Re: i5 Youngsters

On 1/15/08, Aaron Bartell <albartell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Why the System i, instead of using the (less expensive and faster) PC

hardware and then run Solaris x86, Linux or *BSD on it?
Familiarity would probably weigh in a lot. I also like the ease of use

Yes, but familiarity will not bring you new customers. It might
prevent existing customers from going away, though.

i5/OS offers over *nix (i.e. promptable commands, interactive displays like
WRKACTJOB, user/security administration, etc).

Well, the problem is that when running "modern" Software on i5/OS, all
those tools stop working more or less. Just try debugging a Web Query
problem. It's like normal unix debugging, only you only have a minimum
of the unix tools available. It's a mess.

I would challenge that though on topics like backups. With i5/OS basic
backing up (i.e. to tape) is included and therefore has much less a chance
of breaking than Windows and a third party package (i.e. upgrade to Vista
and you have to do testing to ensure your backup solution is 1) supported,
and 2) well tested by your staff before doing upgrades).

Well, you don't do backups of desktops. And, even if you do, Microsoft
has an included Backup Solution (ntbackup) in 2000, 2003, Windows
Server Backup in 2008, and Complete PC Backup in Windows Vista. They
all work. They're not fancy, though. Just like the i5/OS Standard
Backup System.

If you need more, you'll need to buy a Backup Suite like Veritas
BackupExec, just like you need to buy BRMS. And the System i can't
even backup over the network.

Glad you have had good experiences. That just isn't the case that I have
had. Dell didn't pull Vista because their customers were so please with
it's functionality and ability to work well with the software they had
already purchased. Microsoft jumps the gun, plain and simple. They are

Vista is slow on low end hardware. That's what dell sells. You'll need
current hardware if you want to run Vista smoothly. It was the same
when XP came out, it was the same when 2k came out.

i5/OS has the same problem. Try running V5R3 on a baseline model 170.
It will crawl. V5R4 alone needs an 4 arm system with more than 4GB of
RAM just to run it's administrative HTTP server, and you'll need a lot
of CPU too, like 3800 CPW in order to get a smooth response.

In the end: Current software requires current hardware. And IMO, i5/OS
is a lot worse then WS2003 or WS2008. You can run WS2003 on a machine
with 2x70GB and 1 GB of RAM. It will run decently. If you got a
baseline model 520 with 600 CPW about a year ago, everything will
crawl.

worldwide-enterprise-vendor-software-distribution/control. IMO, IBM has had
this under control for a lot longer and is still better at it - that's
important. Microsoft will catch up, but they still aren't there.

I disagree. Look where IBM is now - they have mostly given up on the
SW/HW market, and are retreating to being a service company. The
desktop computers have already been sold to Lenovo, the System x might
follow, and the legacy platforms will be milked till they're dry.

I've been using Google Apps Enterprise to host my mail account for half a

What would you say is lacking the most?

Integration. It's nice for reading my private mail, but it does not
integrate well with my other productivity apps. Heck, it's hard to
even get a decently working "new mail" notifier without an IM client
tacked on.

IMRC). You had them for 10+ years and they just didn't break. Compare that
to what we have now with desktop PC's everywhere, and the amount of
attention/money they need. That's our salary dollars going out the window
(no pun intenteded :-) going to pay for things like virus protection.

Yeah. Horses also have less problems than a current Mercedes full of
electronics. That doesn't mean we should go back to riding horses.

Web 2.0 will probably last a few more years, and then the "smart" internet
clients will start to take over as the browser becomes more of a client
simply used to load plugins for Silverlight, Flex3, JavaFX, and whatever
other vendor wants to play in that space.

I'll believe it when i see it. Web 2.0 as it is has little to do with
"normal" Businesses (those not in the technology market).