This is turning out to be an interesting thread to watch. Lots of emotion (it hits us all where it hurts ... in the pocket book). IMHO what we are seeing is the market responding to a vendor pricing scenario change. Not good or bad, just different. IBM's changes will change the way customers react and what they purchase. Then when the results of the changes are seen, IBM will change it again to again try to force a change from customers.
To me it looks like IBM's motive is profit (not a bad motive). Customers motive is to keep costs down of backups (again not a bad thing). And the market, whether folks use OpenSource, TSM, Legato, NetBackup, or other products, will be the response the customers have to the market and vendor pressures and technologies. ... In any case, it is interesting to watch! ... JC
