Re: p and i systems reliability

Yeah. I got that. The article was about *server* platforms and it was noteworthy that the i and p (power platforms) were the most reliable. I'd wish for that for my desktop platform as well but I *do* run Windows on one of my laptops because of the tools I use for development. And, sadly, Power is no longer supported by our friends at Microsoft. Maybe NT 3.51 *could* run on Power6+ (*THAT* I would like to see). I'll dig out my old WinNT 3.51 for PPC disks...they gotta be here somewhere.....

I don't deny that it would be hard to live a life without using a Windows based platform somewhere. But in this case the point I was making was if your sole criteria for a server is reliability, you better be running Power with AIX or IBM i. They are the top. Reliability isn't the only factor of course. The availability of applications probably trumps that, but it is certainly something to consider. I know of at least a dozen school districts who have no IT staff to run their business applications, and don't need one, because they are running on an i. They spend their IT budgets on "instructional" and web applications running on farms of Mac's and Windows Servers and PC's.

"And most small businesses already struggle with one platform."

And there's the pity. An i bundled with a "Small Business Suite" of applications that anyone could run and manage would be a real plus (if it were affordable). I know. I run a small business myself and wish all my apps, soup to nuts, were running on our i. I am close, just not there (yet).

So, what we need is a "Run it all on i" challenge for a small business. Although the desktops would have to be Linux/Windows (unless you ran VNC desktops in PASE -- again, missing applications there) it would be cool to see a small business running their server apps all on the i.

Pete


Lukas Beeler wrote:

On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 22:37, Pete Helgren <Pete@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hmmm. Â So I should run my i as a desktop machine as well? Â Kind of a
waste of CPU cycles don't you think?

No - i wanted to illustrate that it's not as easy as you're trying to put it :)

The question usually isn't "IBM i or Windows" but "Windows or Windows + IBM i".
Windows offers a complete solution for most of your business needs.
The IBM i doesn't.

If you're a small shop and buy a new entry Power 520 you _NEED_ a
Windows machine just to configure your IBM i - OpsCon is the only way.

So it's a given that you'll need a Windows infrastructure. The only
question left is - do you want a second platform too? And most small
businesses already struggle with one platform.