• New Round Of Enhancements For Access Client Solutions

  August 15, 2016 Dan Burger

  With every Technology Refresh there are new features and functions added to IBM i Access Client Solutions (ACS) that make the official announcement list. But in reality, ACS upgrades also occur in between TRs with their announcement held off until the next TR. On July 31, the latest batch of ACS enhancements became available as a download on the IBM i Access webpage. ACS replaced the legacy Access for Windows several years ago. Like the traditional Access products, IBM i Access Client Solutions is primarily used for 5250 emulation, but is also popular for accomplishing data transfers, printer output,

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• Mad Dog 21/21: Vulcan’s Fury

  August 15, 2016 Hesh Wiener

  When Vulcan gets riled, steer clear of volcanos. Be nice. Show him some respect. Admire his metalworking skills. Celebrate his holiday, Vulcanalia, on August 23. Don’t hurt Vulcan’s feelings as Pompeii apparently did. In 79 AD, Pompeii was buried alive in ash and lava. Vulcan is obviously implicated: Vesuvius erupted on August 24, right after Vulcanalia. IBM, which has supported a huge study of Pompeii’s destruction, should know better than to trifle with Vulcan. But Big Blue has been vexatious, deprecating the hardware business. Vulcan is surely offended; he could strike at any moment. Watch out! Pompeii And

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• No Seats At Cruikshank’s SQL Database Sessions

  August 15, 2016 Dan Burger

  Dan Cruikshank’s presentations at the OCEAN Tech Conference last month were packed. Conference attendees had plenty of session options running opposite of Cruikshank, but his topics enticed IBM i advocates like free ice cream cones in the park on the Fourth of July. The seats are filled by folks hungry for technical advice on SQL, database efficiency, and business value. He gave them sessions on database re-engineering, reusable SQL procedures, modernizing IBM i applications, and data-centric programming. Based on “hands-up” session surveys during similar sessions he presents around the world, Cruikshank is convinced that programmers are increasing their efforts to

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• Talking Modernization With Profound Logic

  August 15, 2016 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Modernization, in its many guises, seems to be a big driver of the IBM i ecosystem these days. For a long time, high availability software was major propellant diving the market alongside System/38 and System/36 upgrades–a kind of modernization effort in its own right. Then along came the ERP wave in the 1990s, and packaged software is all the rage. Now, the diehard IBM i faithful need to update their code to work with modern devices and to look and feel like other modern software, and they need some help. A programmer or two using good tools are perhaps better

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• IBM i Requirements: It’s About (To) Change

  August 15, 2016 Alex Woodie

  Have you ever wondered how IBM comes up with ideas for how to improve the IBM i platform? According to the IBM i chief architect Steve Will, the most strategic ideas originate internally within IBM. However, many new features come from the customer base through formal requirements processes. And this fall, IBM intends to launch a new requirements program that will allow users to vote on new features over the Web. There are currently four formal requirements programs that feed ideas for new IBM i features to IBM. These include the COMMON Americas Advisory Council (CAAC), COMMON Europe Advisory Council

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• Get Your Git On, IBM i

  August 8, 2016 Alex Woodie

  Git has officially come to IBM i. Last week, IBM released a program temporary fix (PTF) that includes binaries for an IBM i version of the popular open source change management tool that was announced as part of IBM i 7.3 earlier this year. Along with Git, IBM also released a PTF for Orion, a new Web-based IDE that works with Git and can be used to code free-form RPG from a tablet. There’s been a lot of talk about Git in the IBM i community since it was first revealed to be coming to the platform with the launch

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• As I See It: Boob Job

  August 8, 2016 Victor Rozek

  It’s no secret that attractive people have an advantage when interviewing for a job. Studies show that appealing people are assumed to be more intelligent and better educated. They are believed to possess superior motivation and greater capability. If hired, they will almost certainly earn more money than their less attractive counterparts, and are more likely to be promoted. It’s a form of genetic favoritism, amplified by the preferences of the observer. And while a face may no longer launch a thousand ships, it sure can quick start a career. Although many forms of discrimination have either been legally banished

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• Youth, Talent, Creativity Ported To IBM i

  August 8, 2016 Dan Burger

  Liam Allan doesn’t tell stories about the AS/400s he has known. He’s never worked on an iSeries or even a System i. At just 19 years of age, his brief adventures in the IBM midrange, he knows only the IBM i. The 2016 COMMON conference gave him a stage. Two weeks ago, he started a new job with Profound Logic, an IBM i vendor with a knack for hiring high profile talent. Allan was pretty much an anonymous member of the IBM i community when we were all buying our 2016 calendars. But after he joined the Team Seiden

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• Big Blue Adds IBM i To EasyScale MSP Deal

  August 8, 2016 Timothy Prickett Morgan

  Back in January, when IBM announced a new deal to help make it easier for managed service providers–what we used to call hosting companies and sometimes incorrectly call cloud builders even if they are not building truly cloudy infrastructure–to build out their gear based on Power Systems iron. We complained at the time that the deal was only available for AIX and Linux systems, and should be extended to those who want to build IBM i clouds. Lo and behold, IBM has listened and the EasyScale for MSP deal has now been extended to include the IBM i operating system,

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• IBM i Fundamental Strategy Unchanged, Always Changing

  August 8, 2016 Dan Burger

  The IBM i Strategy white paper, a document designed to explain how the platform is advancing in conjunction with long-term planning at IBM and how it takes into account the feedback from end users, has been revised. The modifications reflect changes that have occurred since the white paper was originally released approximately 18 months ago. Those changes include the release of IBM i 7.3, the IBM i roadmap as planned through 2028, and areas of investment that have yielded results. Naturally, the strategy has considerable consequence to the IBM i community and IBM corporate. The i business is large–150,000 companies

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