Microsoft stops using Windows and goes back to using AS/400s 
November 2000

Dr. Frank Soltis, chief engineer of the AS/400,  speaks candidly of how AS/400 saved the day for Microsoft.

Dr. Frank Soltis recently shared a success story during a keynote speech at a user conference in Florida.  This particualr company was in the software distribution business and at one point had 23 AS/400s located around the world.  The company was a very good customer, went from CISC to RISC, and was always one of the first to upgrade to new technology, he said.

Then came the Year 2000 problem, and despite five years of dedicated service during a period of great revenue growth, the company decided that it was time to move off the AS/400.  So in June of 1999, the company unplugged its AS/400s and powered up the 1,200 Windows servers it needed to replace them.  But things didn't go as planned.  "They found they couldn't make it work," Soltis told the crowd.  "Today, one year after unplugging their AS/400s, they're back on the AS/400."

That company is Microsoft.  "They viewed that as a point of embarrassment," Soltis said.  "We thought it was kind of funny.  Can you think of a company with greater incentive to move to Windows, and they couldn't do it?"



Copyright 2000  Midrange Technology Showcase