Re: ROCHESTER PUSHES BACK 2000 ANNOUNCE DATE

["Dan Bale" <dbale@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Carl:

I would respectfully disagree with your assertion that IBM's decision to push
back the next announcements is a "negative" thing.

The fact is, at least in my part of the world, AS/400 shops are sitting pat for
the rest of the year.  My company employs 40 consultants and for the first time
in the four years I've been with the company, we finally have more supply than
demand.  My boss says that almost all existing and potential clients are in a
wait and see mode; they've either finished or are finishing up Y2K work and
they're not going to throw something new into the mix that might complicate
things.

So, I think IBM recognizes this and thinks to itself, "hey, everybody will have
their heads buried too deep in Y2K stuff (even after New Year's, fixing what was
missed and verifying everything else) to pay much attention to anything we might
announce.  I believe IBM really does think through the timing of their
announcements (which is surprising given the abysmal marketing efforts lately).
Think about it, what good is announcing something if nobody's paying attention?

JHMO.
- Dan Bale

Carl Friedberg wrote:

I'm stunned by the negative psychology behind this style of thought.
Personally I don't expect the world to collapse on 1/1/0, and I don't know
anyone else who is expecting significant disasters.

Why would IBM respond in this negative fashion? Suppose they introduce new
hardware on 1/1/0 and no one orders it until February 29th? Delivery is
normally far beyond annouce, with new products, so I don't see what is to be
gained by slipping the announcement. It just adds to the mystique of the
year 2000 problem. And, it encourages people who might order for earlier
delivery, to delay any hardware purchases. Why would you order something
which is already obsolete, knowing that IBM is putting off their new product
announcements? Too bad.

Is this part of an industry pattern? Are other IBM product lines holding
back new hardware, or software, until the second half of 2000? I am not
aware of this as a general pattern, at least not yet.





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