Reader Feedback: Finding The i In The Power Ecosystem And Strategy
January 27, 2014 Hey, Dan
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First, thanks for writing up the interview. It’s always interesting to see what IBM‘s marketing people believe versus what I see from a customer perspective. Terri Virnig indicates that we can tell IBM is dedicated to investing in the platform because they posted a graphic indicating they would like to continue supporting the platform beyond 2020. However, I read the news, and I see continued layoffs of the development team behind IBM i. When I discuss new features with developers, I’m told about budget constraints and requests being bumped back into the OS release that comes after 7.2. How are we supposed to reconcile that message? It’s also disappointing to hear that most of the IBM i marketing funding goes toward ISVs. We could discuss that strategy from all sorts of angles. Would it be more cost effective to develop a growing platform instead of essentially paying vendors to support your product? Is it a good idea to pump cash into established vendors and give them an extra edge over newcomers? Wouldn’t that discourage new ISV entrants? Finally, since it seems I’ve taken such a negative turn, I’ll finish off with this thought. I’m glad they found the IBMi25 social media push to have been a success. My concern would be that their Facebook page only generated 2,000 likes. I know IBM i users like myself found the effort to be interesting, but I have to wonder if it really did anything to attract others. Despite the tone, I do appreciate that Terri took the time out of her day for the interview. I enjoy working with the IBM i, and I hope to keep doing so for the next 30 years. However, I still don’t believe that IBM and I have the same level of dedication. –Name Withheld In many ways the IBM of 2014 is not the IBM of 1998. The same can be said for just about everything. We can throw up barriers to change, but eventually they are destroyed. I don’t like to hear about layoffs and budgets cuts and people being told to do the job that three people used to do, especially when I hear that coming from friends and family. Almost all of my friends do not work for IBM and none of my family works for that company. Regarding your comments about IBM i marketing emphasizing the independent software companies, I think putting more funds into that effort would be a good investment. The details of how much or how little is invested by IBM would be interesting to know. Overall, I think there’s no way IBM i marketing can be accomplishing any of its goals. Thanks for writing. Next time, how about permission to use your name? –Dan RELATED STORY Finding The i In The Power Ecosystem And Strategy
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