A lot of people get credit for the work that went into creating IBM midrange systems over the decades, and rightfully so since the creation of such machinery, including the hardware and the software, takes many hundreds or thousands of individuals with each successive generation. It is appropriate to think about them as the AS/400, the forebear of the current Power Systems IBM i system, turns 28.

That is a long time in a human life, and an even longer time in computer history, where a generation has spanned from 12 to 24 months instead of decades. The funny bit

If you have noticed that Windows Explorer seems to be running especially slow when mapped to your IBM i server, you are not alone. Over the past month, there have been several reports of what appear to be limited denial of service (DOS) attacks against servers running IBM i 7.3. This issue stems from a change in protocols for mapped drives that IBM made with the new operating system, but it appears that Microsoft is on the hook for the fix.

IBM issued a Technote about a month ago to describe the problem and to offer various workarounds. The problem

Often we recognize we had expectations about the same time as we recognize those expectations have not been met. The IBM midrange computer, a combination of the IBM i operating system running on Power Systems hardware, exceeds the expectations of a high percentage of organizations that rely on it. Reliability, scalability, and securability are its hallmarks. However, some would describe its analytical capabilities as a weakness. Transactional-based business computers, like this one, are limited in what they can do.

Are they analytically challenged? That depends on your expectations.

The type of analytics most IBM i shops are interested in are

Exercise has always been my salvation. Over the years the jobs I’ve held varied in challenge and satisfaction. But whether the work turned out to be exceptionally demanding or excruciatingly dull, exercise was my deliverance. It was a curative constant guaranteed to soften the stress and alleviate the boredom.

And on those occasions when my youthful righteousness spilled over and I felt compelled to lecture my manager, exercise served as the antidote to the inappropriate expression of strong feelings. After all, there’s only so much emoting welcome in the workplace. Laughter is one thing; frustration, ah, no. Sadness or anger,

Loyalty to IBM‘s midrange computer systems is a strong bond for many companies. Those with CA 2E application development environments are a great example. 2E, originally known as Synon, was one of the most successful fourth-generation language (4GL) development environments on the platform and that community continues to number in the thousands. Like other IBM midrange shops, they are concerned with application development, maintenance, and modernization.

Last week, Remain Software released a CA 2E interface for its IBM i Application Lifecycle Management tool, TD/OMS. The new release supports management of business applications built with the CA 2E case tool