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? Intels, AMDs, or Motorolas? Which communications medium should we useFrame Relay or ISDN? Whats the right protocolSNA or TCP/IP ? Whats the greatest LANEthernet 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 were building today will never win an Academy Award, never ever attain star quality, and never consume more than a moments notice in the popular consciousness. In fact, every piece of hardware, every piece of code, and every system configuration is obsolete the moment weas programmers and operators and system administratorsstop working on and changing them. But to listen to the vendors, youd 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 arent 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, its 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; its 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 togethereach 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 dont 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. Thats what we, as authors and editors, are here to providereal solutions, not dogmatic answers.
As the new editor of Client Access/400 Expert, its 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 youll discover theres a lot more potential to Client Access computing than just hooking a PC to an AS/400. And what youll hear in these articles is the voice of expertslike yousharing 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
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