Crazy Idea Number 528: Apple Mac OS X on Power Systems
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

You know the old saying: One door closes, and another one opens. Last week, a door closed for customers using Apple's Xserve rack-mounted servers, and just possibly a door opened for IBM's Power Systems division. The door was actually kind of slammed in Apple Xserve customers' faces, in fact, not merely closed. So if you think AS/400 shops are the only server customers who are fiercely loyal to their platform and yet get mistreated by their platform's maker, you are wrong. READ MORE >

IBM Adds Smaller Power 720 i Solution Edition
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It looks like IBM i shops and the dozens of independent software vendors that are certified to sell their wares on Power i Solution Edition bundles are balking about the relatively high-priced configurations that IBM made available in August when the entry Power7-based Power Systems machines debuted. The reason I say that is because last week Big Blue announced a new baby i Solution Edition that is based on the smallest Power 720 the company sells. READ MORE >

IBM i Future Reflected in LANSA 2010 iPulse Survey
by Alex Woodie

Both good and bad signs about the IBM i business emerged from LANSA's 2010 iPulse survey, the results of which were released last week. For example, while nearly two-thirds of IBM i professionals say the platform faces a low to non-existent threat of being dumped at their shops, nearly half report their new software budget as being zero, which brings future platform investments into question. The survey also asked the 1,700 participants from 50 countries to name the leading IBM i software vendors across several product categories. READ MORE >

As I See It: The Importance of Being Important
by Victor Rozek

I'm at The Bellagio with my wife, watching people working hard at having fun. We are seated in a lounge overlooking a monument to hubris. Actually, it's just one of many monuments to foolery in the city devoted to all things surreal: Las Vegas. In an area where moisture evaporates faster than a gambler's cash, The Bellagio boasts an eight-acre pond with 1.5 million gallons of precious water. Every 15 minutes, its computerized fountains spit columns of agua to the dulcet strains of Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, (and less memorable music). It's impressive the first time you see it. Not so much an hour later after you've seen it three more times. READ MORE >