Happy Holidays To All Of You From All Of Us

December 19, 2022 Timothy Prickett Morgan

After two years in pandemic-induced isolation, things got back to something close to normal in 2022. Which was a relief as well as a bit exasperating. It is hard to know what to trust as any trend anymore.

For my family, which got whacked by “Delta” SAR-CoV-2 back in December 2019 after I took the three older kids to Chinatown in New York City for the holidays, we managed to avoid it since lock down in March 2020. But just before traveling to see family on Thanksgiving, where we have several immunocompromised relatives, we got the “Omicron” variant and had to sit tight.

As I write this, we are all healthy after having RSV, COVID-19, and Influenza-A, all of which came to visit in October and November. We are all boosted and are at peak immunity and trying to stay clean so we can visit family again for Christmas. Fingers crossed, we will all get to see each other. With so many infections going on, we did not get the usual amount of fruitcake and cookie baking done as we would have, which feels odd. But we are just exhausted, to be honest, and looking for a chance to breathe for a bit.

We are, as always, forever grateful for the support we get from readers and sponsors for The Four Hundred. This publication was conceived in recession, just like the AS/400 itself, and we have suffered through five major economic downturns so far and still managed to keep our head above water. Thanks to the enthusiastic and steady support of our advertisers, it looks like we will be able to continue to do the work we love to do in 2023. It is truly a blessing to know this. Not every market is like this. In fact, and I know a thing or two about this, no market is a true ecosystem in kind or depth as the OS/400 and IBM i market is, and has been for more than three decades. It is an amazing thing, really. And after all of these years, and so much change, I am still amazed and still marvel about how the things that matter persist, like bedrock, in this IBM i space.

If you don’t realize it, this ecosystem is amazing, and does foundational work for 120,000 companies worldwide who in turn serve billions of people. What you do matters.

And like us, you deserve a break. And so, we will keep this relatively short and tell our readers and our sponsors a hearty Thank You, Happy Holidays, and we will see you in the New Year!