Re: Cloud and the future of IBM i

The part about not immediately putting it to use I can understand. I hadn't
thought about it that way. I know a lot of people that started the learning
process by building a simple web application - instant feedback that
reinforces the learning process.

Jim


On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 9:31 AM Rob Berendt <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

One thought I have is that when learning new stuff you really want to see
some immediate payback. Ok, "Hello World" type applications help to build
confidence but to really learn stuff you have to start using it right away.
Let me start from a new angle. When you take a class, or attend a seminar
on some new language, technique, etc and you aren't planning on using it
for 6 months you tend to lose a lot of what you've learned.
So, with RPG or whatever if you can't put some into use right away you
won't retain it.
I really do not think that anyone with no exposure to it would learn it
anyway on their own without an immediate opportunity to put it into use.
Not really where the home hobbyist is going to groove.
So I do not think that peddling free or near to free Power systems loaded
with IBM i is going to flood the markets with new RPG programmers.

Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1
Group Dekko
Dept 1600
Mail to: 2505 Dekko Drive
Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to: Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Jim
Sent: Friday, March 6, 2020 9:22 AM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Cloud and the future of IBM i

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Although I mostly lurk here, and play around with obsolete hardware some, I
have some thoughts I'd like to share with the group.

It seems that much of the success of the Linux and Windows world is the
fact that people can just download stuff and start playing with it on their
own. It's what they're exposed to, sometimes from a very young age. You
couldn't really do this with IBM i, as one wasn't able to walk into Best
Buy and obtain hardware capable of running it even if it was freely
downloadable.

Even as an outsider, I probably could write a book about what IBM *should*
have done with Power Architecture, and IBM i. The past is the past, though.

So what about cloud? Is IBM using, or planning to, use this as a method of
attracting new interest to the platform? Are there third-parties offering
tools or access to cloud hosted environments for learning and
experimentation? Or is it more of the same - nothing freely available, one
must pay hundreds of dollars for tools or access in order to play around
with it?
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