IBM Rolls Up an i 6.1.1 Dot Release
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The word on the street a little more than a year ago was that Big Blue would be packaging up some feature enhancements and patches and would roll out an interim i 6.1.5 interim release of the venerable OS/400 operating system sometime in the first half of 2009, maybe in May, to be followed up with an i 6.2 full release in early 2010, perhaps in January. This information came out of people attending the i variant of the Power Systems Technical University in Chicago last September, and was reasonably credible. READ MORE >

The Curtain Rises a Bit on the Next i OS, Due in 2010
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Last week was a big week for operating systems. Microsoft delivered Windows 7 for desktops and started shipping Windows Server 2008 R2 for servers. And IBM, as The Four Hundred reports about elsewhere in this issue, put out a dot release of its current i 6.1 platform, which is called i 6.1.1, and started talking about the next major release of the i platform, which is due next year. READ MORE >

IBM Taps New Server GM in Wake of Scandal
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Last week, in the wake of an insider trading scandal that has implicated Bob Moffat, senior vice president and general manager of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, the company rejiggered its executive ranks after putting Moffat on a leave of absence as he copes with his legal issues. Big Blue quickly named a new head of STG and acted like nothing at all had happened, which is the best and really only course of action that it could take. READ MORE >

As I See It: The Salary Reduction Plan
by Victor Rozek

Jobless recoveries, working retirees, and President Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize. We live in a land of contradictions. For fans of the oxymoron, it's a target rich environment. Leaders who don't lead, lenders that don't lend, and health care so expensive it makes you sick. We're heading toward Halloween and there's plenty of things out there to scare us. Haunted houses worth less than their mortgage, skeletal 401(k)s, and a vampire financial system designed to suck every last dollar from your wallet. Oh, and by the way, the ghouls who helped orchestrate the Great Recession are now running the Treasury Department. READ MORE >