What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

[Guest.Visitor]

I think changing the name and nothing else is an insult to the AS400 community and waste of money UNLESS you change/address the things outlined below: AS400 Needed Improvements Many prominent professionals in the industry propose these steps forward: * Give the AS400 a new face. Whether browser-like and/or GUI, this is required to shake the legacy tag. First step: OS400 should have the look and feel of a browser as fast as possible, (which the current menu structure could easily accommodate). Second Step: Add in some GUI functionality in an ongoing manner but head toward a complete GUI. Tie the updates to downloads not to AS400 releases if possible. Time is of the essence. * Get aggressive about fostering E-Ventures. Get them before Oracle does. Supply AS400's and services to get web-based companies started, then IBM could use them for advertising and promos. When these web-based company succeed they could repay IBM for a portion of cost. * Donate AS400's to major 4-year colleges. Setup up intern programs off-campus that take Computer Science majors and expose them to the AS400 when you can't get "on-campus". This is college credit for the students, which in turn is supplying resources to the business community. THIS IS AN INVESTMENT. More exposure while turning out more resources/professionals is a good thing. These professionals either work for or start businesses. Futures sales and promotions are a result. * The price point needs to be addressed. Small businesses are the key. Even if you lose money on the low-end systems you gain valuable market share (once again an investment). Bottom line- get people in the boat. Learn from Bill Gates - market share rules. * Now that the AS400's computing model is back in vogue, flaunt it and E-business shamelessly (B2B AND B2C). Give advertising campaigns a distinct focus. The AS400 has the potential to be the Lexus of computers with some changes and proper promotion. You should offer Netfinity and the UNIX solutions, but never making them more desirable than an AS400 solution. This is self-defeating. The consumer can very easily go elsewhere for HDW, OS, and DATABASES on these platforms, which puts IBM on shaky ground or at least the victim of reduced revenue/margins. * Fragmenting and Ambiguous messages don't work. Fragmenting: Too many choices frustrate and confuse. (example: Visual Age, Domino, Net Data, CGI to Legacy, etc) Ambiguous: Let's try to make everyone happy campaigns that leave the person no better off than when they read the AD. Example - Magic Box. What person has a put on his comparison list in the columns: NT, Unix, Magic Box. Only marketing people not familiar with IT decision-making think this works. You need head to head, well-defined, laser focused, best of breed campaigns. * Covert the box to ASCII. * Once the box has a GUI rename - RPG to APG (Application Program Generator)- it should no longer be associated with the character based, cycle driven, left side indicating, internally described file, report generator. The same analogy would be C as opposed to Java. Visual APG should allow you to write applications to any mainstream database so the skill and utility isn't a dead end. Making all the right moves on the physical side such as rack mounting, cable access points, etc. mean nothing if the boxes are not moving. Slow moving because IBM choosing to let the startups go to other solutions like PC's running Win2000, and Unix. Also letting the box be anonymous is a crime. Once startups get entrenched in other platforms the AS400 is no longer an option (this works both ways). They are committed with hardware, software, and people. Enough of this activity and the AS400 will slowly fade away. The entry-level platforms in the past couldn't scale, had reliability problems, and are security nightmares which AS400's replaced. Microsoft and others are working hard at resolving these issues, and once accomplished the battle becomes almost hopeless. Remember perception reality. (to the beholder) Ask people why the AS400 suffers from an image problem, or no image at all. Lack of exposure and a character-based interface will be the two most frequent answers. Fax or Email this to any IBM'er who will listen.

[R.Daugherty]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

KCM2 wrote: "Fax or Email this to any IBM'er who will listen. " IBM marketing could use you.....big time. Ralph

[David Abramowitz]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Wellllll, IBM wanted to change the name some five or six years ago, when the black boxes were introduced. This would have been a new name, and a new face. The only reason IBM did not do this, was that their "focus groups" told IBM that this would be a rather large mistake. There have been those, who have wanted to change the name ever since. OTOH, see my previous post in the rumor mill. IBM may still have to go back to AS/400, at least for the time being. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Some things are so obvious, that people who don't understand, are probably incapable of doing so. bobh

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Just wanted to clear up two of these points. I agree with most of the post. (make the AS/400 and ASCII box! Great idea for programmers!)

 * Give the AS400 a new face. Whether browser-like and/or GUI, this is required to shake the legacy tag. First step: OS400 should have the look and feel of a browser as fast as possible, (which the current menu structure could easily accommodate). Second Step: Add in some GUI functionality in an ongoing manner but head toward a complete GUI. Tie the updates to downloads not to AS400 releases if possible. Time is of the essence. 

IBM is doing this. Read the MC Systems Admin & Operations Analysis piece for October 2000 for more info. IBM wants to make the common interface for the AS/400 browser based and they are getting ready to roll out (and in fact have already started) some really cool new tools for doing this and letting you turn your own apps into browser based apps.

