COMMON - A users group

COMMON - Please Register Now for RENO

LINK :: To register for COMMON in 2009 in RENO, NV

Save the date for the COMMON’s 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Reno, Nevada, taking place from April 26 - 30, 2009 - the largest gathering of the Power Systems user community. Registration is now open - click here to register!

This is COMMON’s largest educational event of the year. Five full days of in-depth IBM i and AIX education that includes all-day pre-conference workshops, all-day Integrated Seminars, open labs and a wide variety of regular-length sessions.

The Annual Meeting will kickoff on Sunday, April 26th with the Opening Session, followed by four days of leading-edge IBM i and AIX-related education, closing with the fun and exciting Power Down Main Event on Thursday, April 30th. Of course, as is expected from all COMMON conferences, there will be plenty of social and networking events taking place throughout the week.

The COMMON 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition is the premier educational and networking event that you and your team will not want to miss.

Be sure to schedule time to browse the world’s largest Power Systems Exposition. Make sure to allow plenty of time because it encompasses more than 90 industry exhibitors including IBM. The COMMON Exposition provides a one-stop source of up-to-the minute information and ideas for the IT industry. Discover what’s new in the IBM i and AIX world and give your company ways to reduce costs and improve productivity. Also, since many different technologies are on display, you can compare alternatives and determine what’s right for you.

Time to renue your COMMON Membership

It’s that time of year again. Time to renew your COMMON membership for 2009. Also you might want to talk to your accountant like I do since you can write those kinds of things off, so it’s a wash!

LINK :: COMMON.org

Is it September already?

It’s already September 4th and I have not posted anything here. Much less any place else. The COMMON folks are busy with other events, and I am starting to gear up for COMMON in Reno, NV.

COMMON Directions is happening later this month in Dallas. I don’t know if they have any openings but just figured I would point it out.

COMMON Focus is taking place in October in San Francisco, CA and I for one would love to attend that. But I will not be there. Here is what COMMON is saying about COMMON Focus:

“COMMON Focus 2008 is our annual workshop conference event, featuring three days of intense, focused education. It will be a smaller, more intimate event than a traditional COMMON conference with a limited number of attendees - giving them more opportunities for one-on-one interaction with the speakers and each other.”

COMMON Annual Meeting is in RENO, NV next year and I am going to be at that event. I am planning on doing all of my Linux sessions and the new bloggers session we did in Nashville again. I am really looking forward to that.

Please if you are an IBM i professional you need to join COMMON even if you don’t go to the meetings. IBM is listening to COMMON and they know our numbers. The more members we have the better. Plus if there is something you want IBM to know you can let them know via COMMON, even if you still think the IBM i should have it’s own Video Card…….

COMMON Focus 2008 - San Francisco, California - Oct 5 -8

COMMON Focus 2008, our annual workshop conference event, returns after a highly successful debut last year and will be held this year from October 5 - 8, 2008 in San Francisco, California.  This unique conference offering will feature three days of intense, focused education on leading-edge IBM i-related topics.

COMMON Focus is designed to be a smaller, more intimate event with a limited number of attendees - allowing them for more one-on-one interaction with the speakers and each other.  Attendees can attend only one workshop per day, providing them the opportunity to focus their educational needs on a specific topic each day and gain in-depth education of each topic.

This innovative conference event will offer 15 in-depth, all-day educational workshops - both in lab and lecture-style formats - in a wide range of topic areas.  The workshops planned for COMMON Focus 2008 will include the following:

Monday, October 6, 2008

• Disaster Recovery Primer - Ready, Set, Plan
• IBM BladeCenter 101
• RPG IV for Beginners
• LAB: Getting Started with DB2 Web Query
• LAB: V6R1 Performance Tools

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

• Systems Management
• Implementing IBM i on JS12 and JS22
• Subprocedures, Modules & Service Programs: Subroutines on Steroids
• LAB: PHP and MySQL on i5/OS - New Stacks and New Possibilities
• LAB: Web Services and SOA for the RPG Developer

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

• Lotus Domino Admin & Upgrade
• Implementing i5/OS and i Security
• Where Do I Start to use Embedded SQL
• Rdi & Rdi SOA
• LAB: Linux and AIX on System i

COMMON Focus 2008 will also have a tabletop-style exhibition area where we are expecting nearly 40 exhibitors. Attendees will be able to view and get hands-on demonstration on the latest IBM i-related solutions available to them from the industry’s leading solution providers.

COMMON Focus 2008 is an educational conference event that promises to be three days of intense learning - it is an educational opportunity that you don’t want to miss. Learn more and register today at www.common.org/focus.

COMMON - Call for Presentations for RENO

If you want to present in RENO you need to get your presentations in to COMMON now!

Here is the note I was sent:

This is to remind you that the Call For Presentations for new and existing sessions and workshops is closing on August 31, 2008 for the COMMON 2009 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

Annual Meeting - April 26-30, 2009 in Reno, Nevada
Deadline: Sunday, August 31, 2008

Get those presentations in, you never know what they will accept, heck they are letting me present you so you they will let your stuff in. I will be in Reno with all of my Linux Stuff for you all to enjoy. This year should be better for me as I have now had the full “off season” to get it all fixed up, work out the kinks and practice it a few times since then. My seven year old is getting tired of the Linux for Beginners session trust me….I think he could give it.

