Re: IBM dumb move #3,912,347

[DAsmussen@xxxxxxx]

John,

In a message dated 9/2/99 7:14:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jhall@hillmgt.com 
writes:

> Maybe this is a dumb idea (I've had a few before) but what if ...
>  
>  IBM set up a huge (read AS400) dominio server to hold & organize all
>  docs.  Give Free access to it over the internet and allow all registered
>  users to do collaborative work on it.
>  By that I mean everyone on this list would be adding to the knowledge
>  base.  Have a sample for an API - place it in the documentation with the
>  API !!!  Obviously the user base would not be able to update the manuals
>  but certainly would be able to add corrections/clarifications.
<<snip>>

Ha...ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaah!  How long have you been working 
with IBM?  Why should IBM adopt a _GREAT_ idea like _THAT_ ;-)???!!!  Really, 
how many of you were _shocked_ when IBM provided AS/400 books on the Internet 
in the first place?  For those of you that _weren't_ shocked, how many had 
worked for an IBM agent firm or business partner where the (mainframe based) 
PROFS system was your only contact regarding the AS/400 to IBM beyond the 
telephone?  Don't recall "CP Read", "VM Read", or "More" being part of my 
PROFS training, but they _WERE_ things that came up when trying to use the 
AS/400 keyboard with PROFS.

I'd absolutely _LOVE_ to see IBM adopt a user based strategy like this and 
scrap the often ancient and sometimes WRONG examples they give in their 
manuals.  I'd also like to live long enough to see it...

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"We know what a person thinks not when he tells us what he thinks, but by his 
actions." -- Isaac Bashevis Singer
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