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

Yes, as far as I recall they do as I used it often, but mainly for testing
on older OS versions since I'm normally up to date.

Now, if I want to vent it would be the impossibility of getting in contact
with a new BP (mine seem to retire or leave IBM every year) to pay
maintenance agreements. It's never been so hard to give someone money...

This year they at least sent an email (very poorly formatted, and of course
instructions on it do not match the website it references at all). But of
course, I get no reply when contacting them after finally finding the
contact info they refer to in the email. And it turns out the contact
email is the same that SENT THE REMINDER!... lol...

On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 11:56 AM Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think IBM still has a program whereby ISVs can spin up a partition on an
IBM i server to test their software at new release levels.

I find it rare that a vendor doesn't support a new IBM i release because
IBM does such a noteworthy job of supporting code that was developed on
prior releases. I can only ever recall having to make a minor change in my
application to run on a new IBM i release.

Depending on the type of application, vendors may or may not want to
"incorporate" new IBM i "features".



On Mon, Aug 30, 2021 at 8:07 AM Rob Berendt <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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been replaced by 5770-TC1.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

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&partnerref=Pwrpromoband&eventid=3313316&sessionid=1&key=687B8560C892AE5D40F22FAF3A24A9BC&regTag=&V2=false&sourcepage=register&_ga=2.224504794.1781394597.1629812256-861176937.1619789501

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

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