COMMON - Direction 2008

COMMON’s newest conference offering, COMMON Directions 2008 will be held in Dallas, Texas on September 25 and 26, 2008 at the Radisson Hotel Central Dallas.  The two days will be packed with leading education in a wide range of topics, and presented by some of the most recognized speakers in the industry.

COMMON Directions 2008 will feature 50 educational sessions in a variety of leading-edge topics, including:

• Application Development
• Client Connectivity
• Collaboration
• DB2
• High Availability
• Managing System i Environment
• Networking
• PHP & MySQL
• RPG
• Security
• Web Applications

View a complete list of sessions that will be offered at: http://www.common.org/conferences/2008/directions/education.html

COMMON Directions 2008 will feature a tabletop-style exhibition area for a limited number of exhibitors.  It will provide attendees opportunities to view and get hands-on demonstration on the latest IBM i-related solutions available to them by some of the leading solution providers in the industry.

This new educational conference promises to be a two-day version of all that you have come to expect from a traditional COMMON conference. If you are in need of leading-edge IBM i-related education and looking for a quick two-day conference, then the new COMMON Directions 2008 conference may be just what you need.

It is an educational opportunity that you don’t want to miss.  Learn more and register today at www.common.org/directions.

IBM really not ready for the letter i

While in Nashville at COMMON I mentioned to IBM that someone and maybe more than one person needs to work on taking out all the old System i, iSeries, and eeeek AS/400 terms out of the OS and the IBM.com web site.

I hate to report it but it’s not happening like I would like it to. If this were Apple they would have had this all done while we were in the session but IBM’s web site has always been a tangled mess in much need of a comb.

Take this set of pages for instance. LINK 

And how the heck do I find the i from the main page? What gives IBM? Why is it so dang hard to find what you do? Wht do you hid it all from the customer and not just the now customer what about the next customer? If I can’t find it and I have been a customer for over 18 years how is “Johnny College Student” or “New IT Guy” going to find out what the hell Power is and what I can run on it. MAKE IT SIMPLE. I am starting to fall on the side of the old AS/400 guys who think you could not market water to people stuck in an oven…….COME ON!

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.

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.

The day the System i went away - Bye Bye System i

The title is missleading. The System i is dead, I said it, it’s dead. The new OS is called i. The new server is called POWER.

i + AIX +LINUX = Runs on POWER

Since I started in this career path in 1990 I was constantly told by “others” the AS/400 is dead, then the iSeries is dead, after that the System i is dead. So now it’s dead right?

Wrong.

It’s larger than all the other systems in it’s space.Today during the Town Hall Meeting at COMMON, Mark Shearer released a gigantic can of industrial sized whoop ass on the competition. I know I have said it before and I meant it but this is the right move at the right time. The System p and System i become POWER. The i5/OS has become i, yeap just i. See it’s simple.

Mark showed a slide that was one of my favorites, where is showed IBM Power trending up while HP and SUN were both trending down and not even close to the number of installations or server IBM had. This gap is going to grow wider now and anyone thinking of moving off the i to Sun or HP should be sent home and consider a new line of work. IBM is the owner of the midrange space and now with a entry level server and a blade that runs any of three OSes, i, AIX, and Linux is just way to powerful a statement for the Solaris and HPUX people to ignore.

IBM also showed off the Power blades for the “S” Blade Center. The idea some 18 years ago of running a i on a card about the size of an old SPD card or laptop was a silly thought. Now if I wanted to put my Websphere AIX server, my JD Edwards i server and my Linux File and print server all in one foot print with disk I can and I can do it with POWER. So what about Windows? You can place intel based bladed in the “S” and run it there too, right next to the i, AIX, and Linux.

What does David think about this move?

We now have a name that can work for the OS/400, i5/OS and it’s i, just i and it works for me. The i is for buisness logo is awesome. All the new logos are awesome and very nVidia like. I have been in the loop with IBM and nothing they have told me about today has made me think negative things at all. These changes are all what most of the forward thinking people in the community have been thinking all along.

As I get more details I will share them, the event was worth the price of admission. I am a proud member of the i community and today was what most people call an industry earthquake. IBM took it’s most powerful assets and leveraged them into POWER!

We hop to see many many more combined advertising and educational activities in the future, while IBM promised it I still don’t know if they have a plan. This was all very fuzzy and very PC at the same time. I would have liked to have seen a plan for advertising, and after years of being blasted for not doing much you would have thought they would have shown up with a marketing plan. That would be my only comment about the new release.

Lastly someone at IBM needs to take the i OS and find all the places where it says AS/400, OS/400, iSeries, System i, or anything other than POWER or i to remove it. The i needs a clean up.

Thanks IBM for a great COMMON!

Maxed Out - Chris is a much better writer than I so please step over and read his post too.