l-bounce To
s@xxxxxxxxxxxx Midrange Systems Technical
Discussion
<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
11/18/2008 02:48 cc
PM
Subject
RE: Food for Thought
Please respond to
Midrange Systems
Technical
Discussion
<midrange-l@midra
nge.com>
Define "customer". Is a customer someone who purchased a product 10 years
ago, was told that if they wanted upgrades in the future they would have
to pay an annual maintenance contract but decided not to and now wants the
upgrade for nothing including no back maintenance? So, why should they be
treated better than someone who paid the maintenance religiously? For
example, if I run up a huge cell phone bill and decide I can't pay should
it be the cell phone companies responsibility to renegotiate with me and
write off some of the debt while not throwing rebates routinely at the
customers who pay their bills on time?
Now, there's some argument in your favor for those cases where someone is
paying their maintenance on time but simply want to upgrade their hardware
to a comparable, but newer box and the vendor wants more than a token
license transfer fee.
If a customer is paying such maintenance and only calls the support center
once then either they are:
- not taking advantage of all the tools at their disposal
- underutilizing the asset and not pushing the envelope
- getting ready to switch to another product and do not want to know that
this package would do it, if they only asked.
I consider the week lost if I don't open up a pmr with IBM.
Rob Berendt
--
Group Dekko Services, LLC
Dept 01.073
Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com
From:
"Paul Nelson" <nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:
"'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:
11/18/2008 11:15 AM
Subject:
RE: Food for Thought
Sent by:
midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Here's another morsel to chew on: Why do the ISV's penalize long-term
customers who want to stay with their software, and only need a license
key
for a new machine. How many times has an i customer left the platform
because of extortionist "currency" fees?
I include IBM in this list. I had a former customer leave when IBM wanted
$35K just to create a new SWMA. In the 6 years the customer had the
platform, they called the support line a grand total of once. You can
imagine what the owner of the company (heavy construction) said when he
was
told what IBM was demanding. It would have made Jimmy Hoffa blush.
Paul Nelson
Office 512-392-2577
Cell 708-670-6978
nelsonp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ingvaldson, Scott
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 8:55 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: Food for Thought
Don is right on target here.
My previous employer has been planning the demise of the i since 2001,
even though in addition to the enterprise application that it hosts it
also hosts two legacy applications and the Domino server. The (current)
stated reason for this is that i guys are "too expensive and too hard to
find." After six years I finally decided to seek new employment when I
overheard that a junior Windows admin was demanding $10K more than me to
accept a position and they were going to pay it because they were so
desperate for someone they could train.
This year they finally decided that they had no choice but to spend $30K
to upgrade their aging 810 into a used 520, because their three year,
multi-million dollar project to migrate the enterprise application to
Windows servers has not yet proven to be reliable and scalable.
The stated cost of downtime for that application is $8K an hour, and
they run it on a server with a salvage value under $1K!
Call it what you like, but the i is not the problem.
Regards,
Scott Ingvaldson
Senior IBM Support Specialist
Fiserv Midwest
-----Original Message-----
From: Don [mailto:dr2@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 6:43 AM
To: 'Midrange Systems Technical Discussion'
Subject: RE: Food for Thought
Well, that's a HUGE load of crap. I don't think you've talked to many
people in the market place, Trevor.
What we've found from surveying the current and past members of the DC
user's group and good sample of the current and former user base in VA,
DC, MD, WV and DE is that the new management that's coming in to the
company DOES NOT KNOW the (insert Trevor's latest politically correct
name here).
They NEVER learned it in school, they didn't learn it coming up from the
ranks...etc... Uh, we've had this conversation before, you just refused
to listen.
Current management has been trained on Windows, Unix mutations and
Mainframe for the VAST predominance. They have not been trained or
exposed to (insert
here) in the least! I've spoken with MANY CIO's and higher level corp
types..and the top two reasons that are taking the vast majority of the
responses are:
I'm moving to (platformx) BECAUSE IT'S WHAT I KNOW.
I'm moving to (platformx) because that's where the APPLICATION is and
MANAGEMENT has made the decision and told me to implement the
application, which runs on (platformx). MANY former (insert here) users
have been directly told by their management something like "forget the
(iseries)! If you want your job, you do what I tell you and implement
(platformx)!" Guess what!? They like being able to pay their mortgage.
This ISN'T my opinion...this is coming form surveying and ACTUALLY
TALKING TO a lot of the user base in mid-atlantic!
This is frankly hard market analysis that we have to deal with in Mid
Atlantic...Now, things may be different for Trevor down in Long
Island...
But in the rest of the world, and after talking with my fellow
leadership in the User Group community, our findings are not really much
different from what's happening in the other places.
SO, Trevor, please, stop promoting Trevor and understand the market
place.
You need to realize that IBM has allowed this marketplace to evolve this
way as part of THEIR corporate strategy and frankly I don't think they
give a tinker's damn about your or me, individually....it's all about
services...
SO, Trevor, I recommend you focus your efforts to getting sytem-I in the
SCHOOLS, colleges and universities, broaden the base of applications,
actually do marketing and education to higher levels of management as
well as to those coming up through the ranks, so that they actually know
that this is the superior environment that we've all known and
appreciated....but also keep in mind, you're fighting a $33 billion
market cap company called IBM...
As for the rest of us, it's clearly time to evolve...and I don't have to
say I like it...
DR2
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Trevor Perry
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 7:05 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Food for Thought
Because the current users of the IBM i are telling them that it is an
AS/400.
And, everyone knows... an AS/400 is old.
On 11/18/08 6:35 AM, "Michael Ryan" <michaelrtr@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
We all know the i is the bestest system in the world. But something I
puzzle about...why are all those folks with advanced computer science
degrees, or people with MBAs, and people with years of experience
picking Windows/Linux? Are they stupid? Are they just caught up in the
hype? Is this declining group of data processors (us) smarter than the
rest? While I like to think I'm a bright boy, I also realize there are
a bunch of other folks out there that know more about computers,
capabilities, and productivity than I'll ever know. Just curious...
--
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