---------------------------<snip>----------------------
As you are a not to regular person here it seems an on going issue with
people not seeing other people at SHARE. There was an exchange about
SCIDS on here as well. The big name regulars have made it a point to
have meetings at the IBM-Main table. I showed up for one such event and
was ignored even though I tried to engage in conversation with several
regulars on here. I have boycotted such meetings as for some reason
they seem to recognize each other quite well.
It was quite obvious that when it came to making a decision between
which group IBM would support when it came to a GUIDE/SHARE choice that
IBM took the SHARE group as they could influence (bully might be a
better word) SHARE easier. GUIDE was really giving IBM what for for
about 10 years and when it came to picking it was an easy choice for
IBM as their knew they could bend SHARE with their little pinky. GUIDE
had to many powerful people so it was an easier decision.
---------------------------<unsnip>----------------------
I'm not overjoyed with the SHARE/IBM relationship myself. But I think
that at least part of the problem stems from SHARE members making
unrealistic demands on IBM. While many of the "Requirements" generated
by SHARE are quite reasonable, every once in a while I see something
that seems, at least to me, to make very little sense. And let's face
it, IBM, like many other large corporations, is ruled by the "Shekel
counters" in the accounting department. In many ways, large corporations
like IBM and some of the ISV's are ruining this industry. High costs are
driving the trends toward client/server architectures for small and
medium sized shops, like my former employers (who scrapped out all the
mainframe equipment last year). Most, if not all, the problem is driven
by ISV costs, for software issues that IBM doesn't address. Whatever
happened to IBM's deep discounts for educational institutions? Why do
ISV's think they need to recover all their development costs in the
first year of a new package's availability? Why do they think that a
machine upgrade is just so their software gets more service AND USAGE?
Just going to a bigger machine does NOT mean that I will use YOUR
software any more? ISV's, let's get back to reality; as Robin Williams
once said, "It's a helluve concept!"
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