4 ms·

Very true.. Though I recall the power7 stuff being released years ago as a very tech heavy event, and yet it seemed to go down without much of an impact as well

by spydum 12y ago

Very true.. Though I recall the power7 stuff being released years ago as a very tech heavy event, and yet it seemed to go down without much of an impact as well (though the aix guys I worked with were convinced it was game changing). I think people who are invested (culturally/mentally)in ibm will continue to buy ibm (and no doubt be successful). I just don't see them growing any new markets.

Afforess 12y ago
>though the aix guys I worked with were convinced it was game changing I was talking to an ibmer a while ago and AIX was mentioned. We agreed the platform had technical merits, and on a pure platform level was superior to x32/x64 but the network effects of commodity hardware had already won the platform game. No one writes software for any other platforms but intel/amd64. AIX lost for the battle, similar to the reasons betamax lost to VHS.
erglkjahlkh 12y ago
I have participated in sales, and I did not want to get into hours long discussion (boring, and not really important) about what Power/AIX offers so I boiled it down for potential customers like this: If you want the best with insane price level, buy into Power/AIX. If you are not really sure, please don't. You need to train administrators (with larger setups) - or prepare to shell in a lot of money, the hardware contains nasty licensing surprises, the hardware is rather expensive, and so on. When you get it running, it's insanely powerful indeed, and the platform itself nearly never screws up (if you tested properly for Monday parts), and the virtualization is insanely good in practice. Some potential customers have bought Power/AIX, some not. The ones that did are still years after customers, and to my knowledge pretty happy. I believe IBM is actually gaining customers. Slowly, but they are. Those that made the choice knew what they got into, and are not going to change their views.
- pdardeau 12y ago
  > the [Power/AIX] virtualization is insanely good in practice This is my experience as well. IMO, Power/AIX has the most sophisticated virtualization available. IBM just has no idea how to market it.

by spydum 12y ago

Afforess 12y ago

>though the aix guys I worked with were convinced it was game changing I was talking to an ibmer a while ago and AIX was mentioned. We agreed the platform had technical merits, and on a pure platform level was superior to x32/x64 but the network effects of commodity hardware had already won the platform game. No one writes software for any other platforms but intel/amd64. AIX lost for the battle, similar to the reasons betamax lost to VHS.

erglkjahlkh 12y ago

I have participated in sales, and I did not want to get into hours long discussion (boring, and not really important) about what Power/AIX offers so I boiled it down for potential customers like this: If you want the best with insane price level, buy into Power/AIX. If you are not really sure, please don't. You need to train administrators (with larger setups) - or prepare to shell in a lot of money, the hardware contains nasty licensing surprises, the hardware is rather expensive, and so on. When you get it running, it's insanely powerful indeed, and the platform itself nearly never screws up (if you tested properly for Monday parts), and the virtualization is insanely good in practice. Some potential customers have bought Power/AIX, some not. The ones that did are still years after customers, and to my knowledge pretty happy. I believe IBM is actually gaining customers. Slowly, but they are. Those that made the choice knew what they got into, and are not going to change their views.

pdardeau 12y ago
> the [Power/AIX] virtualization is insanely good in practice This is my experience as well. IMO, Power/AIX has the most sophisticated virtualization available. IBM just has no idea how to market it.