Software vendors and their antiquated systems... (rant on)

When you go to install a new software package (this week) and they list prerequisites like:
5761-TC1
5733-AC3
You just want to scream!
First of all, 5761-TC1 hasn't been supported since 2015 (2019 if you wanted to shell out some serious coin for very limited support). This has been replaced by 5770-TC1.
5733-AC3 hasn't been an option since V5R3 and was rolled into the base OS as part of V5R4.

As I've always said, I'm more impressed by a vendor who is ready to support the newest release of IBM i on GA date than one who can still support V2R3. I can almost guarantee you that we'll be running rNext within a month of GA date. And I detest having to deal with vendors who drag their feet supporting the new release. In fact, this was the primary reason we switched vendors for two major systems: H/A and change management.

IBM has announced they will be putting out new releases of IBM i every 3 years. So spring of 2022 is likely for the new release. If you are a vendor there's a couple of things you need to be doing:
One - Get involved with IBM Early Programs. Good luck finding a working link on IBM's website for Early Programs for IBM i. I reported these broken links to the director of IBM i Early Programs and she cannot find who runs that website.
Two - If you have less than a P9 then you need to decide if you're going to upgrade your box, or rent a space on someone else's system. There's always those vendors who hope that some customer will test it out for them and let them know. 7.3 was the last release to support P7's and I'm betting the trend continues and that 7.4 will be the last to support P8's. Lack of vendor (at the time, IBM) testing on P9's and us still using a P8 for our test system lead greatly to us switching to O365 off of Domino for email although we still use Domino extensively for other applications (and still develop using it).
Three - Forget about getting any useful information from the IBM planning site for "future" releases. Years ago it used to be useful but they've not put any real future stuff on it until formal announcements for the last few releases. Although they did publish that IBM i 7.3 would be the last release to support P7's almost a year prior to the 7.4 announcement. (July 2018 vs April 2019).
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/687283
Maybe they're waiting for this?
https://bit.ly/3BuJ3nH

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Rob Berendt
--
IBM Certified System Administrator - IBM i 6.1
Group Dekko
Dept 1600
Mail to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Suite 104
Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
Ship to: 7310 Innovation Blvd, Dock 9C
Ft. Wayne, IN 46818
http://www.dekko.com