I'm kinda in this camp too. But I do call it IBM i unless I get that
"look"... you know that "look"... Or that dead silence on a conference
call... Or if someone asks "isn't the AS400 dead?" Then I agree it is,
and it's called IBM i now.
--
My answer is that yes the AS/400 is no old, obsolete, outdated, but we
have a new generation of machine and OS that can handle anything yours
can. It is not the same machine or OS.
I read recently that “IBM I” has been the longest lasting name of our beloved platform. Unfortunately it is also the worst name. No search engine OR IBM own web sites searches can reliably return accurate results.
-- On the other hand, I have done super-fine using "IBM i" (in quotes)
to search things. Of course I add words relating to what I really want.
Like Rob said, I get what I want. I figure a result that I only get if I
search AS/400 or as400 is not worth bothering with. Even IBM
documentation has been dropping that old name.
Again, you're tying the fact people being up to front in technology to a simple name? Come on! Why so emotional?
--
Maybe because it's a pocketbook issue, because that's what it is also.
The guys that sell it can tell you, it's a branding thing. You're
surrounded by users who say "AS/400" because they don't realize they
have something new. I've gotten that reaction from programmers in
meetups for Python, Ruby all that. They associate it with green screen.
And calling our system by its current name has a trickle-around effect.
It gets into the lingo, and people become aware that it is not your
granddaddy's AS/400. At Ryder, early 2000s, shop had a GUI interface and
the users on the rental accounting side kept clamoring for the GUI.
What's in a name? A rose is a rose by any other name, but if it's not a
rose, dang it, call it what it is!
IF Microsoft decided to call their operating system something else, how
long do you think it would take their millions of users to start calling
it by the new name? Geesh. I have my phone service with MetroPCS, but
soon enough I'll have to start saying T-Mobile.
That has worked for me. I will NOT call it AS400 even though 99% of my company does.
Ditto here. and they do. It's made a little bit of impact. Why not
educate the users and remind them what a brand-spankin' mean machine
they work on?
Concluding: You can't change perception of people by putting a new name sticker on it.
---
Oh yes you can, to be blunt. Ask *any* marketing guru. Branding is a BIG
business. Ask Verizon. Their old Bell name was quicksand due to some
really bad earlier management and bad customer service. They tried to
reclaim the name but changing the name put rocket boosters on their
business. Cuban coffee!
Instead of getting the help they need they are jumped on about what to call that box that everybody hates there.
There's a good point.
Another thing people are missing: IBM has had several midrange
"children". S/34, s/36, s/38, as/400, eserver iseries, and their
youngest and coolest and most modern one is called a "Power Systems
loaded with IBM i".
I have a consultant on site who won't migrate to Windows 10 because it's too intrusive.
OTH, he also stocks up on emergency food, collects automatic weapons, uses a flip phone as it's less intrusive, likes older cars without computers (but can afford anything he wants) and just knows the government is coming for everyone.
I call him our tinfoil hat guy.
--
Yeah, why would anybody in the world think anybody "out there" would
intrude, or there would be a two-week blackout (like after Hurricane
Irma here in Miami)? And what I can't figure out is why anyone would
think "the government" would want to empty your pockets or bother about
your bathrooms or your kids or your thinking??
You got Alexa? I got it for Christmas. It hit the tech mags a few months
ago that a couple having a conversation all a sudden started hearing a
conversation coming from Alexa. it was a family they were friends with
but they were oblivious that their conversation was being heard.
Won't happen on our IBM i on power I hope!
--aec
midrange.com
