New EXTRA Story

Our August EXTRA story 6.1 and Your Vendor Applications is now available. Please leave your comments here on our blog site.

Happy reading!

For Something Completely Different: A Suggestion for Your Reading List

We've both recently read "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely and we already know we'll be re-reading it in the days to come. This is one of the most amusing, enlightening, interesting and educational books we've read in a long time--the only other one we can think of that made us think this hard is "Freakonomics." If you enjoyed that you'll love "Predictably. ..." Not only is it a good read, but it is all based on solid research and the conclusions drawn make sense--and not always the sense you'd like them to make!

As programmers, we like to think of ourselves as rational human beings who make decisions for logical reasons. And yet deep inside we know that isn't always the case. The book will help you understand the real forces at work in the decision-making processes, and with that understanding comes not only the power to make the "right" decisions, but to make sure that others make them to! Want to make sure that the boss chooses the right one of the options in front of him? Read this book and learn what you can do to ensure you get the decision you want. Trust us--relying on logic and reasoned argument won't cut it. You need to understand the irrational motivations in play.

Even though we were aware of what was being tested, we still found ourselves making irrational choices in the examples posed in the book--when we were honest enough to admit it that is! We suspect you will too.

Footnote from Jon. I really wish that I had read this book before the kids went through puberty. The "birds and the bees" talks would have had a very different slant! The section of the book that deals with the effect of "hormones" on the decision-making process is a real eye-opener and makes complete nonsense of much of the "conventional wisdom" that passes for sex education in most circles. Read it--it is very scary--but it makes sense.

Final note: "Freakonomics" is by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. If you haven't read it yet you should--particularly if you're planning on selling or buying a house in the near future. 

The Joys of Traveling

Quite often when we talk to people, they say, "It must be nice to travel so much." And then there's the inevitable "have a nice vacation" comments whenever we tell someone that we'll be out of town next week. While we do like to travel, those who don't travel a lot for a living often have a glorified idea of what traveling is like. Sometimes things go according to plan and all is well. Then there are times like the last few weeks.

In the past three weeks, we have traveled to work in three different cities. On all three occasions, we have had combinations of cancelled flights and severely delayed flights such that we have spent extra nights en route on two occasions. On the third occasion, we didn't overnight--at least not in a bed--because the flight was delayed to the extent that we finally got home at 4 a.m.!

In most of these cases, the cause was some sort of weather-related issue. Translation: the airlines owe you nothing in the way of meals or accommodation. One of the delays cost us more than $300 out of pocket for extra hotel, taxi fares, meals and airport parking. And for that, we were only able to be in the hotel room for around five hours total. You may be thinking "Why not just spend the five hours in the airport?" The answer: we had already spent more than five hours in the airport getting to the point that the airline finally cancelled the flight. In that case, we also arrived at the airport the next morning to find that our new flight had also been cancelled and we had been rebooked on a flight the next day (that's two days from our original plan--another $300 or so). When we begged, we were able to get them to waitlist us on a fully booked flight just in case someone didn't show (victims of another cancellation or delay somewhere else, undoubtedly). Thanks to our status with the airlines from flying as much as we do, we made it home that day and didn't have to overnight again. But we're self-employed and lost an entire day of work, so there was still a substantial cost.

The following week, the extra overnight stay was at least the airline's responsibility so the monetary loss wasn't as significant, but we very nearly missed a medical appointment with a specialist for which we had already waited four months to get. Fortunately, doctors are often delayed in their work as well, and we lucked out by getting there in time to see the doctor.

Just when we thought we surely had the worst luck in traveling ever, we heard from a good friend who was trying to get home yesterday. She wins the prize, for sure. She's currently on her second extra night in the city she's trying to get home from. The first night, she only got about four hours of sleep because her flight was cancelled very late at night and they rebooked her on the first flight the next day. She arrived at the airport for an 8 a.m. flight to find she had been in explicably bumped off the flight, but was booked on a flight around noon. The noon flight was cancelled, leading to rebooking on a 5 p.m. flight, which was cancelled but there was another delayed flight that was still there and--you guessed  it--finally about 8 p.m., that flight was also cancelled. Twelve hours later, still no closer to home. She’s now rebooked for the 5 p.m. flight tomorrow. We hope she makes it home on that one, at last.

