In 2007, the Common Europe “Top Concerns” survey found that people in the AS/400 user community were most concerned about high availability and disaster recovery. Common shared the results with IBM, and received this response from Mark Shearer, Vice President Marketing and Offerings, IBM Business Systems Group:

“Thank you very much for sharing the results of the Top Concerns Survey. It’s very helpful to have the collective views and priorities from the COMMON Europe members. I’ve forwarded this information to my executive team to factor in to our overall product and business plans as appropriate.”

This year, in addition to the “on the spot” survey conducted during the opening session of Common Europe Congress, all AS400 users are invited to share their thoughts via a web survey on the challenges they will be facing in the coming years. An iPod nano will be sent to a web winner each from North America, Europe and Australasia along with three other prizes awarded for survey respondents at the conference.

We know you have opinions, so share them now — the survey closes May 9, 2008.

As most first days go, my first day at Search400.com was a whirlwind of activity. In the mix was my discovery of the passing of AS/400 guru Al Barsa. I perused the Common website for information on what products had been released at the recent event and came across a press release from Common. My naïveté about the meaning of this news quickly passed as I read remembrances left by friends and colleagues on www.mr400.com and other AS/400-related blogs.

Quickly realizing what Al meant to this close-knit community, I contacted the folks at Common and asked whether anyone could share thoughts about Al. Understandably, Common members’ emotions were still quite fresh, as I’m sure they are for some of you. So while this post arrives two weeks after the fact, we wanted to address Al’s passing with respect and sensitivity.

Bob Krzeczowski, a Common board of director member, shared these thoughts:

I did not know Al Barsa extremely well. Al and I spoke at conferences, and I had several conversations with him at the conference in Nashville and shared a few jokes. I first heard Al speak at a Common conference, what seems like a very long time ago, and learned a tremendous amount at every session of his that I attended. He was an excellent speaker and communicator about this system platform, for which he had so much passion. I also learned a great deal from him in conversation at social events, where I also got to know about his sense of humor and his ability to listen to what you had to say. Al could certainly do that, and was more than willing to tell you what he thought about any subject.

On Monday morning at this past conference I did a small errand for the education office – I took some additional evaluation forms down to one of Al’s sessions about midday. Imagine that – one of Al’s sessions had blown out the handout count. I stuck around and handed out the additional session evaluation forms, and when almost everyone was gone, I walked up to the front of the session room to let Al know that they had gotten distributed and left a few up front in case we had missed someone. Al was in deep conversation with a group of the session attendees but looked over at me and, with that very matter of fact voice of his, said, “I think I gave my worst presentation at Common ever, this morning.” I looked at Al, and responded pretty quickly and simply said, “Well Al, you at your worst is still pretty darn good.” I meant every word of it. Al looked me right in the eye for a moment, stopped, and just said, “Why thank you Bob Krzeczowski,” and went back to his conversation.

I was very glad I ran that little errand. Al Barsa will be missed.

Clearly, Al will be missed. But his contribution to the 400 community will not end any time soon. If you would like to help carry on his spirit and enthusiasm for educating 400 users, you can donate to the Al Barsa Memorial Scholarship.

Bytware, the System i security software company that brought you the i5virus game, has another ad campaign in the works that will include some interactive Flash games.

MoshiMoshi (”moshi moshi” is a traditional telephone greeting in Japan) will be launched at the Common conference in Nashville later this month, and will follow the trials and tribulations of the various characters in a fictional corporation. As the different characters come across various dilemmas involving IT security, users playing the game can decide what the characters will do. Some of the characters have humorous names — the accountant’s last name is “Sudoku,” for example, while the boss’s last name is “Ono.” As people play the game, their decisions for what the characters should do will affect how the game continues and ends.

The games will take place in eight episodes over eight weeks — one a week — with prizes awarded each week to users who play the game. Some potential prizes will include educational literature, free software licenses, and free security consulting.

This is by far my favorite illustration by Norman Rockwell, one of the Four Freedoms he did that helped raise money for war bonds during World War II. This one, called “Freedom of Speech,” depicts a regular Joe standing up at a town meeting to speak his opinion.

First off, the town meetings that I went to when I was a newspaper reporter were nothing like this. Rockwell was pretty good at depicting an idealized version of reality, with the keyword being idealized. The open town meetings I attended were usually in a cramped school gymnasium in the middle of August, and everyone poured buckets of sweat in the humid weather while some crotchety old man complained for 45 minutes about a line item in the school budget. Ah, the memories!

