Re: AS/400 heritage -- MIDRANGE-L

i actually think ibm DOES need to market to several communities, not only
the "new sales", but there is a VERY large community of old as400s, s36s,
or the 436s, people who need to be convinced the iSeries is the place to go,
not NT. Many on the old 400s are unaware (because they are not in this list)
that the new 400s are java capable, or even rpg capable web servers, etc.
Two days ago, the CTO at a customer asked me if the 400 (720 at v4r5)
could read/write xml! He's been a manager in 2 diff 400 shops for many
years, and still has no idea what the machine can do. His head is stuck
in old BPCS apps & edi. Has no clue what else the machine is capable of.
To him, webserving & xml & java & all the new stuff is for the pc crew,
especially when he reads how "easy" it is to setup websphere on the 400 (a
big problem).
For the "new sales", I think the "it exists" ad is very effective, if it
ever gets
out of the closet.
jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "L. S. Russell" <leslier@datrek.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2001 8:58 AM
Subject: Re: AS/400 heritage


> This grouch courtesy of IBM's frequent half-assed attempts at marketing
> the iSeries.
>
> You would think it is a good idea, you are drinking the same water eLou
> is.  What would be the point of iSeries running a series like I
> suggest?  It would have no value if, AS WITH ALL OTHER IBM MARKETING OF
> THE ISERIES, it was targeted at and only sent to the current customer
> base.  Here's another idea, which I am sure some IBM'er will shoot down,
> let me donate my subscriptions (I get two issues of iSeries mag each
> month) to someone else!  IBM sends me, someone who is already convinced
> the iSeries is the greatest box ever built, this magazine 12 times a
> year.  Sure it has a little worthwhile info, but it ain't like I
> couldn't get it in 50 other places (we are using the most valuable of
> them right now).  So scale down iSeries mag, put case studies, white
> papers, pricing info, side-by-side comparisons of the iSeries against
> other platforms.  Then take this and send it out to people who either
> don't know anything about the iSeries or who are sitting on the fence.
>
> I am not suggesting complaining to IBM Jon, I am suggesting effectively
> marketing the iSeries to a broader target.  What's wrong with that?
> Well let me tell you what is wrong with that.  If IBM did effectively
> market the iSeries, the rest of the eServer line would sell like Ketchup
> Popcicles.
>
> And no there are no where near enough place to complain to IBM about the
> bang-up job they are doing killing the AS/400.
>
> Jon.Paris@hal.it wrote:
> >
> >  >> What a waste of ink!
> >
> > Boy what a grouch!
> >
> > I thought it was quite a nice idea.  Besides - what would be the point
of
> > the Mag running your suggestion?  Aren't there enough places for people
to
> > complain to IBM about this?  Since complaining about it has proven
mostly
> > ineffective I fail to see what purpose could be served.
> >
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