Domino on the iSeries: The Empire Can Strike Back
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

A few weeks ago, I wrote a competitive analysis piece showing the cost of Domino groupware software running on the iSeries compared to Windows and Unix platforms. I was not exactly pleased with the relative poor showing that the iSeries had on the NotesBench Notes/Domino benchmark tests. My displeasure is something that quite a few customers shared as well. I learned this from emails that readers sent to me after the story ran. The story certainly got IBM's attention, and to its credit, Big Blue responded to the story and told me that it was contemplating ways of addressing the issue. READ MORE >

The Once and Future OS/400 Ecosystem
by Mary Lou Roberts

Last week, I looked at how iSeries ISVs viewed what most of them saw as the decline of the OS/400 ecosystem. The causes mentioned by these vendors were many and varied, ranging from poor marketing on the part of IBM (not a news flash), fallout from Y2K, cost, the decline of manufacturing in North America and Western Europe, failure of ISVs (especially ERP vendors) to modernize their applications, and the old standby--Windows. But that was just half the story. READ MORE >

International Business Server, International Business Desktop
by Brian Kelly

These are great times to be an iSeries professional. I have not felt so good about the OS/400 platform since 1994, when chairman Louis Gerstner made a decision that all IBM servers, not just the IBM PC servers and the RS/6000 Unix boxes, would become Internet servers and functional servers in a client/server environment. Prior to Gerstner, corporate management was quite content to have its Wintel and RS/6000 lines provide the most modern interfaces to IT functions. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Hasta La Vista, Budget
by Hesh Wiener

Arnold Schwarzenegger did it, and now Bill Gates is ready. Arnold went from bodybuilder to movie star to governor. Bill has already become a big time if not full time philanthropist. He has loosened his grip on Microsoft's reins. And now he is poised to take a final bow saying, "I won't be back." Yet, before he can leave, he has to pull off a corporate hat trick, launching new versions of Internet Explorer, Office, and Windows. Unfortunately, Windows Vista could trip him at the exit. It is going to require PCs with the kind of muscle young Schwarzenegger flexed. READ MORE >

   But Wait, There's More

IDC Says Tectonic Shifts Coming for Outsourcing . . . Vision Solutions Partners with ERP Vendor Intentia for Database Archiving . . . DataMirror Shows Slight Improvement on Revenues, Big Improvement on Profits . . . Bytware Debuts McAfee-Based Antivirus for Linux PCs . . . BI on Linux Gets the Attention of IBM eServer Resellers . . . META Looks Ahead to Future Operations Strategies . . . READ MORE >

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