 * Donate AS400's to major 4-year colleges. Setup up intern programs off-campus that take Computer Science majors andexpose them to the AS400 when you can't get "on-campus". This is college credit for the students, which in turn is supplying resources to the business community. THIS IS AN INVESTMENT. More exposure while turning out more resources/professionals is a good thing. These professionals either work for or start businesses. Futures sales and promotions are a result.

This is called Partners in Educations (PIE) and is a program that IBM has had available for several years now. The problem doesn't seem to be that IBM won't donate the hardware (they will) or that they don't help with a curriculum (they do), but that colleges won't accept the program. There's still the general perception that the AS/400 is a an old platform that should be relegated to the broom closet along with VAX, S/34 and the Trs-80.

[David Abramowitz]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

I've talked with the heads of two computer departments at local colleges. Neither had even heard of the PIE program. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

David, Interesting. So now that they have heard of PIE, are these two dept heads interested in an as/400 program? Seems like the feedback I have gotten is that the universities arent interested even if free. The two community colleges in Memphis I talked to a year ago were shutting down their as/400 RPG classes not due to price of equipment (the as/400s were old and long since paid for), but that class enrollment was down too low. Alex Garrison

[David Abramowitz]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

I met these individuals at a social gathering. At the time I was not able to provide details, or IBM contacts. I do not know anyone followed up. I did not keep their numbers, and they did not ask for mine. They did ask if I knew who to call at IBM, and I really didn't. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Shannon, Yes I knew about PIE (They mostly went after business/2yr colleges), but the issue needs to be onging and IBM shouldn't give up. I have a hardtime believing colleges would turn down free equipement and cirriculum. I also find it hard to believe they have tried this in many areas and hard enough. Didn't it also put work on the business partners to make PIE work? ---------------- I read your article the Demise of SEU. These are all positive things but I missed the part where it says ALL of OS400 will get a make-over. First acting like a browser based app, then heading towards a complete GUI.

[B.Myrick]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

KCM2, I used to teach at a community college in Oklahoma. I taught RPG/II and /III on an AS/400 D25. Was a good machine, but nowhere as fast as an HP-9000. The /400 also lacked UNIX, BASIC and C (at the time). The lack of these items made this a dedicated machine for only one language. By the end of my two year contract, the college decided to pull out of the /400 market as there was an underlying opinion that the /400 was not conducive to good business. I disagreed, but lacked the skills to argue the point, when an HP-9000 had COBOL, BASIC, C++, FORTRAN and RPG/II. This was in a UNIX environment, which has become a defacto standard for large and small universities. The pitch needs to be made to the universities, that the AS/400, i400, e400, whatever, is not only a diverse machine allowing mulitiple operating systems, but also multiple languages, including the visual sort. A strong and deliberate strategy needs to be developed and implemented to push the /400 as a multiuse box. In this fasion, perhaps we can target those who drive the market. The students and professors who teach them. -bret

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

I didn't mean to imply that every aspect of OS/400 would have a browser interface. Sorry if I misled you. What I wanted to bring out was the fact that IBM has already developed some really nifty new web facing tools that should, albeit slowly, make the AS/400's applications browser based. Of course, like anything else, this will depend entirely on how much the development community is willing to put into these tools and how much they use them to convert old apps and write new apps with them. As always, you'll get out of it what you put into it. Keep an eye on MC because we'll be running articles in the near future (well...near for the publishing industry) on using these new tools. After that, you can make up your own mind as to whether or not they'll give you the browser look and feel you're talking about.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Its nice to see so many thoughtful ideas consolidated into a single message. Some of IBM's accountants may raise their eyebrows. Same with others who must ensure compatibility with legacy systems. But, all together, these are thoughtful suggestions.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Hey Guys & Gurus, Could we as a community/group vote on the Top Ten most important changes for the Iseries and publish the results? Take a poll online, and at common. Share this with NEWS 400. (gasp!) Second, comminucate the details of how and why to IBM, keep them focused, and measure progress. I think a clear and focused message stated in a positive way would do wonders. IBM forgets that they don't fight the same battles we do, and therefore they don't understand what is so clear to the community. Also, somethings have been tried in the past and fizzled, but that shouldn't be a deterrant to success. (The idea was correct, the attempt failed) Let's not give up, a few changes could catapult this platform.

[T.Holt]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Let's not give up, a few changes could catapult this platform. Why do people want to "catapult this platform?" The industry is headed toward platform independence. If you're a Java programmer, or a WebSphere developer, or a Domino/Notes developer, or whatever, what difference does it make what hardware you're using? Why do people want to see the AS/400 AKA iSeries continue to exist? So they can keep writing RPG? I'm not fussing at anybody, just exceedingly curious.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Our CE recently spent a couple of weeks in Rochester helping build 400s. Seems so many customers are buying them right now that the plants are working overtime and still not able to keep up. I Love IT!!!!!!