RE: New list proposal - OSS400 - iSeries open source software

["jt" <jt@xxxxxx>]

Tom,

man...


...you are one of the clearest voices of experience in this Community...
Once again, you got this one right.. IMV, and this should be the first post
of the new list (if any).

jt

| -----Original Message-----
| From: midrange-nontech-admin@midrange.com
| [mailto:midrange-nontech-admin@midrange.com]On Behalf Of
| thomas@inorbit.com
| Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2002 10:18 PM
| To: midrange-nontech@midrange.com
| Subject: Re: New list proposal - OSS400 - iSeries open source software
|
|
| On Wed, 09 January 2002, Martin Rowe wrote:
|
| > And let's face it, the iSeries is a niche server
|
| Except for price, this doesn't have to remain true. Some critical
| mass of open-source might make a difference. What with all the
| recent integrated support for open standards and facilities such
| as PASE, the "niche" can be expanded quickly. Much of the price
| has to do with software costs that open-source could help offset.
|
| Unfortunately, an open-source movement tends to be in conflict
| with commercial software developers. For example, while I might
| gladly contribute to an open-source "UIM development environment"
| or "ObjectREXX compiler" project, it'd likely be a few years
| before I assisted in any way with any project involving security
| monitoring or auditing or similar. The troublesome point is that
| a given project often loses those with the most to contribute.
|
| OTOH, a wide base of contributors can offset that loss and even
| 'experts' can benefit from the progress of a project.
|
|
| >  I reckon that some could do it, with the right range of
| > supporting services, but I expect most of it will continue to be from
| > individuals or small groups that have a day job to support them.
|
| Where it would get nice would be when IBM would finally make a
| significant contribution. Eclipse for Linux demonstrates that
| it's conceivable. I'd think the bad publicity from _NOT_
| contributing to such a project for their own proprietary system
| might be enough to raise the odds. At the very least, we'd all
| have a better idea of IBM's real future plans for the iSeries.
|
| Tom Liotta