RE: AS/400 vs PC as a server

["Kleinman, Mitch" <mkkleinman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Beautiful....just beautiful.

>----------
>From:  jgm@nak.com[SMTP:jgm@nak.com]
>Sent:  Saturday, June 28, 1997 2:52 AM
>To:    midrange-l@midrange.com
>Subject:       AS/400 vs PC as a server
>
>MI>I was talking to an associate yesterday on the life of midrange
>MI>computers.  His view was that the PCS will take over the
>MI>industry and there will be no use for Midrange or Mainframes.
>
>Ten years ago, I would have disagreed, but today, we see AS/400s with
>PowerPC chips, as well as a machine that runs S/38 and S/36 native code.
>Today, we see Pentium 200 Mhz and faster machines on the market with 3.2
>Gb drives, 32 Mb RAM, 16x CD-ROMs and DVDs on the horizon.  I would be
>foolish to claim that PC hardware directions are "too little, too late."
>But ten years makes a big difference, and PCs have some ground to gain.
>
>The 1987 machine was little more than a toy for the novice.  It could
>be used to print graphics, handle small spreadsheets, and even manage
>small databases, but it was too limited to be a major player.
>
>The "hobbyist" computer allowed us to rediscover what a computer is, and
>what it is capable of doing, by exploring on a "personal" rather than a
>"business" level.  We couldn't pay $10,000 for SDLC, so the cheapie BBS
>came to be.  We couldn't afford the major league languages (COBOL) so we
>settled with BASIC, and then FoxPro and others arrived.
>
>We found out what a consumer-driven platform does for computer systems.
>It puts Windows 95 in the box without something as fundamental as ISAM.
>No history file, no job logs, no meaningful security.  The box doesn't
>come with a tape drive, the diskette is a mere 1.44 Mb, and the
>operating system doesn't even understand a simple "continued on next
>diskette".  But weird things happen.  Chip prices plummet on a monthly
>basis.  RAM and disk space increase dramatically every year... I say
>these changes arise from the consumer-driven PC market and the business
>marketplace gains benefits from them.
>
>The PC kept getting better at its premise: extensive computational
>end-user processing (audio, video, millions of colors, surfing the
>'Net)... while the midrange computer strained at "cooperative
>processing" and held a slower pace at "price/productivity gains."
>Midrange computers have not matched the frantic PC growth of the 1990s
>because, let's face it, we were there in the 1980s.
>
>Our midrange products were great in the early eighties, but they didn't
>change much in power or value.  The midrange marketplace was
>monopolistic.  With the 1988 AS/400 announcement, midrange computers
>began a fundamental change that allowed this industry to survive.
>
>I think we have met the enemy, and he is us... midrange computers will
>survive essentially by becoming PCs.  If we can integrate the S/36 and
>the S/38 on one box, we can visualize a box that also runs OS/2 and
>Windows.  I say, start with the good O/S fundamentals of the midrange
>ISAM, database, SQL, etc.), keep level-headed hardware (easy backups and
>maintenance), and add PC compatibility... and an ideal machine would be
>the result.  Imagine a PC that doesn't crash... or an AS/400 that can be
>expanded cheaply... that would be greatness in a black box.
>
>Midrange computers would have bitten the dust 10 years ago if it weren't
>for their inherent server capability (dividing the processor's attention
>40 ways, effortlessly, to perform user requests... that's what a server
>is).  Likewise, midrange computers will bite the dust in 10 years if
>they stagnate, don't increase price/performance, or ignore the PC world
>and some important changes in communications that are occurring right
>now.
>
>In closing, an operating system or a PC chip is not who we are or what
>we are as data processing professionals.  We are out in the business
>world, and we are kicking ass because we know fundamentally what makes
>an MIS shop tick.  Look around you... nobody buys a "RISC" T-shirt.
>If and when the PC/midrange shakeout occurs, we will continue to kick
>ass, no matter what platform dominates, because we will make the system
>work for the customer.  That is who we are and what we are.
>
>
>Thanks for the use of your soapbox.
>
>
>Jesse McKay
>jgm@nak.com
>"System/36 And Beyond!"
>   N.A.K.Software, Home of "The Squirrel's Nest
>Enjoy Chat with Weblines, Cybernet, Telecafe, & IRC
>  199.190.119.2 * http://nak.com * 1-815-795-4894
>
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