RE: POWER6 now or later?

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Booth Martin
>
> Help me a bit here, Joe.  I am trying to visualize how I would use a
> desktop System i.   I have this hilarious mental image of twin-ax
> spreading through the plant, all from my desk.  So how would I use it?

One of the big complaints I hear is that nobody can afford a System i to
work on.  With low-end machines under $10K now, I suspect a desktop would be
closer to the $5K range making it available to just about anybody serious
about wanting to learn the machine. 

I'm not a big rack guy myself, so I wouldn't mind a desktop or mini-tower
version of a System i in my own setup; my two System i servers take up a lot
of room (and power and heat) in my network.  I think a smaller form factor
System i would also be a great fit in distributed environments.  I could see
a System i in a Point of Sale configuration, for example: one per local
store, with a self-contained retail store application that tied via WAN to a
central location. 

Joe