AS/400 name change?

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

Couldn't these guys come out with a better name? Why use crypted names, this is exactly the reason why IBM is perceive as "old technology". How about letting us "AS/400 warriors" give the AS/400 its new name.

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

The AS/400 (or I/500) will never catch on with the mainstream until the average user is able to play Duke Nukem from a dumb terminal, MP3's, from a the system console and Mpeg videos from wireless devices fed from the black box. Actually, I'd just be happy with being able to play Duke Nukem on it! For more on the name change, click HREF="http://www.midrangecomputing.com/mcnetnews/mcnetnews.cfm?mcn=346">So Long AS/400, Say Hello to I-500

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

They can't be serious about I/500. This reminds me when I was locked up in a windowless room with super secret IBM PC's writing VGA (MCGA, 8514, etc.) drivers for the super secret announcement of what turned out to be the PS/2. There were logos on the different models. Rumor was that they were sent to vendors (this was at Z-Soft for PC Paintbrush) with different logos so that leaks could be traced back to the offending party, who would forever be banished from being an IBM partner again. Five years later I ended up at an insurance company full of broken down PS/2's. Calling IBM for service/parts etc. resulted in a denial that they had anything to do with PS/2's. Meanwhile an IBM salesman was trying to sell me a companywide replacement for all those PS/2's. Even though the new AT style IBM PC's were underpowered and overpriced, his pitch: IBM stands behind them. You can imagine what I told him about how IBM was standing behind their PS/2's... I remember a rumor from a few years ago where IBM wanted to relegate OS's to flavors, and a box would run OS/400, AIX, and OS/2 apps together through common interfaces. They might be closer now to overcoming the memory addressing problems in PASE and perhaps even have integrated XWindows into OS/400 enough to where IBM can now recommend using it, so perhaps the rebranding would reflect this unity of solutions, de-emphasising operating systems and emphasizing the future of cross platform. However, the only thing that will increase the sale of AS/400's will be the unique solutions that we have always had with a graphical interface that reflects that uniqueness. Ralph

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

I saw the same article. Adding Al Barsa's name certainly gives it credence, but I don't think this will happen "within the next several weeks" for the following reason: IBM has just released a whole new line of AS/400s - The 800 series, and the 270 series. All of these pieces of hardware are called AS/400s, and are being marketed as AS/400s. Unless IBM is going to release another set of hardware on the heels of this one, I seriously doubt that an official name change will be announced. After all, why announce a change of name for a machine that as yet does not exist? IMO, if a name change does occur - it will be in conjunction with new boxes, and a possibly revamped OS. When you think about it, the AS/400 was nothing more than a name change from the System/38 - with new boxes, and a revamped OS! Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

From the article, it looks like rumors were put out on the name change specifically to garner publicity. Stunts like these are a poor substitution for lack of marketing. OTOH perhaps with a new name, marketing dollars will be applied.....maybe. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

Just speculation of a AS/400 name change seems like good marketing to me - its certainly got the industry talking about our favourite server. I agree with David - I dont think a name change is on the horizon, but the rumour mill and speculation will probably continue for a few months yet IMO. Mark

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

Rumours are good marketing tools, also. How bad did you want to leave the Sys/36? Probably not bad until IBM wouldn't tell us the name of the new machine. And then they put Application in front of it, and zero zero after just so it wouldn't be a Sys/40. As for the /400 being our favourite machine? I certainly is Ollie. Bret

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

Bret Myrick wrote: How bad did you want to leave the Sys/36? There was a great deal of interest in "Silverlake" during the first 7 months of 1988, and a lot of it was in the S/36 camp. OTOH IBM had an enormous difficulty convincing S/36 customers to migrate to the AS/400. The "B" models and even some of the "C" models ran S/36 E-mode rather slowly, and this was also wide spread in the rumor mill. The other factor was that the S/36 was (also) an extraordinarily reliable unit, that was easy to use, and easier to program. Don't forget, this was 1988, when Windoze was not yet wide spread, The PC2 introduced MCI architecture which was greeted by mixed feelings; the greatest of which was indifference. OS/2 was character based, and people really really really liked their S/36s. The 17th of June 1988 not only marks the official introduction of the AS/400, but also the official close of 5360/2/3/4 S/36 production. By stopping S/36 production, IBM thought it would force S/36 users to the AS/400 platform. (side note: IBM always seems to be trying to force businesses to one particular platform or another. Take that with your JAVA.) The S/36 community completely astonished IBM simply by standing still. IBM analysts never expected it. It is a testament to the S/36 community, that six years after the "official" end of S/36 production, that IBM introduced the AS/36. It is only within the last few years that S/36 shops started to fade away in large numbers. There are still a large number of AS/400 shops operating systems that use S/36 code, in the S/36 mode. My point (yes, there is that) is while S/36 shops were curious about the AS/400, they did not want to leave their environment - badly, goodly, or otherwise. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

David, Thanks for the return to history. I was one of those people who started on the S/34 and migrated to the S/36. I was lucky enough to run into ASNA's RPG/III package for for the S/34 and implemented it on the S/36 a couple of years later. Because of Dave Ferguson with ASNA, I was introduced to structured statements in RPG such as: IFxx, DOUxx, DOWxx, CABxx, CASxx, LEAVE, and a couple other nice things such as Library List (Though limited on the /36 and non-existent on the /34). Because of this, and my own curious nature, I looked forward to Silverlake. My, then employer, stated that we would never go to it for the same reason we did not go to the /38. "Why is that?" I asked. "Because I know for a fact that neither you, Tim or Jim could understand RPG/III or a relational database". (This is true) BTW, they just installed their 3rd S/36 B60 It was that year, July of 1988, that I found a job with a company with a delivery date of November for their AS/400. Took me two months of biting my tounge to find the job. Tim and Jim? They did too, although Jim is now a Network Geek, uh Analyst and Tim is a Cool Plex programmer using the former Obsidian Software. The point? Maybe none of intrest, but to me, a name change offers a hope of functionality change as well. Oh for a release with the impact today, that Silverlake had 'yesterday' and the wisdom to not miss the boat. Later, Bret

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

This topic has gone quite. The way it was heating up I thought a name change was iminent. Any predictions on the day it will happen? I predict it will happen 9/24 (hint: C9C2D4)

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

This just in folks...the new name will be announced Oct 3. Due to lack of interest I will solve my previous clue. 9/24 (hint: C9C2D4) is Hex for IBM. I think that would be the date it SHOULD be announced.

[frankgw@adelphia.net]

AS/400 name change?

Looks like there may be a lot more than a name change. News/400 magazine has an article on page 19 of the September 2000 issue titled "Have You Bought Your Last AS/400?". In it Roger Pence describes a new IBM super server as a one-stop computing platform with "personalities" for NT/2000, Linux, AIX and OS/400.

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

I've always thought that the Machine Interface concept was the ultimate Virtual Machine. bobh

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

Do you know if there is an on-line URL for that article?

[Guest.Visitor]

AS/400 name change?

Don't know if it's still true But... In IBM the cash cow got the investment. Used to be the Big stuff... 3080,3090 etc. Sometimes it was the particular industry that would drive decisions. No ads for 390 but a large solid base carrying on the tradition of 360; and of course Global Services. my point... With some notable exception, I suspect IBM still views the As/400 as the little guy's system. They probably have a small profit margin therefore no investment.. and no one wants to be the messenger with the 'Dumb' idea like why not try regular newspaper ads instead of the Wall Street Journal and Forbes... BTW I think RPG may be a problem... it's proprietary Yes I know about Java/Web capability etc. but I suspect it's aknock off