TFH Volume: 27 Issue: 41 Archives

Ought To Be Committed

June 19, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

Reassurance is a paradoxical phenomenon. If we are secure about something, we don’t look to be reassured about someone’s commitment to that thing; if we have our doubts, reassurance can help calm our nerves and soothe our fears, but ironically, the very act of reassurance can, in a way, undermine our confidence even as it helps reinforce it.

Funny, isn’t it?

It is with this irony in mind that we ponder some recent statements by IBM concerning its commitment to the RPG and COBOL compilers and Rational for i development tools for the IBM i platform. To be specific, back …
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Will AI Replace ERP?

June 19, 2017 Alex Woodie

Programmers in the midrange space are used to coding IBM i applications, like ERP, supply chain, and retail management systems, using RPG, Java, and COBOL. It’s simply what they do. But what happens when machines program themselves and react to events in real time? One impact, according to prominent members of the software industry, is the end of the enterprise software business as we know it.

Led by Web giants like Google and Facebook, the computing industry is making rapid advances in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The advent of deep learning techniques, such as convolutional neural networks, …
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Guru: How Do You Do That With RDi? Part 3: Complex Compiles

June 19, 2017 Susan Gantner

In an earlier tip I tried to convince RDi users to give up compiling in PDM because the RDi compile interface has the time-saving Error List to offer. I offered some tips that help me with my compiles in RDi. Here I’ll continue my “Compile in RDi” campaign by offering some additional ideas for those who have more complex compile processes.

There are two common issues I hear that keep people returning to PDM for their compiles. One is that their library lists aren’t set up correctly for the compile and the other is that they need to do something …
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Mad Dog 21/21: Nervous Nellies

June 19, 2017 Hesh Wiener

IBM has about 375,000 employees. Five years ago, the company’s payroll covered roughly 430,000 employees, some 55,000 or around 15 percent more than today’s estimates. IBM didn’t simply trim its workforce. Rather, IBM dismissed tens of thousands but also hired many others. The corporate headcount numbers reflect the net impact. Meanwhile, in every single quarter since 2012, IBM’s revenue declined compared to the year earlier period. So, to cut costs, IBM may continue to pare its payroll. Many IBM employees are worried. Yet they may be the lucky ones: They still have their jobs.

The potential for sweeping layoffs at …
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A Fresche Emphasis On Services

June 19, 2017 Dan Burger

How does your organization plan its IT roadmap? If that roadmap includes implementing new technologies and modernizing legacy systems while staffing has been set at maintenance mode levels, your choices are to hire additional staff, admit the roadmap goal is unattainable, or contract the work to be done by a company with experience helping organizations meet their needs with expertise for hire.

The decision is not an easy one regardless of how easy it may seem to offload your problem onto someone else’s shoulders. Trusting a professional service provider with specific experience in what you need may seem like an …
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Ought To Be Committed

Will AI Replace ERP?

Guru: How Do You Do That With RDi? Part 3: Complex Compiles

Mad Dog 21/21: Nervous Nellies

A Fresche Emphasis On Services

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