Alfredo quotes from a ComputerWorld article (pre-)announcing a new
AS/400 from IBM:

> The server line will start at $6,995, with a
> preconfigured database and operating system offered at no extra cost.

A preconfigured database?  Which one?  For $7,000, it certainly won't
be Oracle.  Does it have the *proven* reliability and ease-of-use of Image?

And isn't the whole notion of a "preconfigured database" funny to begin with?
I assume they mean a "preconfigured DBMS," but even that must give us spoiled
Image users a chuckle.  For us, there's scarecely anything that CAN be
configured system-wide for Image to work quickly and reliably.

If you haven't seen a UNIX-based database (not that the AS/400 is UNIX),
though, you're in for a real eye-opener.  No wonder these systems can have full-time database administrators!

Mark and Mark, I don't know how you guys do it.  I've spent the past
week installing Apache, Perl, and a couple Perl database-access modules
on a 9000.  Overall, Apache was a real breeze, but it still had numerous
settings to configure.  Perl's modules were more taxing, especially
installing the modules in a local directory.  I was exhausted after
this one!

But that seems to be the hallmark of major UNIX apps -- configuration
out the wazoo.  More disturbingly, I'm reading more and more about
HP-UX being painfully different from other brands of UNIX, whether it's
different directory names, or just that the C compiler defaults to K&R C
(yes, I know, it's in the name of "upwards compatibility").

[snip]
> The line also is expected to have a new
> operating system designed to make it easier to provide secure
> electronic-commerce transactions, work remotely over the Internet,
> manage networks and use business intelligence data.

A *new* operating system??  Like a version 1.0 operating system??  Yikes!
If it's not OS/400 (or whatever is normally on an AS/400), then it's not
even really an AS/400, is it?

Unless they mean "new OS" like MPE/iX was a "new OS."  And while it's
fine now, my understanding (such as it is) is that the early days were
"challenging" (despite a conference presentation by a long-time guru
that everything "just worked").

--Glenn Cole
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