IBM Plots iSeries Machines Out to 2010
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

One of the main concerns of any company that adopts a particular server platform is the longevity of the platform. No one likes to be blindsided when a server maker suddenly stops making or supporting a particular platform. Because the AS/400 and the iSeries were never high-volume servers, and because IBM always seems to have bigger priorities, OS/400 customers have always been a little jumpy. READ MORE >

DataMirror Hires Top Vision Executive, Increases IDION Stake
by Alex Woodie

DataMirror's unsolicited bid in 2002 to buy rival OS/400 high availability software provider Vision Solutions was jolted back to life last month, when a top Vision Solutions executive, Rean Pretorius, left the company, joined DataMirror, and sold all his shares in IDION Technology Holdings, Vision's parent company, to DataMirror. Vision's loss is DataMirror's gain, as DataMirror's ownership of IDION shares rapidly approaches the 50 percent mark. READ MORE >

IBM Uses Express Products to Drive SMB Sales, Loyalty
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

IBM will this week announce another batch of so-called Express products and bundles that it is using to drive sales into small and midsized businesses and to retain the loyalty of its reseller and independent software vendor customers. With everybody chasing the SMB market, which is growing its IT purchases at a rate that is twice that of the enterprise market, where IBM has hegemony, the Express offerings are IBM's and its partners' best chance of competing as one against many other players. READ MORE >

Is SCO's Attack on the GPL a Bluff, Or Is It in the Cards?
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

So is The SCO Group really going to take on the GNU General Public License in its $3 billion lawsuit against IBM? Or is this a bluff, like its plan to start sending bills to Linux shops to license Unix intellectual property that it asserts it owns and that it says are inside the guts of Linux? That is a good question, and one SCO did not answer when it filed an answer to IBM's amended complaints in the case last week. READ MORE >

As I See It: The Forces of 'Should'
by Victor Rozek

There's something I've been meaning to write about for a long time. But you know how it is. There are other important things to write about, and months go by and I still don't get to it. So I've resolved to do it now. Ring. Damn, there's the phone. I'll be right back. . . . Okay, I'm back. But you know, I'm kind of hungry, so I'll just run down to the kitchen and make myself a sandwich. Oh, and after I eat I'll check the mail, pay some bills, maybe trim the old toe nails. Then I'll tackle the subject I've been avoiding for so long: procrastination. READ MORE >

But Wait, There's More

Get the Latest OS/400 PTF Guide. . . IBM Offers Rebates to IxS, IxA Buyers Who Also Buy Disks Before November 28 . . . J.D. Edwards WorldSoftware Users to Petition PeopleSoft for More Spending . . . Report: Intentia Swears Allegiance to IBM Hardware, Middleware . . . Informatica, IBM Expand Partnership to Integrate Products . . . Support Net to Help Set up Channel for NetIQ's OS/400 Security Software . . . Jacada's License Revenue Up, Seagull Posts Losses . . . READ MORE >

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Readers respond to "iSeries and OS/400 Wish List" . . . READ MORE >