Re: Happy i5/OS 2008?

[James Lampert <jamesl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Personally, I have always been firmly convinced that the name changes 
have absolutely nothing to do with any public perception of the AS/400 
being "old," and everything to do with corporate politics.

Microsloth has been calling its GUI "Windows" since before the first 
AS/400 hit the market. The Macintosh has been called a Macintosh for 
even longer. Why do they keep using these old names, when Vista bears 
only the most superficial resemblence to WinDoze 1.0, and an Intel-based 
Mac running Leopard has practically nothing in common with the original 
Mac128? Because the names are familiar!

Which brings us back to corporate politics. Midrange systems in general, 
going all the way back to the beginning, have always been treated as 
IBM's bastard child. Remember: IBM Rochester had been the company's 
facility for plugboard-programmable unit record machines. When they 
developed the S/3, they had been told to come up with a better unit 
record machine, NOT a computer, and CERTAINLY NOT a smaller, cheaper, 
easier-to-use computer that might cut into mainframe sales. There is no 
doubt in my mind that there are still some people very high in IBM 
management who deeply resent the very existence of the "midrange" 
category. Likewise, there are undoubtedly large numbers of people in 
charge of making WinDoze servers for IBM, who deeply resent that there 
are "affordable mainframes" competing with WinDoze servers. What better 
way could there be to kill off the little guy in the middle, than to 
keep changing his name, faster than the rest of the world can catch up?