RE: DIM question (Was MOVE/MOVEL and %Scan)

["Richard B Baird" <rbaird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My 2 cents worth:

The current discussion seems to be a choice between status quo and the
future.
Both views have a place at the table.

Hans is not the bad guy.  Whether we like it or not (I do :), he is
representative of the future of the platform, even though he may feel
'hindered' by the past.  Give the guy a break - maybe he'd like to turn rpg
into python, but he is forced, by ibm decree, to abide by the iseries
hipocratic oath - 'do no harm to legacy applications.'  Plus, other than
estimating the cost of development - I would be suprised if he has much of
a voice in what features are added or changed in the compiler.

IBM, i don't think, will abandon it's current base of iseries customers.
It has been a solid profit center for them for years.

But...  While profitable, the iseries, as-is, is not a growth industry.  We
all know the numbers - very few iseries sales are 'new business'.  They
make a tidy profit on current customers, but they aren't gaining market
share.

IBM top execs answer to the shareholders.  They are paid to take chances
that are potentially profitable, or to cut costs without reducing revenue.
None of current ibm execs got to where they are because they advocate
standing pat.

This could mean combining the xseries/iseries hardware.  This could mean
making all of thier platforms 'os non-specific'. It could mean a lot of
things, that I'm not smart enough to guess.  but the iseries isn't the box
we knew 5 years ago, and it definately won't be the box we know now, 5
years from now.  Change IS inevitable, or we WILL see the end of the
iseries.

Our job is to help steer the platform towards the change that will achieve
the best balance of satisifying current customers, while drawing new ones
to the platform.  This balance is essential.  You can't have one without
the other.

Rick