Re: AS/400 Server.

[DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree there are better names that could have been had. Watson is a 
cool name for sure but it's taken. Deep Blue was cool too. So were some 
other names from the past, Selectric, DataMaster, RAMAC, Blue Gene, 
Nordon bombsight (Yeah they made some of those too.)  But "We" have dug 
ourselves a bit of a hole we have. We didn't much like the name i5/OS. 
That one was a bit of a stinker being tied to the version and the 
hardware like that. We also complained about this changing of the name 
'so much.'  So they came out with IBM i. Doesn't roll off the tongue 
naturally like Blue Gene the first time but like Dave Ramsey says: 
"Practice with me. Open your mouth and let it out: i"! It's NOT so hard. 
Since we told IBM NOT to change the name again they have listened and 
they have not, and they have promised not to.

Then play with it a little. Tell your customers that our operating 
system is SO solid, so easy to use, so complete that it only needs one 
letter: 'i'. We don't need an entire sentence like "Windows Server 2012 
Datacenter edition, for cloud, with SQL Server enhanced edition, SAN 
optimized, Terabyte extended." (OK OK so I enhanced that a little bit) 
They got more versions and editions than carter has little pills. We've 
got "i" what more do you need?

And all, y'all that complain about the google and how IBM i doesn't 
work, that's not right either. It works just fine and the more we all 
use it, the better that gets every day.

The real question we should all be asking is this: "What applications 
have YOU brought to IBM i today?"

        - Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com
www.iInTheCloud.com

On 5/10/2013 3:34 PM, Booth Martin wrote:

> Bingo.  Names need zing from something.  iPad, iPod, iMac, Stingray,
> Escalade, Dr Pepper, Snickers, Ivory Snow.
>
> Who hear wouldn't want a Silverlake Watson?  Or, a Watson Silverlake?
>
> This not a difficult problem nor is it a heavy lift.  IBM could fix this
> in 2 years, easily.  Let i, p, and z go back to Sesame Street.
>
>
>
> On 5/10/2013 2:22 PM, Paul Therrien wrote:
> > I think branding is the issue in the choice of a name like "IBM i". It just doesn't have the concreteness of a name such as AS/400 or System/38 or PDP11. "Watson" is better branding.  "Silverlake" is  good too.  If forms an image in your head.  There is something ambiguous and ephemeral about "IBM i on Power". It does not roll off the tongue or stick in one's memory.  It doesn't create an image that one can focus on.   I have used the terms 'Power 7' and 'IBM i' when talking with coworkers, both in IT and other departments.  Neither term sticks with them. The term most often used and understood by the office staff is 'the 400'.
> >
> > Paul