AS/400 LUG: Friends in High Places
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

As members of the AS/400 and successor communities, you all exercise a certain amount of influence over IBM and its i platform, just by virtue of the checkbook that you, your CIOs, or the owners of your companies have in their desk drawers. This influence is, of course, distributed across the 200,000-plus i community. It is diffuse, even if it is bright. But the candle power of an organization called the AS/400 Large User Group is quite a bit higher, and focused like a laser beam on IBM and its i platform. READ MORE >

Global 2009 IT Spending Will be Up, Down, Forrester Says
by Alex Woodie

Global IT spending will decline by 3 percent to $1.66 trillion this year when measured in U.S. dollars, according to Forrester Research. That's the first time global IT spending has declined since 2002, the analyst group says. However, when Forrester prognosticators looked into the future using their special local-currency colored glasses, they found that IT spending will actually go up by just a hair, which is 2.5 percent. READ MORE >

IBM Piles on the Patents, Promises to Publish Plenty
by Dan Burger

Can anyone remember a time when IBM wasn't the dominate technology company when it comes to patents? This is the 16th consecutive year that Big Blue has piled up more patents than any of its competitors. Sixteen years is a long time for anyone to stay on top of anything. IBM makes it look easy. It removed the element of suspense in this annual announcement a long time ago. No one asks 'Who won?' It's more like: 'How many patents did they get this year?' READ MORE >

As I See It: Test of Character
by Victor Rozek

A flock of wild turkeys regularly comes to the house, pressing their little wrinkled heads against the windows, hoping to persuade my wife to toss some corn their way. While they wait, they work the ground beneath the bird feeders, competing with the squirrels for what the birds knock down, tearing up the grass with their large clawed feet, and adorning our patio with whatever remains after turkeys digest corn, bugs, and bird food. READ MORE >