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[Guest.Visitor]

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Mike, I think you are on the right track when you mention arrogance. The "King of the Hill" arrogance and the "They will do it my way" attitude of IBM for a lot of years has come to haunt them and the attitude is still present today. IBM has the most stable platform on the planet with the iSeries but the attitude has stopped them from making it a real player. Like it or not, SQL Server and Oracle are here and collecting a lot of data. If IBM is going to survive, they need to stop making excuses about DRDA compatibilty and give the RPG and COBOL people a reasonable method of accessing this external data.

[R.Daugherty]

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Yet another government Java Websphere software system failure in ComputerWorld, the Wisconsin Tax System. You would think that someone would catch on that everytime RPG and COBOL business system software on the AS/400 or, in this case, the mainframe is pitched and replaced with Java software on a J2EE server like Websphere, they are not happy. Not that they'll get their money back, but unhappy nonetheless. The system was reported to be more than three years old. That's the sorriest thing I've ever seen, trying to spin software developed in 2002 on Websphere as rusty, needs replaced, and you can betcha IBM is whispering sweet little nothings like SOA in their ear, that's the ticket, it's three years old, three years of failures but hey, it's more than three years old now. What a racket. Well, these big boys are expert excuse makers, they wouldn't be where they are if they weren't, so I'm not interested in the failure to work part of it. As the excuse goes, it may not do what you want, but it does what you told us. No, my interest is this, from a Wisconsin state IT manager: "We're incredibly frustrated with the performance and outcome." You can't excuse incredible frustration with the performance. Not when you have the AS/400 and RPG. Unless you've pitched what works because you've staked your future on something that doesn't work. rd

[dkilleen1]

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Another indicator the AS400 may be jeopardized - Longtime software vendors for the AS400 are starting to migrate their products to the MS/Intel environment, they must see the writing on the wall. I agree that "add to my cart" would be a good idea, but what CC are you putting that on? Buying additional DASD or a NIC card for the AS400 is more expensive than buying a new PC Server - and why is that? Add this to the ease of use list: How about a simple printer install function that allows the customer to add a common HP Laser printer? Spinning off the AS400 as a separate entity would give the 400 a huge competitive edge.

[MCWebsite.Staff]

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[David Abramowitz]

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Bob Cozzi Wrote: Maybe that IBM antitrust lawsuit back in the 1970s would have been good if it were successful, but we'll never know. Actually we do know. . . . . . . . The consent decree was actually issued in the mid 50s (1954 I believe). IBM set to the task of differentiating and stratifying the company in preparation of a gigantic schism much like the one that led to the "Baby Bells" of the 1980s. Part of this task started not in Rochester, but rather in Armonk, NY in the 1960s. This was the "Future System Group". Originally put together to separate from IBM, the Future Systems Group laid the groundwork for what was to become the original "System/38", and CPF. Way before the release date in 1979, all of the work had moved to Rochester, MN with the consent decree still hanging over IBMs head. The justice department lifted the decree in the 1980s, and on June 17th 1988 the S/38 successor was released to the public as the AS/400. The short version, is that if it weren't for the consent decree, the AS/400 might never have been developed. Dave

[Jlowary520]

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Then it would be worth send them this alticle. Well done!! -- Jim

[peterklevy]

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Amen brother Bob. Say it loud so they can hear it in Rochester. ;-) I've been espousing similar sentiments for years. Though my wish would have been that CEO John Akers had been allowed to complete the break up the company into separate business units. Then the midrange division would have finally been its own company. I also think that a sustained marketing campaign, something that has been lacking, would be beneficial to the AS/400. I've always wondered if the IBM business partners could get together and market it themselves, like the raisin producers did with the California Raisins campaign.

