Re: IBM is so confusing! -- WDSCI-L

I don't think the idea is really to save money over what the costs were
under the old licensing--i.e., when everything was all included under the
single Websphere Development Studio license. The only savings are
compared to paying for Rational Application Developer for Websphere
Software or Rational Architect products.

Edmund's comment is more directed to why we have to get 'Rational
Developer for Power Systems Software' and then get 'RPG and COBOL
Development Tools for i'. Since we're buying 'RPG and COBOL Development
Tools for i', we don't have to pay for the AIX tools or the Websphere
tools. As he says, overall product is for everything that runs on Power
Systems, but we only have to license and pay for the IBM i tools if that's
all we want/need to use. We still pay more than we used to under
licensing formerly known as Websphere Development Studio.

Unfortunately, the folks in your meeting are correct. It's a new cost
above and beyond what was being paid before. And it's the cost that keeps
on spending. Under the former packaging, maintenance was included in the
overall Software Maintenance Agreement. In the new packaging, you still
pay the Software Maintenance Agreement. This covers all the host-end
tools (compilers, PDM/SDA, etc.). But the PC-based tools have their own
additional annual maintenance costs. IBM justifies the new licensing
saying they know where to focus their development efforts because they
know what people are licensing and therefore they know what people are
using. You can decide the validity of that argument for yourself.

I know that I'm still on V5R4 and WDSC 7.0 because the licensing wasn't
clear when we upgraded our machine in early 2009. We did sigh a fairly
big sigh of relief when we found out that there was no per-user
maintenance cost to the host tools. So we can keep (and use) all the
extra entitlements to ADTS, but trade-in some of them for a discount on
Rational Developer for Power Systems Software RPG and COBOL Development
Tools for i. But we're still holding off on any upgrades because what we
have gets the job done for now. When our ISV no longer supports V5R4,
we'll upgrade and be able to take advantage of any new features--but not
until then.

Okay, sorry about the rant--no one on this list is responsible for this
morass.

Michael

wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 02/09/2011 01:00:09 PM:

----- Message from Kurt Anderson <kurt.anderson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> on
Wed, 9 Feb 2011 11:54:20 -0600 -----

To:

Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client
for System i & iSeries <wdsci-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Subject:

Re: [WDSCI-L] IBM is so confusing!

I was just in a meeting, and there was a discussion about some
expenses that had been cut. I was told (in a semi-jokingly manner)
that the only reason I got RDp was because it was a Christmas gift.
This is the perception of the new licensing - a new cost above and
beyond what was being paid before. A new expense.

I want to echo what Jim Franz asked for - a PDF (or document of some
sort) that _shows_ how the new licensing saves companies money. My
feeling is that my small company isn't actually saving any money
with the new licensing, although there may be a way we could. If
there was a document that laid out how the "idea is to save you
money" works and can be taken advantage of, it might not be so rough
on the RPG developers of the world to get their hands on the
wonderful tool known as RDp (well, known as RDp to this list anyway).

I already have my license, phew, I can live the life now. However I
know how hard it is for people to get it, and I really think IBM
needs to telegraph how it really works.

Kurt Anderson

-----Original Message-----
From: wdsci-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wdsci-l-bounces@midrange.
com] On Behalf Of Edmund Reinhardt
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 1:06 PM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio
Client for System i & iSeries
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] IBM is so confusing!

Hi Folks
Regarding the licensing, although it may be a little more complex,
the idea is to save you money.
Rational Developer for Power, is not just another name change
dictated by marketing folks.
We are expanding our tooling from just the IBM i, to all operating
systems on the same Power hardware, including AIX and Linux.
But we don't want to make you pay for them if you don't use them, so
you can choose just to license the IBM i tools.

HTH
Edmund Reinhardt
Rational Developer for Power