Computer Hardware is a Commodity

[Buck Calabro <buck.calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Cozzi writes:

>I don't agree, however, that the AS/400 is a Corvette or 
>a Merc, or Lexus, or anything else. Today, except for 
>speed and ease of use, all computer hardware is 
>interchangeable. Only the application of software 
>makes it different.

Bob, I completely agree with this.  On this list we've gone round and round
the fundamental question "What is an AS/400?", trying to get IBM to market
"the AS/400," to save "the AS/400."  But I don't think we've been able to
say exactly what the 400 is.  Is it the reliable hardware?  Other computers
(Tandem?) have better uptime.  Is it the stable OS?  Other OSes (System V?)
have similar stability records.  Is it DDS instead of SQL?  Is it GUI vs
Green Screen?

The bottom line is that AS/400 is _the application software that the
customer runs on it_    I believe that if I wrote a Windows NT clone of
OS/400 and people could run their current application suite on cheap PC
hardware, they would abandon AS/400 hardware in droves, uptime or not.

Buck Calabro
Aptis; Albany, NY
"Nothing is so firmly believed as
 that which we least know" -- Michel Montaigne
Visit the Midrange archives at http://www.midrange.com
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