RE: System/34 -- MIDRANGE-L

** Reply to note from "Donald L. Schenck" <dschenck@blazenet.net> Sat, 21 Feb 
1998 09:23:05 -0500

> You (all) like to SLAM NT ... like you have some "pride of ownership" in  
> OS/400 ... like it's your religion or something. What's wrong? Do people  
> feel threatened? 

Hi Don. 

I guess people do feel threatened. Hey, maybe even some of those people are
AS/400 people!

Of course we like to slam NT. Of course we have some "pride of ownership"
about OS/400. Let me explain why I feel this is.

First, many of us work to influence the direction the AS/400 takes. Often
what we (individually) want is not achieved. However, we have seen in the
past that occasionally requests made by users of IBM midrange systems are
taken into consideration. 

One very pleasing thing that Lou Gerstner did when hired at IBM was that he
travelled to all of IBM's biggest customers (hmm, he didn't stop by my
office and there just aren't very many people bigger than me!) and asked
them, "What do you want from IBM?"

Over the years we have implemented many midrange installs. We care about
our work. I don't even recall a time when my work schedule only included 40
hours a week.  

I take it personally any time there is a problem with "my" system. I am
embarassed every time there is a bug in "my" code. It is not enough for me
to be able to say, "Oh, that's not my fault, IBM did that." or "That code
was written before I was hired." I want the end user to find their data,
make their entries and be home to play with their kids.

I don't always agree with Al Barsa Jr. or with Bob Cozzi but I know that
they are both very interested in making sure their customers get the very
best possible install. To that end they are happy to criticize IBM when
they feel IBM is in the wrong. I feel that their criticism is heard, and
sometimes responded to. I feel like IBM listens, but sometimes disagrees.

So when I tell my users to do a task a certain way I have a degree of
comfort knowing that this will get the job done and that they will be home
when they should be. 

So there is the "pride in ownership." Perhaps a bit of the "religion" too,
since I will fight tooth and nail to avoid ever having to face a user and
say, "Umm, you will have to wait while I reboot the system."

But all this time I know that there is some moron out there someplace (this
is NOT a reference to you) who is advocating an NT solution without ever
taking into account the considerations I have learned to be so valuable. 

If the company listening to this advice puts that NT system in place what I
see is Microsoft, a company that never listens to it's users and has
demonstrated over and over a willingness to lie (promising features,
products, support that are never delivered), cheat (selling software that
should still be in beta and charging customers for support calls), and
steal (taking code copyrighted by other companies and incorporatting it
into their OS) but NEVER showing a willingness to compete on a technical
level, getting revenue that I feel should be going to a company that has
for decades provided me with the best possible solution in the marketplace.

I am not saying IBM is perfect nor that Microsoft is wholly bad. I am
pointing out the specific reason why I feel upset when I see NT being
implemented to support an important requirement. 

The product is not ready for it. The company behind it has never
demonstrated a willingness to back it's products nor it's customers. There
is no reason other than swallowing big chunks of market hype for an MIS
person to recommend an NT solution when there is an AS/400 one available.
Now, I know that is a generalization. There may indeed be some apps that
are implemented better on NT and if you have a good NT app and a crappy
AS/400 one that enters the picture. 

I am saying that with equivelent apps, OS/400 is the valid choice. 1 user,
10 users, 10,000 users. AS/400. 

Does that make me feel threatened? No. If IBM announced tomorrow that all
AS/400s evaporate over the next 60 days, I would of course simply move to
another platform and continue to ply my trade. But I know that I would face
the prospect of apologizing to my users for the failings of "my" system. 

If NT should succeed in displacing the AS/400 and it is all that I have a
choice to work on, what will anger me is that when I am apologizing for
"my" system, it is a system that I would not have chosen. But I know that I
will feel responsible anyway, while the jerk who recommended the OS in the
first place will be happy to justify his position with, "That's Microsoft's
fault, it wasn't supposed to crash like that." Duh.

>  
> I LOVE using OS/400 ... use it all day ... every day. No problem ... it's a  
> great operating system. 
>  
> Use NT all day every day too. Never have a problem. On a network with 400+  
> users. 
>  
> But to call the System/34 superior to NT ... now THAT'S a joke. 
>  
> Open your mind folks; there's OS/400 ... OS/390 ... Unix ... Linux ... NT  
> .... Novell ... Plan Nine <?> ... MacOS ... BeOS <?> ... 
>  
> Don't see the entire world through Blue lenses. 

Don, I think you are very wrong when you assume it is because we see the
world through Blue lenses. I doubt that there is a person on this list who
does not regularly recommend products that are not IBM's even though IBM
makes one. 

You need to open your mind Don. Have a look at what these people are saying
and how they feel. 

For decades IBM has provided for us the very best possible product on the
market. Unix has always been out there, a good platform with some great
implementations, fostering competition and "keeping IBM honest." Now, along
comes NT which can't even measure up to Unix and we see it eating market
share. Many of us have taken the time to evaluate the product and have come
to the understanding that it is not the technical value which sells it. 

But I know what Bill Gates knows. There are far more sheep than shepherds.
He needn't listen to users because he can tell them what they want. He
needn't provide them with quality, because he can tell them what to buy.

It's frustrating because I would like to think that everyone takes their
work as seriously as I do. Even more so when you consider that because
there may be enough sheep, market influence may some day make it impossible
for me to provide the level of quality I have in the past. 

By the way, I also am somewhat "old school." When a company has provided me
with great service and great products and great support for as long as I
have done business with them, I tend to prefer to do business with them in
the future. Such is my relationship with IBM. I grant them preference in my
buying decisions because they have earned it. That isn't because I am an
IBM follower, it is because I am a customer. 

One last thing, if NT were technically equivelent to OS/400 then I would
see that IBM could compete with it by simply enhancing OS/400 to make it
the better choice. Then, I would see how the competition between the two
companies would over time make me the big winner as I would get better
products in the future. 

But that isn't the case, NT is inferior but gaining market share anyway. I
know that this means the same thing for me as it did when Win95 took over
the desktop. Without competition products are stagnant. If IBM doesn't
raise the ante with OS/400, then NT will sit year after year with no
improvement. Just like Win95. 

Why would this be something to desire?

>  
> Peace, 
>  
> -- Don



Chris Rehm
Mr.AS400@ibm.net

How often can you afford to be unexpectedly out of business?
Get an AS/400.
+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to "MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com".
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---