Planet i

Read the original at IBM i for everyone!.

One of the common complaints about our platform is renaming. It seems to be the last defense of a community fighting to retain some identity to which they used to belong. Or, it could be just fear of change and desire to keep complaining.

Let’s review.

1980 – System/38 runs CPF
1988 – AS/400 replaces S/38 and S/36, runs OS/400 – which runs CPF programs
2000 – iSeries is a renaming of the hardware, runs OS/400
2006 – System i is a renaming of the hardware, OS renamed to i5/OS
2008 – Power Systems replaces System i and System p, OS renamed to IBM i

or..
1988 – AS/400 brand
2000 – eServer brand
2006 – IBM Systems brand
2008 – IBM Power Systems brand

How horrible that seems to many in the community. Yet, in 32 years, with technology busy changing shape, form, substance on an almost daily basis, we cannot get over this “atrocity” forced upon us by IBM. And, every time the complaint is made, there are the usual “justifications” offered about how other companies don’t rebrand – (refer to MS and Windows), how other companies don’t do this, don’t do that, and so on. And so on. And so on.

Certainly, branding changes can be successes or failures. Everyone cites New Coke as a branding failure. No one who is arguing about the rebranding of IBM i will ever look beyond their own complaint to see branding changes that were success. So, here is one: Starbucks!

Ok, so the name was not changed, but the logo has!
For reference, this picture was found here.
And here are some concerns about the Starbucks rebranding offered by pundits.
Will it sell more coffee?
New logo!

I love this particular whining: “Was the Starbucks corporate office asleep through all of the Gap controversy when they tried changing their logo? Leave it alone! There’s nothing wrong with it,” a fan wrote on Starbucks’ Facebook page.. The whining sounds familiar, but really, do you EVER hear about the change to the Starbucks logo any more?

IBM i on Power Systems is such a wonderful platform, yet its name is still a debate in the community. How strange.

I expect the same AS/400 programmers have this mug on their desk:

Maybe it’s time they got one of these:

Read the original at Angus' Blog.

I have been building a database of customers to call and found one slight issue, I needed to be able to workout which timezone each of the contacts are in so I only call when its suitable for them! I started off by using one of the online ZipCode to TimeZone converters and manually adding [...]

Read the original at Simply 'i'.

Jorge Merino – Renaissance Framework – Video

Below is the video of the May 9th meeting with Jorge Merino.

 

Related articles

• GSLMUG Meeting on May 9th – Speaker: Jorge Merino – IBM i Web tool: Renaissance Framework (gslmug.wordpress.com)

Read the original at GSLMUG.

Stuart Bramley mentioned on Twitter that IBM i should really have it's own "app store."  He may be on to something there.  There's oodles of IBM i content on the web, from how-to's to fully functional applications someone has built and shared with the community.

I don't think anyone has tried to consolidate any of these tools into a community repository.  If there is one, please let me know.  But if one didn't exist, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in helping to facilitate one.  If anyone in the IBM i world wants to weigh in with ideas or offer some help, or heck if you have a handy app you'd be willing to share/sell then please let me know.

My first thought...wouldn't it be awesome to browse and pull an app directly onto your IBM i similar to a PTF download in Fix Central?  Why, yes.  It would be very awesome.

Read the original at Steve Pitcher.

Wait? What?

Mel Beckman asked the question “Is RPG Dead?” and now Aaron Bartell says “it is time for Mel Beckman to retire“! And Jon and Susan tell us “It seems to us that articles such as this only serve to harm the community“.

So, what should we think about this? Let’s review.

Mel says “But every technology has an end to its adaptability, and I believe RPG has reached its limit”. This is simply one man’s opinion – he even used the words “I believe”. And, having read and disagreed with Aaron’s opinion before, I know he has posted many things quite as controversial. If Mel is to retire for his opinion, shouldn’t Aaron be forced out also?

Looking at the harm value of Mel’s words, the resulting outcry to support RPG has been, on the whole, quite fabulous. Of course, as with any controversial opinion in our industry, there have been replies from the negative, the upset, the scared and the whiners. But Jon and Susan’s blog, along with other postings, have been well reasoned, well written and strongly in support of RPG and its future. Certainly, if a reader were to stop at Mel’s words, they may believe his opinion and suffer some harm. Also, if certain other industry and RPG detractors were to jump onto the same dinghy from the RPG ship, there could be additional backlash.

However, there is now a conversation in the community about RPG that did not exist yesterday. We talked about it among ourselves, in sessions at conferences, and at user group meetings. But in the bigger world of the internet and social media, the conversation that resulted from Mel’s article has shown how strong RPG is, and how Mel’s opinion is simply just one person’s opinion. I believe – that is, my opinion is that no harm has come to RPG and the resulting press will simply bolster its longevity.

I do think two things should come out of this. One, Aaron should retire – ok, that is tongue in cheek, we need his strong opinion and perspective in our community. Two, the language should be renamed to reflect its longevity. Maybe RPG-NGA for “Never Going Away”? Or Z-RPG to reflect RPG’s ability to rise from the grave one more time and live as a well functioning Zombie.

Read the original at Angus' Blog.

Read the original at I THINK THEREFORE IBM-i blogs.

or...the Rising Tide Raises all Boats...What has DB2 Done for me Lately? 

There are two sides – PHP and/or as important as PHP is the OS  You should examine your OS level and I will implore you to consider leveraging your current investment.  Upgrade to i6.1 or i7.1 today! IBM has done a nice job adding features to IBM i and the way they do that is with new releases and the technology refresh process.  And i6.1 or higher has new DB2 features that can dramatically improve the performance of IBM i and expand your abilities as an IBM I developer. 

