Which operating system is best? Is it OS/400, UNIX, NT, System 7, DOS, or OS/2? Which company will lead us into the 21st century? Pick one: Microsoft, IBM, Novell, Netscape, HP, DEC, Sun Microsystems or Apple! Which microchip is better? Intel’s, AMD’s, or Motorola’s? Which communications medium should we use—Frame Relay or ISDN? What’s the right protocol—SNA or TCP/IP ? What’s the greatest LAN—Ethernet or token-ring?

These are the questions that frame the debates in computer trade magazines throughout the industry. I read the journals just as you do; day after day, page after page. So what are the right answers? May I have the envelope, please? And the winner is...you!

Despite all the hype vendors can muster, none of these computer products and none of our information systems are in any real race or a contest. Despite the great popular appeal of computer systems, the information structures and communication channels we’re building today will never win an Academy Award, never ever attain star quality, and never consume more than a moment’s notice in the popular consciousness. In fact, every piece of hardware, every piece of code, and every system configuration is obsolete the moment we—as programmers and operators and system administrators—stop working on and changing them. But to listen to the vendors, you’d think the fates of our entire business enterprises were hanging on the success or failure of their market strategies.

“The real problem today,” our vendors say, “is the number of standards, the mix of equipment, and the variety of techniques used to deliver information. But if you would standardize around our platform then this problem will disappear. All you need is our standard, unified approach.”

But one-size-fits-all computing has never worked. Our companies aren’t homogeneous units of technology in a single pond of business competition. The business problem facing our information systems is not the mix of OSs and hardware. In fact, it’s a variety of equipment and software that has been proven, over and over, to be the solution to the business problems our companies face.

You heard me right! Heterogeneous computing is not the problem; it’s the proven solution. The UNIX workstation designing products, the AS/400 terminal building inventory, the Power Mac creating marketing material, the NT server dishing out office applications, the Client Access PC generating market analysis, and the NetWare LAN tying them together—each element of our information system is a chosen solution, chosen at a particular point in time for the value it can bring to the organization.

Of course, the technology changes and evolves, so keeping these systems up and running, maximizing their potential, and integrating them, are challenging tasks. But managing these tasks in our roles as AS/400 problem-solvers makes them challenging and exciting.

So what is the real problem facing information systems today? Is it that we don’t have a single answer in the form of a unified computing platform? Or is it that we need more creative solutions? We at Client Access/400 Expert believe that we should not be driven by product-based answers, but by the technical solutions discovered by creative problem-solvers like you. That’s what we, as authors and editors, are here to provide—real solutions, not dogmatic answers.

As the new editor of Client Access/400 Expert, it’s my job to see that each issue measures up to that task. I invite you to read through the fantastic variety of articles written for this issue. I think you’ll discover there’s a lot more potential to Client Access computing than just hooking a PC to an AS/400. And what you’ll hear in these articles is the voice of experts—like you—sharing their discoveries, without the hype or prejudice from an individual vendor or software developer.

Finally, let me also invite you to participate and contribute as an author in your own right. If you find a topic missing, an area neglected, or an interest under-represented, zap me a note at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To make CAE better, I need your feedback and your contributions. With more than 20 years of experience in computing—in operations, software development, systems engineering, project development, and IS management—I know the quality of your concerns and the demands of your positions. Share your experiences with us and reap the benefits of publishing with the best in your field. Join us as we move forward to bridge the boundaries of operating systems and computing platform. I think you’ll find this process—reading and writing CAE—is a technical adventure which will provide big rewards for you, your career, and your company’s bottom line.

Thomas M. Stockwell is an independent IT analyst and writer. He is the former Editor in Chief of MC Press Online and Midrange Computing magazine and has over 20 years of experience as a programmer, systems engineer, IT director, industry analyst, author, speaker, consultant, and editor.  

 

Tom works from his home in the Napa Valley in California. He can be reached at ITincendiary.com.