Did anyone happen see the April 15, 1996 issue of Datamation magazine
(which, for some reason I only just received...)?
 
There, on the cover -- admittedly in not-too-large-print -- it lists one of
the articles as:
     Port Your UNIX Apps to OS/400, p. 77
 
The author "Why port UNIX apps to the AS/400?" and answers it with these
points:
 - There's a large installed base (350,000)
 - "The machine also has a bevy of system administration tools -- so many
that you could argue that it maintains itself".
 - According to IDC it has a lower 5-year cost of ownership than Unix.
 
He then reminds managers about some of the points they must consider in
deciding between Unix and OS/400; namely, which system:
 - provides the best cost/performance ratio?
 - requires least maintenance?
 - will grow with business needs without requiring applications to be
reengineered?
 - will take advantage of new technologies without requiring the replacement
of all resources?
 - will allow maximum productivity from the IS staff?
 - will allow data and applications from other systems to be seamlessly
integrated?
 
He also mentions that, although the initial cost of an AS/400 is higher than
that of a Unix system, the AS/400 includes: operating system, relational
database, communications, and security -- components which generally must be
purchased separately for a Unix system.  Furthermore he mentions that
integrating such essential components as listed above is a drain of IS
resources.
 
And there's more...
 
To me, the totally unsurprising thing is that, if I replaced every reference
to "OS/400" with "MPE/iX" and every reference to "AS/400" with "HP3000",
then the article would still be accurate.  I imagine the denizens of this
list -- both users and HP employees -- would be unsurprised as well; too bad
HP marketing doesn't know about the HP3000.  And too bad the HP3000 doesn't
get this kind of press coverage.
 
(Of course, the author, Martin Taylor -- since he's with Univ. Tenn. -- is
kinda-sorta Jeff Kell's co-worker, right?  Maybe Jeff should write a similar
article, about the HP3000, for Datamation?)
 
Regards.
 
 -- Evan