Re: OS/400 on a Sun unix

[Hans Boldt <boldt@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Brad Stone wrote:
> They would generate sales from the OS.  Look how quickly
> linux became "popular", and then look at it's roots.  If I
> could sell hardware with software, and software alone, I
> would think it would be advantageous.  

Hmmm, it took about 10 years before Linux became something other 
than a curiosity for most people. That's "quickly"?

> I understand as is OS400 is quite proprietary, and that's
> the platform's biggest problem.  Remove that problem and I
> believe it would become more revenue.  A little work, yes.
>  But you don't get anything for nothing. ...

And then it has to compete with a number of other good O/S's, most 
with their own sets of advantages and followers. Would I give up my 
home Linux system for an OS/400 system? No way. That's not meant as 
a slur against OS/400 - OS/400 just doesn't run the software I use 
at home on a regular basis. Likewise for others who have specific 
reasons for using the systems they choose to use.

As someone else pointed out, there is a definite target market for 
the iSeries and OS/400. Consider that the iSeries and pSeries 
machines are virtually identical, but generally, pSeries customers 
would never consider an iSeries, and vice versa.

The latter point is significant and illustrates quite nicely why 
there would be little sense in offering OS/400 on any other platform.

To put things in different terms, if a business wants to (or needs 
to) use some application that only runs on OS/400, they can justify 
the iSeries hardware required for it. But no business can justify 
using the iSeries just because it runs OS/400 or because it uses 
single level store under the covers.

Cheers! Hans