But here’s the thing. As much as I disliked that old curmudgeon, I could at least respect that he had studied the budget and found something to quibble over. So when Common holds its meeting in Nashville later this month, I hope there are plenty of you out there who have something to quibble over during the Common and IBM town meeting. I won’t be able to make it to the event because I’m traveling to a different conference that same week. Which is unfortunate because it looks like they’re going to be announcing something at the town meeting around “The New Power Equation.” Not sure what that is, but it’s another incentive to go.

I will tell you one thing that old curmudgeon didn’t complain about: the name of the town. The IBM midrange server platform has been called the System i5 for a while now, for good and bad. Some of you still call it the iSeries and the AS400, and I certainly have no problem with that. But during the town meeting, the best questions to ask are around the future of the platform’s technology, and not its marketing push and nomenclature. If you get a chance once the conference is over, drop me a note to let me know how the town meeting went — mfontecchio@techtarget.com. I would be curious to know.

We’ve talked a lot on this blog about the iSociety, that MySpace-like page for System i fan(atic)s. Every once in a while, the iSociety hosts a “fireside chat,” which is basically the same as an online chat except….well, there are no differences except that iSociety calls it a “fireside chat.”

Still, they’re very cool. Mark Shearer did one when he used to be part of the System i division, when there used to be a definitive System i division. Other ones have focused on VoIP, MySQL and PHP.

Well, the most recent one last week focused on i5/OS V6R1, the newest iteration of the System i5/OS operating system. The chat focused on converting to V6R1 rather than the feature list of the operating system version. If you missed it, no worries. The iSociety chat’s transcript is online.

Common, the System i users group, will be holding its second conference this year. Called Common Focus, it is part of the group’s refocusing of its efforts to have one main show in the spring and then a more developer-focused show in the fall.

This year, the fall conference is in Columbus, Ohio and runs Oct. 14-17. Even though we’ve been told that reporters aren’t allowed at this one (sour grapes!), we still recommend you check it out. Common conferences are a good way for System i people to connect and learn.

The Common System i user group has elected the three members of its board of directors, two returning members and one new.

Dan Kimmel and Wayne Madden have been reelected to their second three-year terms while Bob Krzeczowski is joining the board for the first time.

Kimmel has been involved in Common for a while now. He has been an IBM midrange and System i software developer for more than 30 years, and can often be seen giving presentations at the Common conferences.

Madden is the muscle behind the System i Network and System i News Magazine, serving as its group publisher and editor-in-chief. He also is a popular speaker at Common conferences and has served as a project manager on the security track for the conferences.

Krzeczowski, the newest member, has been a volunteer with Common as a speaker and a member of its Education Team for more than 15 years.

Voting is underway for iSeries user group COMMON to fill three positions on the Board of Directors. There are currently four candidates vying for the positions:

Dan Kimmel, Bob Krzeczowski,Wayne Madden and Rajan Narayanah. Each candidate emphasizes different aspects of their qualifications that run the gamut from COMMON membership experience, to entrepreneurial skills to iSeries expertise.

A forum page has been set up to ask each candidate questions about how they would contribute to the future of COMMON.

The elected members will help lead the group for the next three years, so if you’re a member of COMMON, makes sure to check out the above information from COMMON and vote before August 23.

The COMMON Americas Advisory Council, which is part of the COMMON System i users group, played a big part in the changes made to the IBM System i platform and its operating system in recent weeks, according to the group and IBM.

The users group had a say in features being introduced in the new version of i5/OS, due out next year, as well as on getting System i servers with the Power6 processor on the market.

“The members of the System i user groups were the inspiration for many of the product features and enhancements we announced today,” said Mark Shearer, the head of IBM Power-based systems, in a COMMON press release. “This is a community that knows the unique values that the System i platform provides to clients and they help IBM determine how it needs to adjust and improve to support changing technology needs.”

If COMMON did in fact affect the System i product line — and I have no reason to believe it didn’t — then that’s good news. If you want to effect change on the System i, get involved with COMMON. Get deeply involved.

Speaking of iSociety, the group has announced that there will be another online “fireside” chat coming up next month.

This time up the chat will be on MySQL and PHP and will feature Jon Paris, one of the co-founders of iSeries consultancy Partner400; Mike Pavlak, the director of information services at power supply manufacturer Tripp-Lite, and others. It’s scheduled for 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 11.

The iSociety has gotten some cool chats going on their site. Participants have included Mark Shearer, the IBM System i general manager; and Elaine Lennox, the IBM System i marketing VP.