One thing is clear, IBM is investing heavily in DB2 on IBM i.  I have been on the road now for two weeks of a six week road show.  (They let me go home on weekends to see how much the kids have grown).  As I visit all these events I notice there seems to be 2 guys from IBM Rochester talking about DB2.  This would not be so shocking if it weren’t for the fact that it’s rarely the same two guys!  It appears IBM has been hoarding an army of DB2 guys and now they are on the road talking about all the great new stuff!  This led me to a dramatic realization that makes perfect sense when you think about it.  If IBM invests in RPG, as they continue to do, then many RPG folks benefit, same for Java and COBOL, etc.  But, since we ALL use DB2, any investments IBM makes in DB2 benefits ALL OF US!  Yes, PHP gets faster and more powerful as IBM improves DB2!
 
Yep, PHP, RPG, COBOL, Java and all the utility vendors benefit from performance and feature improvements to DB2. Makes sense to me.  As I have no idea how much IBM spends on IBM i R&D and know even less about how they divide it up, I can only guess that the portion invested in DB2 is significant. Why?  Think about it.  Anything IBM changes in DB2 has to be rock solid and virtually bulletproof.  The main reason for this is that IBM themselves are using DB2 on IBM I to run parts of the OS!  This means the developers have added pressure of IBM management breathing down their backs as well as customer satisfaction.

IBM uses the carrot and stick approach to get customers to upgrade and update their systems.  In some cases, folks simply cannot cost justify an upgrade.  I am not looking to start a religious war about why a company should or should not go off maintenance.  But I do understand that these are tough times and every penny counts.  So if you are a company on maintenance and you have a machine that can go up, why haven’t you?  Time?   Experience?  Confidence?  Could be a myriad of reasons why you are holding off.
 I ask you to look at the benefits, however.  I have a customer who recently planned a hardware upgrade. Obviously, the upgrade would go smoother if they upgrade the OS from V5R4 to i7.1 before attempting the hardware, so they did.  There were so many performance improvements and opportunities to improve DB2 performance that they were able to cancel the hardware upgrade.  Think about that value!  A company was able to postpone a significant investment just by implementing a newer version of the OS that THEY WERE ALREADY ENTITLED TO thanks to their SWMA!

If you can swing new hardware, there are things like smaller footprints and lower power utilization.  We have a new Power 720 in our office with 9 LPAR’s and I am amazed at how powerful it is as well as easy to administer.  Now, I did get some help setting the machine up.  But once it was set up it has been great!   Which brings me to my last point, excess power? 

In many cases I have customers who have upgraded hardware to stay current on maintenance or simply to add a little capacity like disk, etc.  What some of these folks discover is that their machines have excess capacity at the end of the upgrade.  So what to do with that capacity?  I have a few ideas.  How about an open source CRM or content management system written in PHP?  By implementing something like Joomla, Drupal, MediWiki or SugarCRM, customers can take advantage of this excess capacity by leveraging PHP natively on IBM i and simultaneously avoid the investment in additional Intel infrastructure. 

Nice. 

Read the original at Mike's IBM i PHP blog and more....

Check out Timothy Pricket Morgan's article published today in IT Jungle.  If anyone is listening, IBM is making it darn clear that Linux is the future strategic operating system supported by IBM on all of its hardware platforms.  the new PowerLinux machines (based on IBM Power technology used to run IBM i) now costs a fraction of what you pay for nearly the same machine that runs IBM i.

Add to that the comparison between the cost of LINUX (free) and that of IBM i or AIX (mega bucks) and the message is clear!  Get off RPG and IBM i or AIX and move to LINUX! 

IBM supports Linux first and foremost on all of its hardware platforms including Power Systems, xSeries (the Intel servers that run Windows),  and its mainframes (the zSeries).  Note that while IBM still supports zOS on the mainframe they encourage customers to move to Linux with many cost effective incentives.

IBM i is a bit of a different animal.  A large number of IBM i customers have 3rd party vendor software that they bought along with their original AS/400's.  Many of these vendors have not modernized and continue to sell and support 25 plus year old RPG based systems. 

How long can you afford to run IBM i?  AIX customers get nothing but a huge benefit by switching to LINUX which is a relatively easy task for them. 

If your not figuring out how to get off the IBM i you better get started and do so now. 

Read the original at Bob Cancilla on IBM i.

In reading this blog I'm amazed at the leaps of faith taken in order to draw conclusions about IBM and the future of Lotus Notes.

IBM Ditches Siebel

http://www.roketix.co.uk/2012/05/11/ibm-ditches-siebel/4776.html

"What is perhaps interesting, however, is that IBM, the owner of Lotus Notes (which itself is being left behind), should also move away from a computer-based system to a cloud or web-based solution."

I have a couple of issues here.

How is Lotus Notes being "left behind?"  Does the author provide any backup?  According to analysts in the link below, IBM wanted something that will integrate with their existing tools, like Lotus Notes.

Also, one of the reasons why IBM chose SugarCRM is because of it's ability to run on-premise, according to IBM's Gary Burnette, Vice President of Sales Transformation.  The benefit of that would be the “flexibility in where and how we run it.” 

Please see the following analysis of IBM's switch to SugarCRM: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/ibm-clock-runs-out-on-massive-siebel-implementation-enter-sugarcrm/75708

Read the original at Steve Pitcher.