To my old friend Ed Jaffe's comment... > If all customers were somehow "magically" upgraded to System z, a lot of > dual-path (much of which compounds over time to become multi-, > multi-path) code could be removed. And, the expensive and time-consuming > chore of testing and supporting those old environments would disappear. > Development planning and implementation would be greatly simplified. > And, new functionality would appear much more quickly and with a cheaper > price tag -- benefiting everyone.
I can only add "what he said!!" There's a real schism in the market at present and it takes a lot of effort to satisfy both ends of the spectrum. Folks who are behind the curve are typically spending a lot less money with IBM and their other vendors than those who are current. In other words, the software vendors are not really being rewarded for the effort in supporting back-level customers. At the same time, that effort has a negative impact on their ability to deliver new function to customers who are up to date. It may be an uncomfortable reality for some, but vendors are not charities. Sooner or later they will all have to make choices and it isn't hard to guess which direction they're going to have to go in. CC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
