COMMON RiPS: A Good Idea Needing a Better Acronym
September 14, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan
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The idea is sound. No question about it. COMMON, the AS/400 midrange user group that is now billing itself as The Power Systems User Group, is looking for people who have retired from their coding and administration jobs at i shops who nonetheless can contribute to and participate in the midrange community by staying active with COMMON and mentoring those whippersnappers who still need some schooling. But calling them RiPs? That’s a bit of gallows humor, isn’t it? A RiP, you will learn from this COMMON Web page, is short for Retired i Professional, which is distinct from those of you who are working too much, who are simply Tired i Professionals, or TiPs. And those of you, particularly in the banking, insurance, and telecom industry who have experience with both mainframe and i boxes are presumably to be called MiPs. You can work out for yourself what shops with Windows-i and Linux-i experience are, right? Maybe I have been working for British publishers for too long in my two decades in this chair, but it seems to me that a better name for such people as COMMON is looking for to participate in the i community would be more accurately called Golden i Techies, or GiTs. Anyway, despite the ominous acronym, if you have time on your hands, you can get a free COMMOM membership, worth $150, by being a RiP, and you can help new speakers get discounts on their registration, too, by teaching them the ropes. RELATED STORIES COMMON 2010: Bring Your Own Booze (And I Will) COMMON Europe: Doing the Math on Top i Concerns COMMON Exceeds Expectations in Reno, But Group’s Future Uncertain The COMMON Conference Agenda Is Coming Together COMMON Takes a Trip to DisneyWorld for 2010 Slate of Candidates Put Forth for the COMMON Board The i Upgrade Cycle Seems Par for the Course COMMON Creates Scholarship Honoring Al Barsa
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