IBM AS/400 legacy software users up in arms

The AS/400, which was once code named Silverlake, was one of the most popular midrange products for corporations. In the mid to late 80s, IBM sold loads of these systems, while corporate customers got confused by SAA and by the deliberate obfuscation it engaged in over PS/2 and OS/2. ( passim)

According to a number of people, IBM has now infuriated many of its most loyal customers because, in one of the corporate customers' words "On the one hand IBM is pumping money into development and marketing its legacy midrange product the AS/400 while on the other hand, it is trying to bury the most popular open source product on that platform."

This is CGIDEV2, which allowed hard working programmers to write stuff for the Internet using COBOL and/or RPG as a CGI language.

The INQ is informed that the second of the two bright sparks that invented this retired last month, and Big Blue has now decided to down the site and reject the open source agreement.

A massive wave of emails has hit IBM's corporate post box just in the last few days, many of them gnashing their teeth at Big Blue.

See here, and see the other stuff here, and the letters themselves, here. µ