• The Dark Side Of Automated Systems Is Bright

  March 20, 2017 Dan Burger

  Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates have each waved a red flag regarding the risks that could arrive with future artificial intelligence systems. To not be concerned is reckless and ignorant of the data that suggests the potential for harm. This isn’t a fear that machines with super smart operating systems will become the new Manifest Destiny with humans subjugated to supporting actor roles, but it does have its sinister bearing.

  The fear factor grows from the continual eroding of jobs lost to automation and the economic disaster that result. Cries of “we have nothing to fear but fear …

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• Digital Transformation Drawing Crowds In Rocket’s Road Show

  March 15, 2017 Alex Woodie

  IBM i shops may be relatively conservative technologically and generally resistant to bandwagons. But midrange professionals are eager to learn about digital transformation, according to Rocket Software executive Dan Magid, who’s the point man for a global roadshow dedicated to the topic.

  “How do I take part in digital transformation and do it with my IBM i? It’s a very hot idea,” Magid said from the San Francisco International Airport this week as he prepared to travel across the country to meet with more customers.

  Digital transformation is a relatively new concept that’s taking the business world by storm. It’s …

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• Vote On New IBM i Functionality With RFE Community Program

  March 15, 2017 Alex Woodie

  IBM is rolling out a new program that will not only allow IBM i customers to submit requests for enhancements (RFEs) over the Web, but allow the IBM i community to vote on them. Dubbed IBM RFE Community, the developerWorks program provides another venue for informing the Rochester Lab about a problem or asking them to build a new feature into the IBM i product.

  The new IBM RFE Community program for IBM i, which we told you was coming last August, is based on other RFE programs the company has had in place for other software products. Armed …

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• Vision Bolsters Data Replication, Rebrands Under MIMIX

  March 15, 2017 Alex Woodie

  Vision Solutions may have moved out of the Windows and Linux high availability market following the sale of its Double-Take business. But the company is still building and supporting software for replicating data to and from these important platforms in real time. And with last month’s release of MIMIX Share 5.4, the Windows and Linux data replication story gets better.

  Vision Solutions unapologetically doubled down on its Power Systems HA business following the sale of the Double-Take to Carbonite. With three IBM i-based HA products under its wing — including MIMIX and iTERA HA, which are under development, and …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, March 15

  March 15, 2017 Dan Burger

  What do you need from IBM i that you are not getting? If you have a thing or two in mind, IBM i Chief Architect Steve Will wants to hear from you. Here’s his phone number . . . Just kidding. The proper procedure is to use a request for enhancement. Learn more about that in today’s Monitor.

  Along with an article about making change happen are a couple of articles on dealing with changes as disruptive technology and managed services reshape organizations and workforces. And speaking of change, did you see IBM’s surprising makeover at SXSW a few …

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• IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 19, Number 10

  March 15, 2017 Doug Bidwell

  Technical Refresh updates have been a boon for the IBM i base. They have allowed IBM to keep adding features and functions to the current IBM i operating system releases without in any way breaking compatibility with the hardware levels and application software that runs on them. But you have to be careful about falling behind with the Technology Refreshes.

  To be specific, as we explain in the TR tab in the IBM i PTF Guide, while the Technology Refresh updates do not happen that often, but when they do, this tab has all of the information that system …

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• The Feeds And Speeds Of The IBM i Base

  March 13, 2017 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Without change, nothing new happens. But change is always difficult, so there is always this push and pull between the way we have always done it and the way we might improve it, and there is also a kind of gravity associated with capital investments in hardware, software, people, and processes that impedes change – and often for the best. Otherwise, we would be changing everything all the time and no one would know what state anything is in.

  The very stability of the IBM i platform, as measured in the way it runs and supports the applications on it …

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• IBM i And Watson: Another Step In The Right Direction

  March 13, 2017 Dan Burger

  One way to understand the future of enterprise computing is to focus on data and systems integration. Not everyone likes that idea. There are strong feelings about certain platforms and processes. But as the IT-business alignment evolves, integration will prevail. The current emphasis, driven by data analysis and cognitive technology, is a powerful motivation.

  IBM’s Watson is on the big stage. Explaining Watson’s analytical power and how it can be integrated into business computing is one of the main cognitive attractions. It will take serious planning and incremental steps to bring Watson into widespread use. One of those incremental steps …

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• Guru: MiWorkplace As An Alternative To SEU

  March 13, 2017 Jon Paris

  From time to time somebody will recommend an application to me and it sounds really useful – until I discover that it is Windows Only. Whenever that happens I usually go to one of the Alternative To websites, such as AlternativeTo.net, to see what I can find.

  Recently I was asked if there were any alternatives to SEU by a programmer who wanted to use fully free RPG and was tired of the green screen blobs all over his code. (See the example below if you don’t know what I mean by this.) This was a topic that …

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• Machine Learning And ERP’s Autonomous Future

  March 13, 2017 Alex Woodie

  What makes Netflix so good at predicting movies you’ll like? A recommendation algorithm based on your viewing history, and the viewing histories of others like you, of course. While consumer technology is rife with such technology, HarrisData president Lane Nelson sees a future when ERP applications augmented with machine learning algorithms can automate nearly all of the back-office decisions currently made by people.

  Machines have been taking over the back-office since the days of the typewriter. But the next wave of innovation occurring around big data analytics and machine learning will likely make the transition to a people-less office nearly …

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