Steve Pitcher › Old Perceptions Seem to Linger On Like It’s 1988
May 17th, 2012
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Trevor Perry started a thread on LinkedIn asking people "what it would take to call the platform IBM i?"
I posted the following comment, but I think in my mind I wanted to understand "what do people gain by calling IBM i on Power Systems an AS/400?"
I call it IBM i on Power Systems, and educate my users to do the same, because of two main reasons:
1. It's the name of the OS and hardware that we currently run.
2. It ensures that everyone in the company, from shop floor to CEO, is aware we are investing in modern technology. Yes it's backward compatible and runs the old green screen apps, but that Sametime 8.5.2 rich web meeting and PHP web app for production control is thanks to IBM i.
Anyone who mentions "the 400" around me in my shop usually leaves the ensuing conversation with a greater appreciation of our IT department, our systems and, if I do my job right, the confidence we can deliver modern solutions they perhaps thought were not possible on "the 400."
To answer your question, what would/did it take? I had to change my perspective. What would I gain by wrongfully calling it "the 400?" Absolutely nothing. I've gained so much more by rightfully calling it IBM i on Power Systems and taking a little time to provide a little education; something many IT folks have abandoned as not "part of the job." I strongly disagree. Education opens the doors that people aren't even aware of.
An AS/400 is from the 80's and 90's. I don't want my name attached to any business decision that involves moving forward in 2013 with an AS/400.
So, if you call it an AS/400 or an iSeries or a System i...what do you gain from that? Familiarity? A comfort zone? If so, you should've went into accounting or something else relatively stable and safe. As an IT professional, where the tools of the trade change very often, you're losing the opportunity to engage someone and educate them on the technological monster IBM i on Power Systems is!
Any other reasons? Please leave them below.
I posted the following comment, but I think in my mind I wanted to understand "what do people gain by calling IBM i on Power Systems an AS/400?"
I call it IBM i on Power Systems, and educate my users to do the same, because of two main reasons:
1. It's the name of the OS and hardware that we currently run.
2. It ensures that everyone in the company, from shop floor to CEO, is aware we are investing in modern technology. Yes it's backward compatible and runs the old green screen apps, but that Sametime 8.5.2 rich web meeting and PHP web app for production control is thanks to IBM i.
Anyone who mentions "the 400" around me in my shop usually leaves the ensuing conversation with a greater appreciation of our IT department, our systems and, if I do my job right, the confidence we can deliver modern solutions they perhaps thought were not possible on "the 400."
To answer your question, what would/did it take? I had to change my perspective. What would I gain by wrongfully calling it "the 400?" Absolutely nothing. I've gained so much more by rightfully calling it IBM i on Power Systems and taking a little time to provide a little education; something many IT folks have abandoned as not "part of the job." I strongly disagree. Education opens the doors that people aren't even aware of.
An AS/400 is from the 80's and 90's. I don't want my name attached to any business decision that involves moving forward in 2013 with an AS/400.
So, if you call it an AS/400 or an iSeries or a System i...what do you gain from that? Familiarity? A comfort zone? If so, you should've went into accounting or something else relatively stable and safe. As an IT professional, where the tools of the trade change very often, you're losing the opportunity to engage someone and educate them on the technological monster IBM i on Power Systems is!
Any other reasons? Please leave them below.
Read the original at Steve Pitcher.
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