Re: George Farr declaresfeaturespecificpricingonhorizonfor WDSC

If IBM were a one minded organization I think they could go the route of
making their tools free.  But I don't think their System i5 people share
profits well with the software development teams.  That is entirely from the
outside looking in.  The other reason IBM's software development can't sell
boxes is because most of the money goes to Java tooling which is inherently
platform independent, so guess what IBM... you just shot yourself in the
foot.  I don't think I will ever understand their stance on platform
independence... and I am a Java programmer!!!

Aaron Bartell



-----Original Message-----
From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Pete Helgren
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 12:49 PM
To: Websphere Development Studio Client for iSeries
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] George Farr
declaresfeaturespecificpricingonhorizonfor WDSC

Aaron,

You said :" those tools need to be paid for whether it be through an annual
purchase of SW Maint, compiler purchase, or off the shelf feature pricing."

I am not sure I completely agree.  Paid for, yes.  But the license fee is is
minuscule compared to what IBM really wants here: Hardware and services
sales.  This is what baffles me a bit with hardware and services companies.
It's the old razor blades and razors analogy.  If you give away the razor,
you make your money on the blades.  I think if IBM is struggling with System
i adoption, then having MORE applications that drive hardware sales would be
a logical way to encourage sales. A GREAT way to encourage development of
"must have" applications is to give away the tools to develop them with. 

Microsoft did just this early on in its developer program.  The tools were
practically free and guess what, there are a ton of .NET developers because
of that.  There might be better tools at higher prices now, but the initial
developer program was "seeded' by free tools and they are still easy ways to
get a free copy of the tools now.  A copy of the standard version of Visual
Studio can be had by sitting in a webcast. A Full copy of Visual Studio
Professional is only $799.00 retail. VS 2005 application development leads
to more Microsoft-centric applications and therefore more OS and Office
sales.  Beautiful!

If IBM would think outside the box a bit here they could solve not only this
new thorny issue of WDSc pricing but solve the larger issue of why System i
sales are not meeting expectations.

Pete Helgren


albartell wrote:

I can see I have hit a sensitive spot with you John, but in my defense 
I have only been a contractor for a couple years now.  I have lived 
where you are living.  You must also understand that every shop that I 
go into may not have the money for the things that I am in support of, 
which will inevitably mean I will not be able to use the WDSC tooling when

working for them.

Am I drinking WDSC Kool-Aid?  Maybe.  I have drank Java Kool-Aid 
before and thrown it up years later.  I think the reality of the 
situation is this: No money to pay developers, no second-to-none 
tooling.  Am I fine with most of what I have today in WDSC, yes.  But 
they (WDSC dev team) might be able to raise their development to the 
next level (concerning feature sets) and if that costs me more $$ to 
get it in 1yr vs. 5yrs then many would say it is worth it.

My previous employer is making a grand switch to .NET.  Wanna know why?
Tooling/Software.  Plain and simple.  Microsoft has some pretty nice 
integration amongst all of their products and I can see why the 
decision was made.  What if IBM would have had the tooling available 
to them two years ago?  They wouldn't have had to introduce an 
entirely new development environment into the scenario which costs a lot

of $$$.

I guess in the end we both are on the same page, just getting there 
through different means.  We both agree that somehow those tools need 
to be paid for whether it be through an annual purchase of SW Maint, 
compiler purchase, or off the shelf feature pricing.  Note that I am 
not saying that you agree with me on the pay-by-feature deal:-) It 
will be interesting to see where it goes.

Aaron Bartell
  
  

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