April, 2008

Bytware’s i5virus Nominated for Webby - Please sign up and VOTE

So it’s not everyday that an IBM vendor gets nominated for advertising, and I know IBM might never fall into that category. It’s a cold hard fact of life. IBM has never attempted to really be bold in advertising. I digress. Bytware on the other hand has made is a bad habit to be bold, and to make advertising campaigns that “suck you in” and hold you captive until you reach the bloody end. They have gone the normal route and given away things over the years but the recent ads and videos on YouTube have been fun. NEWS

Link to System i News Blog Post

Please sign up on the Webbey Awards site and vote for them. I really want to see them win and it would only make other i based companies think about doing more to reach the world and not just the 7 customers they have now.

Also take a look at the i5Virus Game.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is a day away

I can feel the downloads starting, the bit torrents are a buzzing and the next release is only a day away. I know this has nothing to do with the i or IBM but it’s important and needs to be talked about. The next version of Ubuntu is a day away!

Ubuntu 8.04RC

Ubuntu Linux ready for Enterprise? Shuttleworth says yes!

And despite his excitement about the possibilities now that the operating system is done, Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth said he knows there’s a lot of competition in the enterprise marketplace.

“We’re modest about where we stand,” Shuttleworth said. “We know we’re a new entrant in that game and that we have a long way to go still.”

Link to Article 

IBM i name change is not good for everyone . . . I guess

I reported a few weeks back that IBM changed the System i and i5/OS to “i for Business” and the hardware was going to be called POWER. This as one person put it was a no-brainer. While I see the move as a positive thing for the entire power based community and the platform as whole some poeple like Ken Jack don’t see it the same way as I do. I would also like to point out I have always been one to complain about things I don’t think are right but in this case IBM is right and Ken is dead wrong.

Ken said on his site:

“In their ongoing efforts to kill name recognition, confuse the marketplace, and drop sales to all time lows, Big Blue has once again changed how they refer to one of the finest thinkin’ machines to ever hit the market. But if it walks like an AS/400, it talks like an AS/400, and it looks like an AS/400, then it’s probably an AS/400. This is an homage to IBM’s ingenious Attention Deficit marketing strategy.”

Ken, Ken, Ken, tisk tisk. It’s easy to be stuck on the term AS/400, I can see that. Some people I know still call it “da 400″ and we all still know what they are talking about. The term AS/400 never really explained what it meant, what it did or why you needed it. AS/400 I always felt was a cryptic term for the system and IBM used to make the “old people” happy. I don’t think IBM has driven the numbers lower, the price of the system, the number of options in servers to IT managers, and the longevity of the platform and hardware makes it a slow seller.

While IBM has struggled to market the platform well in the past I think over the past 3 years the marketing has been better and have failed to hear anyone including myself come up with a decent marketing plan to date. While it’s not my job nor is it your job it can’t be an easy system to market. While we are at it when was the last time you saw an AIX commercial, a Solaris or SUN commercial or even a Windows Server ad? I have not seen many of them doing much of anything and I think over all the numbers are down for all three big companies. The point you need to take away from this is the offering is now stronger and a name is just a name. If you going to get stuck on the name then I can’t help you. That is some kind of issue you need to work out in the dark with your thoughts, as for the rest of us we are moving forward and while the shirts are cute they are a bit backhanded to the bulk of the community how liked the new logo and ideas coming from IBM.

I got my feet wet on an AS/400 and that will always be my story but I advanced as the system has and I would beg that you do the same with your thinking.

Link to more info 

IBM may be moving to Apple for Desktops & Laptops

Oh me? I have never been a big supporter of Windows, that is clear. I have a long history of not liking Windows. I have also been very vocal with IBM telling them they can tell us how much they hate Windows and then force the user community they have to use it. It’s just not right. Plus all of their internal employees are mostly forced to use Windows as well. The most funny thing is IBM has a person, who shall remain nameless, that is the most vocal Open Sourced Linux fanatic/evangelist working all over the world spreading the good news up Linux, PHP and MySQL on POWER and his desktop is of course a Windows desktop. How insane is that?

I think this is a positive move in the right direction by I do recall a press release from IBM in 2003 that said in the next 3 -4 years most internal desktops would move to Linux and we see where that has gotten….no where.

