Re: iSeries down 18%? Ugh

I don't know what to think.  I love the platform and I loved that IBM 
showed concern for the platform at the Fall '05 COMMON.  However, I'm 
beginning to think they pulled a fast one on us.  They didn't lie, they 
just got us excited about the ads and carefully phrased the other things 
they said around that.  "The i5 is going to be the model for the IBM 
Systems Agenda moving forward."  Then they showed us a couple of great ads 
for the iSeries (not a word of i5 in the ads as I recall).

However, since COMMON, I've seen the same ad over and over and over again 
-- except that it's not the iSeries, it's blade servers, xSeries, etc., 
etc., etc.  The iSeries is the model for the IBM Systems Agenda moving 
forward -- it's not the center of attention.  They're just trying to make 
their other systems more like it.  I see the iSeries version of the ad run 
a few times in iSeries publications.  I would rather IBM quit wasting the 
budget selling the box to me and spend some more putting ads in places 
where it can have a genuine impact.

I've been pushed back to a "wait and see" attitude.