Re: i5 Youngsters

On 1/15/08, Mike Cunningham <mcunning@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Real life example of Microsoft thinking. We recently "upgraded" from Exchange 2005 to 2007. In doing so we got some new functionality but we also lost some functionality, mostly in Outlook Web Access which happens to be our primary method to access Exchange. When contacted about it Microsoft said they would be putting those functions back in Service Pack 1 for 2007. I have never know IBM to remove something only to put it back in a service pack.

Yes, Exchange 2007 RTM didn't ship with Public Folder Support in OWA.
This was, however, in no way surprising. It has been explicitly stated
in all pre-release beta versions, and it was known BEFORE RTM that the
Public Folder support will be added back with SP1.

This is not a problem. If you needed public folders, you could have
just waited till SP1 was out. Many Exchange deployments do not need
public folders, because their functionality has long been obsoleted by
MOSS and SPS.

OTOH: Microsoft releases often and early. You can get easy access to
beta versions of new software, and test all your functionality, setup,
and make an assesment if the new software fits to your needs.

IBM doesn't do that. For a small scale ISV like us it is impossible to
test compatibility with i5/OS V6R1 before GA. This means we'll have to
scramble to fix eventual problems when V6R1 is out, and can't handle
proactive.