Why so many cancellations? Well, even after the weather problems are gone, the planes aren't where they need to be. And often when the plane arrives, the crew to fly it doesn't. Or the crew is there, but due to delays on their earlier flights, crew members are over their time limits and can't fly. Airlines are cutting back on flights and this is vacation season. The planes are so full these days that it can take several days to finally get all of the passengers rebooked to get them where they are going.

Traveling can be fun and interesting. It can also be incredibly tedious (even when things go according to plan) and sometimes very frustrating, painful and costly. If you travel for a living, you know what I mean. If you don't, just don't envy those of us who do. The grass is always greener.. ..

What’s Up with the RPG Programmer Market?

We’re confused. From many RPGers, we have heard for some time now that the RPG market is shrinking--there are not enough jobs for RPGers out there.

During exactly the same timeframe, we hear from many of our clients that they can’t find RPG programmers--some even going so far as to say they may have to consider giving up RPG as their primary language due to the dearth of programmers. Still others are hiring Java or C++ or C# programmers and teaching them RPG and i because experienced RPGers can’t be found. 

So which is it? Are there too few programmers or too few jobs? Or is it both? Perhaps the lack of programmers and the lack of jobs are each specific to different regions? Or is it that the shops that say they can’t find RPG programmers really mean they can’t find ones that they can afford?   

We really don’t know what the answers are. But we do know it is a significant problem.  Maybe some of you have your own ideas and can help us out. But please--let's not turn it into a rant session about H1Bs and outsourcing! There are more than enough of those to go around already.

Analyze This: Are YOU Prepared for the Future of i?

Perhaps IBM have not done as good a job of publicizing the steps necessary to prepare for the arrival of V6.1 (or V6R1 if you prefer). Perhaps we have become too used to OS upgrades being a (relatively) trivial task. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps ... but there's a light at the end of the tunnel that leads to V6!

Whatever the reason, it seems to us that far too many i shops have not performed their "due diligence" and checked to determine what impact the new release may have on them. Recent discussions at user group meetings, with customers, and on Internet lists indicate that this is a widespread phenomenon. If it were only end users who were ignoring the oncoming train that would be one thing, but of even greater concern are the number of ISVs that don't seem to have their V6 act in gear. Reports of software packages that aren't yet "V6 ready" seem to occur with monotonous regularity. Of even greater concern are reports of ISVs demanding ridiculous amounts of money to "upgrade" a customer to a "V6 ready" version.

For these and many other reasons, if you have yet to run the ANZOBJCVN command on your V5R3 and V5R4 systems then run--don't walk--to the IBM Redpaper, Getting Ready for i5/OS V6R1. Or if you would rather simply act than read, then check if your system already has the required PTFs (for V5R3 look for SI28425 and for V5R4 SI28415) and run the command.

We won't go into all the technical details of the V6 change here--you can read all that in the referenced Redpaper--but just to give you an idea of a few of the things that you need to think about:

1. Any programs on your system that were compiled prior to V5R1 and that have had observability removed, MUST be recompiled before you attempt to move to V6.
2. Most vendor software has observability removed, so be sure that the version you're using is V6 compatible. Based on many of the discussions we've seen on Internet lists DO NOT simply rely on what the vendor says. Make sure you run the command and confirm for yourself.
3. If you've fallen behind on releases from your ISV, remember that you may need to factor in additional time to re-apply your customizations to a new version.
4. Some widely used utility software has been "modified" so that it can utilize system state. These programs will NOT convert--you'll have to either obtain a V6 capable version or find a replacement product.
5. If you need to upgrade/replace some of your software, be sure that you allow plenty of time to negotiate the cost of the upgrade with your ISV. Many customers are reporting that the initial offer from the ISV is (to use one of the more polite words) "ridiculous." Negotiate and, if that fails, ensure that you have allowed enough time to shop for a replacement.
6. The ISV that you purchased your software from may have gone out of business or been acquired--if you haven't maintained a current maintenance agreement you'll need time to investigate your options.

So the lesson is don't delay--analyze today! Your analysis may indicate that you're going to need additional monies in your budget beyond what you've allowed for that sexy new blade server you have your heart set on!

Before we go, we would be remiss if we didn't point out that there are many good ISVs that are prepared for V6 and have very reasonable upgrade terms. But the word on the Internet lists is that many are not yet ready and/or do not offer "reasonable" terms. It's time to check which category your vendors are in!