Mark,
You have made some great points. I appreciate that you are kicking ideas
around, rather than doom+gloom. This is the kind of debate that is needed.
I am not an advocate of the name 'changes'. And, in fact, if you have read
anything I have written here since April, I have stopped pushing anything
related to the name 'change'. I am an advocate of promoting the platform. I
am an advocate of promoting the future of the platform, not living in the
glorious past. To put it simply, if you replace your current server and OS,
or if you buy a new one from IBM, then you will be ordering IBM i on a Power
System.
And yes, I see that as a NEW platform, albeit one that can run our heritage
as we need. And, even if that is just a marketing statement, it takes away
the attack by the opposition that it is just another old AS/400. You talk
about marketing, but have you considered this may be one of the MOST
effective marketing tools we have?
IBM definitely should be marketing their systems. And, in fact, they do.
What the average person does not see is the ad on tv, or in the airline
magazine, etc. Because IBM does not do those for IBM i. If you don't see
those, does that mean IBM are not marketing? Read the transcript of the
Fireside chat with Ross Mauri (
http://isociety.org/Chat20081111.html) Quote:
"our marketing spend to attract new customers is not TV ads ... it's
investment in co-marketing programs with ISVs ... we have seen real results
from those types of programs because they speak directly to customers
business needs more so than a generic TV spot"
My point is, that instead of complaining about what IBM are supposedly not
doing, we as a community should DO something. And 'marketing' is just one of
those things. I regularly ask user groups several questions. 1. How many of
you told someone else about the i this week/month/year. The number of people
who have is ALWAYS small. Very small to none. 2. How many of you called
someone and invited them to this meeting? Again, small to none. 3. How many
of you come to this user group even when there is a topic you are not
interested in. Again, none to small. What I see is a lot of noise about how
things are not going 'my way', but when asked to do simple things that may
cost you nothing, yet help promote the FUTURE of the platform (as opposed to
the glorious past), our community shuts down (and says I am harassing them
about a 'name'). Poor defense, really.
You say "Once IBM steps up to the plate and does what it should" as though
you know what IBM ~should~ do. Have you any suggestions about how to run a "
multi-billion dollar corporation"? Or the marketing thereof? If you did,
then we could get all our ideas together in the one place - er, say a forum?
and we could SHOW IBM what we mean - rather than just complaining. I tried
that when we had System i - with i4everyone.com, but it was rather lonely
out there. Yeah, I know, we are all programming and have little time to
'play'. But, I believe in the platform, and I believe in its future, and I
am willing to invest in its future. You want one of my iGuru buttons? Or,
would you prefer iNerd? Those cost ~me~, but I think they have had an impact
on the world - one button at a time.
I remember a few COMMON conferences back where iSociety handed out over 30
Podcast Factory packages, and they got promises from all of those people to
make a podcast to promote System i. Do you know how many i podcasts were
produced with those? ZERO. How do we get people to DO something - anything
at all to PROMOTE the platform. Not just say great things, but say them
where OTHER people can read them? Not just say we will do something, but DO
it.
And, while "Shouting how great this system is does not make the reality of
the lost sales and clients any less painful or any less real" may be true,
shouting (showing your passion and being active about it) is ONE of the ways
we as a community can DO something at little to NO cost.
Shout on.
Trevor
On 11/19/08 10:30 AM, "M. Lazarus" <mlazarus@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
Trevor,
I'd like to address a few points you've made.
- You mention FUD. Is this truly misplaced FUD by a few wimps or is
there a real basis for some fear, uncertainty and doubt? By and
large, for the last 20 years, the faithful have been telling anyone
that will listen that this is the greatest business platform out
there. *WE* have been doing our jobs spreading the word. It's IBM
that has let the ball drop - over and over again.
- You are an advocate of the name changes. Your position is that it
succeeds in giving the world the impression that this revamped
midrange box is now a new and improved product. Most of the people
in the trenches, as voiced very loudly on this list, DISAGREE with
that assertion. Why? Because we are the ones speaking to out
clients and potential customers. The customers do not know or care
what it is called. They want to know:
1) What will it cost?
2) What can it do for me?
3) What does it look like?
The answers are:
1) INITIALLY more than a Windows or Linux solution. So we lose out
on the sale, when a side by side short term comparison is made. Few
companies are looking at the long term picture, when it comes to IT
budgets. This has been true for a while, but is more acute now.
2) We've got some great business applications, but basic
functionality that everyone expects to be included in ALL systems
nowadays, e.g. graphical integration, printing, email management,
etc. are sorely stuck in the last decade.
3) To a user, the interaction with the computer *IS* the
computer. The current state of the native screen output looks tired,
compared to just about any other system the user has dealt with.
As I mentioned above, we are doing our part. IBM's marketing is
not. IBM has millions (or even billions) of marketing dollars to
spend. We do not. Once IBM steps up to the plate and does what it
should, the faithful will have something real to shout from the
rooftops. Until then, existing customers will be leaving and few new
customers will be joining.
Is it just me or is it a ludicrous notion that a multi-billion
dollar corporation needs our charitable marketing contributions to
keep a profitable product line alive???
BTW, despite what you may think, this is NOT a gloom+doom, "all is
lost" post. We're on this list to get the most out of the system and
kick around ideas on how to promote its success. Shouting how great
this system is does not make the reality of the lost sales and
clients any less painful or any less real.
-mark
midrange.com
