Okay. I was silently listening, but I couldn't forbear any longer.
date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:11:53 +0100
from: "Lukas Beeler" <lukas.beeler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: Re: iSeries revenue plummets
. . . The System i currently does not provide a
modern printing infrastructure.
Say what? What do you consider a modern printing infrastructure? I'm not
a printing guru, but there are features in IBM's AFP/IPDS infrastructure
to which other architectures don't come close. Do you want some $250K -
$1M printing system from another manufacturer? If you buy a System i and
use what is provided (or available) with it, you can generate *VERY*
robust printouts. Yes, IP Designer could be considered a little pricey,
but any professional grade print system is. And there are other effective
alternatives which generate the overlays, etc. for less money. I've
looked at them, but we went ahead and spent the money for IP Designer. We
really don't do a ton of fancy printing, but for what we've done it was
money well spent.
The AFP Printer driver
(http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psd1P4000187) does not
convert colors correctly.
So what are you using the printer driver for? To convert a MS-Word
document to an overlay? trying to do print emulation from the System i to
a PC attached printer? I certainly wouldn't call those a modern printing
infrastructure. Yes it's cheap, but you're not shooting for a robust,
modern printing infrastructure. (BTW, that printer driver was designed
for W2K. Does MS really support W2K anymore? I can think of a big name
vendor in the printing business who has dropped support for it. If you're
complaining something designed for a no-longer-supported OS isn't modern,
I don't even know how to respond to that. Okay, the driver also works in
XP which is pretty much the defacto standard, but that's not where it was
designed. I haven't generated overlays, etc. that way since I before got
off W98 or maybe it was W95.)
If you're printing a low volume, spending a couple thousand dollars on an
Infoprint laser with an AFP/IPDS card will do the trick. For high volume
printing, the printer will cost you more. And if that's the case,
spending a few thousand dollars for the software to set it up and drive it
shouldn't be that big a concern.
The printing architecture is quite capable. If you want something high
class, it generally costs you something to get it. If you're after a
low-budget solution, is it really honest to complain there is no modern
printing infrastructure? If you're defining modern printing
infrastructure as using MS-Word, there are ways to be very effective with
that. (Although, I wouldn't personally go that way.) Try "i5/OS and
Microsoft Office Integration Handbook" or I believe SystemiNetwork has
some courses available on it.
IMO,
Michael Quigley
midrange.com
