David on Windows

Jan 2 2009   4:21PM GMT

Biased CIOs spend more money and don’t solve problems, they create them

Posted by: David Vasta
IBM i, Bias, Bad CIO, Stupid CIO, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, System i, IBM, Save Money, Consolidation, i on Power, Linux on POWER, Linux in System i, David on Windows, David on IBM i

What happens when an IBM AS/400, iSeries, System i, i5/OS, POWER System, Lotus Domino/Notes) IT shop doing fine, keeping the company running and is stable, has happy employees, happy users and then out of no where a new CIO or IT Manager is hired who:

1. Does not understand IBMs offering from both the IBM Systems side and the Lotus side?
2. Is biased towards another major technology company for no other reason or with out any logic or facts.

Bias is defined as; a particular tendency or inclination, esp. one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question; prejudice.

Now that we have established what bias is we can move on with the problem.

So there you are a loyal and hard working IBM i Admin, you and the Lotus Admin work hard to keep the company running. The companies main application for work is housed on the IBM i and everyone uses mail that comes out of Lotus Notes, plus Lotus has a feature no other application server has out there, rapid visual development, and there is always the one Lotus Developer, building applications for end users so they they can store information, access different types of data and make use of the Lotus and IBM i applications, and extend them to the company.

Everything is humming along, working well. Cost are in check, and with even more consolidation to the IBM i you could save more money.

The one summers day, or any season for that matter, a new CIO or IT Manager is hired into your company. Right after he says hello to everyone, his next comment is “We are going to replace all that IBM technology with Microsoft (or SUN).”

Continued »

Oct 27 2008   2:18PM GMT

Has Windows Vista been the WindowsME of this centry

Posted by: David Vasta
Microsoft Windows, Windows Vista, Desktop, David on Windows

With Windows 7 right around the corner and in my 27K PC company with no plans to move to VISTA. I have tried to use Vista and I have not been very happy with it to date. It’s not the best OS out there right now. Sadly XP is still a better choice for a desktop. Vista tries to WOW you with pretty icons and little in the area of work flow.

Full disclosure, I am a Windows user at work and a MacOSX and Linux user at home. I prefer not to use Windows, but do use it the majority of my day in the office. This is not a choice in the office; I am required to use Windows.

I for one and looking forward to Windows 7 and would love to see a new OS from Microsoft.

LINK :: Windows 7 Beta almost public

So what does this have to do with the IBM i? Well nothing other than IBM decided a while ago they were going to support Windows as the desktop of choice to work from. So all the tools, plug-ins and integration is for Windows. They have tried to look at Linux, but have completely failed with anything Mac based. I hope the struggles of Windows will help IBM look around and realize that this is clearly not a Windows world and other desktops are out there and that Microsoft does not always deploy a usable product. Plus OpenOffice just dropped 3.0 and it’s decent and ready for Linux and Mac from day one.