Link to the Post

“Long-time Microsoft Windows supporter IBM has recently initiated an internal pilot program to study the possibility of moving a significant number of its employees to Apple’s Mac platform, leaked company documents show.”

I also found this link while doing more reading. 

With good result and comments like these I think this is a very positive thing for IBM and Apple.

“I have been a true PC stalwart for 2+ decades, but after trying Vista, I’m ready for a change.”

“Getting wireless running was a piece of cake on the Mac, much simpler than the PC.”

But then again for all the Mac people out there you already knew what IBM is finding out today!

Follow Up : Top Five Rookie CIO Mistakes

I like this post —> CLICK HERE

I just recently post on my blog about IT Bullies and have worked in many many IT shops and seen these mistakes over and over again. I think it’s important to be able to identify them while you work there not after you leave.

My Top Five Rookie CIO Mistakes

• Taking the side of the one employee who harasses everyone in IT and then cries in front of the entire staff when he leave. (NOTE: WE were all happy to see him go, he was rubbish.)
• Allowing the new director who just got let go from SUN to come and and replace everything with SUN, but he is not biased.
• Making a parking spot for yourself while the rest of the people have nothing. Your legs ain’t broken!
• Assuming everyone wants to use Windows for a desktop and forcing them to use it.
• Don’t pit geographical IT regions against each other.

Offtopic : Is Windows Vista the new Windows ME?

I was talking to a few people in a store and then around the office and started to wonder to myself is Windows Vista the new Windows ME?

If you think about it the cycle would be right.

(1)Windows95(Decent)
(2)Windows98(Little Better)
(3)WindowsME(Crap)
(1)Windows2000(oh not bad)
(2)WindowsXP(Little Better)
(3)Windows Vista(CRAP)
(1)Windows7(Who knows?)

It’s just a thought from someone who would not care if Microsoft fell of the face of the earth right now. The are a company I think we could all live without and are truly un-American when they tell the congress and such that they can’t get any HB1 visa in the country when thousands of developers and IT people are out of work in the US. Why not hire the US Citizens in the US, oh I know why, I could cost to much to hire Americans to do the job, when you could get some no talent outsider to come in and work twice as hard for half the pay as a contractor. Now it all makes sense.

So back to my topic, is Windows Vista the new WindowsME, sure seems that way. I know when ME came out there were people begging to just get Window 98 on the PC, and then Microsoft came out with Windows98SE to get them to shut up and stop calling ME bad. I don’t think we will every see a WindowsXPSE? There is also rumor that Windows7 is right around the corner too. Why do you all as consumers continue to put up with crap? Why is that acceptable from Microsoft, but if FORD or Chevy make crap you choose not to use it and by Honda or Toyota? Microsoft is crap, it’s time to got to Linux or Apple.

Redhat offers information on running Lotus on Linux via a new website

Link to LotusonRedhat.com

“Lotus on Linux is a secure email, scheduling, calendaring, and messaging platform. It’s a simple, easy and affordable way for small and mid-sized business to enjoy enterprise performance and scalability with the rock-solid reliability, security and simplicity of linux. All at a substantially lower cost with no compromise.”

Al Barsa Jr - Farewell

LINK to STORY

I was just at COMMON in Nashville with Al as most of you were. This past Friday Al Barsa Jr. passed away. I had to read it a few times as I did not think it was right or maybe it was some other Al Barsa but in the LIST I found people talking about it. I would like to send out my heart felt condolences to the Barsa family, this must have come as a shock. Al did not look great at COMMON this year and had a band-aid over his right eye the entire time. Sad sad news.

LINK to COMMON Post

Link to Barsa Consulting

Mr.400

Search400.com - Power Systems Announcment Shines at COMMON

LINK to Article written by David Vasta (aka ME)

Here are some highlights:

“Nashville, Tenn., is traditionally known for its country music heritage. But to attendees of the recent Common conference, it will also be known as the place where System i, iSeries and AS/400 hardware were laid to rest and reborn as Power. “

“During the town hall meeting we heard talk of unification, single hardware platform and the i as the center of the OS offering for the new Power equation. IBM decided that Common was the place to let this cat out of the bag, and looking back it was more like a boxcar full of tigers.  “

“The biggest question I walked away asking is what do we do to welcome our newfound brothers and sisters in the AIX and Linux on Power communities?”

I dedicated this article to Al Barsa Jr who will be missed in and around the COMMON Community.