[Guest.Visitor]

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I believe that one of the problems of the iSeries being ignored is due to the volume of xSeries that IBM has been able to sell. For whatever reason, Intel PC style boxes are much easier to sell to clients. I agree that more people might buy an iSeries to try out if they could simply add it to a shopping cart and press the checkout button to ship it. Especially if it was in the same price range as Intel or xSeries machines. However, the majority of advertisements that IBM runs in the trade papers are for xSeries. Misguided marketing tries to compete in the commodity market against the likes of Dell. Here is where IBM is continually being outsold and undersold. Evidence the fiasco with the IBM PC line up. Another real problem involves the current state of Academics. No one is teaching the underlying architecture that is in the iSeries. As long as Colleges and Universities continue to teach that file based operating systems (Windows, Unix, Linux) are the way to go, the iSeries will never gain ground. If the iSeries were to be introduced today as a way to combat the scourge of PC viruses it might have a chance to gain a lot of ground. Frank Soltis and his crew in the 70s had a vision of a world where security issues would be a major concern. If I had the money to do so, I would send the book "Fortress Rochester" to every head of IT and IS Academics in the country and accompany it with a letter stating that a virus resistant machine actually exists. I can recount many instances of iSeries bashing by so called Intel and Unix gurus who refuse to look at the internals of an iSeries. Uneducated bashing is easier than actually comparing underlying architechtures.

[charles400]

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If IBM's goal is to slowly kill the platform, I think that goal is being accomplished. Sadly, I think that is IBM's goal for this platform. Milk it until it dies. It has to be intentional. Any other explanation requires faith that such grand incompetence is humanly possible, and it isn't.

[Guest.Visitor]

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I'll certainly agree that especially for smaller boxes there should be some easier options for purchasing a system. A simple add to cart would be great for purchasing a smaller 520. There is no way I would want to configure and order my 16 way 570 or 32 way 595 without some additional 'hoops' to go through to make sure I get the right configuration. Maybe there are just too many options for the AS/400 these days, but isn't that part of what makes the box so great? I can take a basic box and run it as is, or I can customize it to my hearts content. As far as 'On Demand', I disagree, for some companies (mine included) on demand processing and memory have been a huge help to us. I lease (large) systems for 3 years and regularly have had to increase capacity due to unanticipated consolidations, etc. If I was purchasing a system it might be different. And believe it or not, (and I'm not saying this is right) there are several instances where IBM has priced on demand memory cheaper than 'regular' memory, making it possible for me to have extra memory in the system for less money now, and still have the option to turn on additional memory later. I certainly want IBM to make additional changes and to support the box more, but I do not think it is all bad. Let's think back to the early days of the 400 and remember how much harder it was to do so many of the things that we today take for granted. I certainly had to go through a LOT more hoops to purchase my first B35 system back in '88. Do we need more progress? yes. Would it be nice if the progress was quicker?, Yes. But, let's not forget how much progress there has been.

[shane]

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Like others have already mentioned, the i5 needs to be marketed. IBM told us they would, but I still haven't seen an ad for it on TV. Until IT staff get educated about this wonderful box, it will continue to fall by the wayside. Over 50% of my customers have moved to Windows and aren't even attempting to convert the mountains of data to their new Windows package. Shane

[dmknowles]

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Bob: absolute bingo. My career spans the S/360, S/3, S/38, AS/400, yadda yadda in hardware and from Junior Programmer to IT Director in work load. I have become so disgusted with the Marketing weenies at IBM that I have walked away from the box. I was one of the choir, but the cost of putting up with sheer stupidity is too high. Product initiatves are suspect to say the least and don't get me started on the price and support. It was fun and it is too bad, but IBM solutions are not really relevant to me anymore. Nice work on your part. I have always enjoyed your books and articles, especially in my programming days. Best wished in the New Year. Donald, Toronto, Canada.

[R.Cozzi]

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Certainly I agree that buying a 747 should be more complex than an automobile, or a Cessna. THere are a lot more bells and whistles to configure and the customer needs help doing that. But I know how to put a 520 into a rack and that box is small enough to be considered a Poke-chip-set in complexity, and thus should be just as easy to order.

[Guest.Visitor]

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IBM had and still has the same disease that Xerox and Polaroid had, and where are they today? OVER EDUCATED IDIOTS, people with NO COMMON SENSE and a Preponderance of arrogance, which is a showcase for ignorance.

[jbosko@rwbaird.com]

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IBM pricing has driven my firm to begin the move to all Intel based solutions. To bad, best computer in the world and because of price we are leaving it behind. Great article Bob