I second Rob's comment. Timothy, in general I find your posts informative and your commentary is not 100% rah-rah IBM when necessary. And I hope you never get into trouble for expressing your opinion where IBM has stumbled.
However, both you and Marcia continue to ignore the context of the current discussion here on IBM-MAIN in your posts. Many of us are or work for ISVs - especially small ones that can't afford the $100K for a basic kneecapped z9 BC, but could afford the FLEX-ES offering. These ISVs have supported IBM System z and its predecessors for over 40 years. There are many ISVs represented on this list, and the small ISVs have been griping over the perceived lack (and remember, perception is reality here) of a proper IBM response to the FLEX-ES situation for almost a year. Another perception, and it's not just mine. This is not an accusation, but a legitimate conclusion based on IBM's recent public actions - is that IBM is trying to strangle the ISV business. IBM has bought out a significant number of companies in the past several years. And some observations I've made over the past couple of years make me believe that IBM is not only trying to make small ISVs disappear, but also large ISVs. (Under NDA, so I can't talk about these actions, even though the product I'm dealing with is GA.) IBM got into significant anti-trust trouble in the past. IBM Legal has to go blow off the dust off the archive boxes and study those DoJ actions. (This is in no way a statement of support for PSI's position - there are some serious legal issues there, but I hope that things can be resolved quickly and without much gnashing of teeth.) Now I like IBM. I've been working with IBM computers since 1979, in college, on a 370/158 running OS/VS2. I've always wanted to work for IBM, and I've come close a couple of times. But I'd hate to have to work for IBM because they're the only game in town, and there are no more ISVs. I really hope that IBM will announce something soon to help ISVs. A point to ponder: Software AG today put the latest release of almost-full-function versions of ADABAS and NATURAL for Windows on its developer community, for personal use only, ohne Preis, as they say in Germany. I use Microsoft Visual C++ Express for prototyping (and I've downloaded all the other Microsoft Visual Express packages), and I use Don Higgins' open-source z390 system for basic development. (He is the author of the original PC370 product that became part of the base of MicroFocus' mainframe replacement products.) Note the cost of all of these systems - free. And note their audience - developers, especially hobbyists, who will play with the technology and hopefully build applications for those platforms. HP has continued the OpenVMS hobbyist program that DEC had years ago (there are conditions). Now IBM does have developerWorks, but that is geared almost entirely to the *n*x and open-source worlds. What is out there for System z is very miniscule in number. I think we all want to hear very soon from IBM on what it's doing to help the small ISV - or if the small ISV even has a future with System z. Best regards, Ray -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Schramm, Rob Sent: Thursday April 05 2007 04:58 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: IBM to the PCM market(the sky is falling!!!the sky is falling!!) Thanks Timothy. A fine point indeed. However, you neglected to put a price on the smallest z9 BC machine... maybe just the machine .. since the developers would hopefully be part of the PWD. Is it competitive with the development platform that is offered by Flex-es? If so .. I recind my earlier "nay saying". If not.. please address "the point" raised and address the needs of the small developer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
