Alan, I'm glad you spoke up. Your note is well-written, and speaks volumes. And it was a good idea to keep Chuckie away from the keyboard. :-)
As Timothy and Marcia are both marketing folks, you're right, Alan, they would not be able to speak for IBM regarding ISVs. But I think things would have been smoother if they had at least said something to that effect. I'm very happy to see the z/Linux progress on z/Architecture. But I still have concerns regarding the future of the small platform. I have to agree with Steve on the "test drive" link provided by Timothy. It is Linux-geared. At the moment, my software idea #2 isn't geared towards z/Linux - it makes no sense, actually, as right now it's bound to EBCDIC operating systems (which is why BS2000/OSD is a possible platform). Since Linux is (generic term, folks) ASCII based, translation issues rear their ugly head, and as binary data could be involved, I don't want to get into that right now. (Oh, and when I went to look at the fee documents at the bottom, I get errors from Adobe Acrobat Reader. I've sent an e-mail.) Reading between Timothy's lines :-) , I guess he is talking about the Dallas offerings, which we've already noted are more expensive than the current FLEX-ES arrangements, and require more effort and external management than lugging around a laptop. I hope that the thoughts based on prior IBM announcement cycles bear fruit. If IBM is still silent on the future of small ISVs come SHARE San Diego, then the small ISV contingent will have to speak loudly. And I want to thank those of you who have e-mailed me off-list with your support and thanks. It really made my week! Take care y'all, Ray ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
