Though a reduction in benefits has put the squeeze on COMMON volunteers, the resulting policy is fair and necessary, says COMMON president.

Written by Chris Smith

Despite the reduction in volunteer benefits, there is a waiting list of speakers who want to conduct educational sessions at COMMON'S upcoming 50th anniversary conference in Orlando, Florida, this spring, according to Wayne Madden, COMMON president.

Software vendor chides IBM for allowing a marketing vacuum to develop around the IBM i platform.

Written by Chris Smith

The iManifest movement received a high-energy drink in one gulp last week as Business Computer Design (BCD) and its outspoken director of sales and marketing gave the organization a cash donation and committed to promoting the young organization's logo on all future marketing materials.

The company's refresh of its Systems Operations Suite adds application monitoring to an already-rich collection of message, monitor, and automation functions.

Written by Chris Smith

Think of the recession as an adventure in which you have to improvise and test your imagination and resourcefulness in ways that you haven't been challenged to do before. Talk about making an organization lean and mean—yikes. Pretend you're out there on the road and all you've got going for you is a good Swiss Army knife; could you survive?

Frequent business presentations in the Mideast clearly articulate the benefits of the i operating system.

Written by Chris Smith

With all the talk about iManifest in Japan, Europe, and the United States, we couldn't help but notice a report out of Saudi Arabia last month about a series of IBM promotional events called "Move Up to i Roadshows."

IBM expands Web-based email while teaming with Canonical to introduce a new Linux-based software package for desktops.

Written by Chris Smith
IBM introduced a new business-class Web-based email and calendaring service last week that promises to simplify email administration, while still offering flexible and robust services. The announcement came at the same time that IBM said it was teaming with Canonical on a new personal computing software package for notebooks and other thin-client devices. The trend is toward lean and mean, and IBM is betting it will get a big reception in countries unable to pay high prices for proprietary desktop software.

Registering gets you a free stay at one of Las Vegas' best hotels, the Rio All-Suite.

Written by Chris Smith

There are a few things that you don't do in a down economy. Number one, you don't pass up an opportunity for the government to give you $4,500 for your old jalopy. Number two, you don't pass up the chance for an $8,000 government grant toward a new home for yourself or your first-time-buyer kids. And number three, you don't pass up a limited opportunity for a free hotel stay at next month's iSeries DevCon 2009.

It's time for us in the U.S. to step up to the plate.

Written by Jeff Olen

I've been developing applications on IBM midrange systems for over 20 years. I started on the System/34 and progressed through all the incarnations up to and including IBM i (or whatever it's being called today). In all that time, two things have remained consistent. First, IBM has always under-marketed IBM i and under-estimated the midrange market. Specifically,  IBM i, under all its various names, seems to have been left floundering while other systems were marketed to death (lesser systems in this author's opinion). Second has been the almost fanatical loyalty of the IBM i users, including me. While IBM seems content to allow IBM i to ride off into the sunset, we, the users, are decidedly not. But are we willing to do anything about it?

IBM's Ian Jarman talks with MC Press Online editors and says that while the platform is enhanced to run three operating systems in a virtualized environment, many customers will continue to buy the more traditional solution.

Written by Chris Smith

Editor's Note: I'm traveling this week, but below is one of my more popular articles, which first appeared in the March 17, 2008, issue of MC Systems Insight. It is an interview with Ian Jarman, manager of IBM Power Systems Software, in which Jarman lays out the future of the Power Systems platform, including RPG and IBM i OS, as envisioned by IBM. We invite readers to express their views in the MC Press Online forums about whether the vision expressed here more than a year and a half ago is coming to pass or whether there have been more abrupt changes in direction of the platform.