In my usual wanderings on LinkedIn, I found a software company posting that promised free “AS/400″ software. I asked the poster if it would be available on IBM i, and one of the company leaders then asked me a question about what I meant when I said “I am hoping you will actually cater for IBM i….”.
Here is my response..
My perspective is that our platform is the best business system on the planet. Most of the community has a passion for the platform that is admirable and hard to find for most systems. However, what “platform”? Is it the AS/400? The iSeries? The System i? OS/400? i5/OS? Or, IBM i? Or Power Systems?
It is the latter. IBM ~only~ sells IBM i on Power Systems. It is the evolution of all the others, and it is the ONLY one that IBM sells. No matter which of those “platforms” you believe in, the next one you upgrade to will be IBM i on Power Systems. So, the platform we work on in 20i2 is IBM i, and it runs on Power Systems. Call it IBM i (so we can google it), speak i, talk about IBM i on Power, (or even Poweri to confuse), but don’t call it an AS/400. Not when AS/400 is 12 years old now – as long as we had an AS/400.
Many companies (you know who you are), and many community members, don’t address the platform by its current name. For some, apparently stubborn, ignorant, out of date, reasoning, everyone seems to want to view the platform as their own name – not the actual name.
And yet, it is ~not~ about the name. It is about the perspective. If we look at the platform as something modern – IBM i on Power, we may tend to use it with a more modern approach. Modern Eclipse-based development tools. Modern database. Modern user interfaces. Modern coding techniques. Modern applications, and so on…If we think our platform is an AS/400, the trap is to use it like an AS/400 – old and outdated. RPGIII using SEU. DDS based files. and so on..
On the other hand, while competitors and our own naysayers continue to wail loudly about the AS/400 being dead, we have a reputation that is tarnished. And, while we ~inside~ the community still bicker about the “name” of the platform, we are simply doing it a terrible injustice, and propagating the doom and gloom of the platform’s enemies.
Vendors, such as your company, SHOULD be the leaders in our community. While you do need to cater for SEO and marketing and mention the PAST platform names and references, it is time to stop LEADING with all the old names and platform references. Our platform is IBM i, and it runs on Power Systems. Vendors, in my opinion, should be selling for the IBM i platform and to IBM i customers, and not playing silly name games. Vendors should be educating the community about the CURRENT and MODERN platform. Vendors should, in my opinion, not be ~leading~ with AS/400, iSeries, System i, OS/400, i5/OS, i5, or any OLD variation of our glorious past. Vendors should be catering for IBM i.
Whatever excuses are given by vendors and community members for NOT referencing the platform by its current branding are simply that – excuses. It is time to stop the complaints and the noise, and come together on what an amazing platform we have – IBM i on Power.
Power is such an amazing branding exercise. IBM i on Power is an amazing business platform. We have an opportunity to blow away the competition with our amazing platform. Yet, we choose to wallow in the idiocy of the name game.
It is time to lead!!
Will you keep selling what appears to be old technology?
Or, will you step up and lead the community into the present and the future of our platform?
You are in a position to educate as you sell and market – won’t you take that opportunity?
Thanks for asking. This has been my opinion.
How about you? Are you a leader?
Read the original at Angus' Blog.
