Why is IBM's AS/400 line like the movie industry? Well, for one thing they both make approximately a gazillion dollars. Besides that, every year, there's one movie that blows the competition out of the water -- and it seems like just about that often IBM changes a product name or rejigs a product trying to do the same thing. We've tied some of IBM's fancy AS/400 choreography to top grossing movies of the same years. Can you match the movies with IBM's moves?
1. In 2006, IBM's act of wizardry was to conjure up System i5 as a new name for the iSeries. What's the top-grossing movie so far this year?
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2. In 2000, IBM officially announced that it would change the name of the AS/400 to iSeries. Users preferred the old name and their cries of protest rang out: "You're a mean one, Mr. Zollar!" What was the top-grossing movie?
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3. The year was 1996. Under threats from alien intelligence, IBM defended their home turf by introducing: the AS/400 Advanced Series, to support Lotus Notes and provide easy Internet access; the AS/400 Advanced Entry, for the owners of small businesses and a new AS/400 Advanced 36 business computer. What was the top-grossing movie that year?
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4. In 1995, IBM introduced the AS/400 Advanced portable and compact version of the AS/400. Maybe you heard exuberant cheers of "to infinity and beyond" being shouted throughout your shops? What was the top-grossing movie?
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5. IBM's like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you're gonna get! In 1994, it was a new generation of AS/400 computers called the AS/400 Advanced Series. What was the top-grossing movie that year?
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6. The year was 1993. IBM used the DNA of their earlier product to bring three new high-performance AS/400 Server Series models to life: the 9402 Server Series Model 100, 9404 Server Series Models 135 and 140 –-hoping to conquer the market like a marauding Tyrannosaurus rex. What was the top-grossing action movie that year?
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7. The year was 1992 and IBM was flying high on a magic carpet ride, completely refreshing the Application System/400 product line with an enhanced operating system and 13 powerful new E model processors. What was the top-grossing film that year?
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8. The year was 1983. Returning from a galaxy far, far away, IBM's knights announced System/36. What was the top-grossing movie that year?
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9. In 1970 there was no big melodrama (no catastrophic snow storms, no crisis about a bomber on an airplane) -- but from a low-key Ph.D. dissertation by Frank Soltis, the AS/400 was born. What was the top-grossing movie that year?
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10. In 1969, System/3 became the first IBM system by to use transistors. How'd the IBM cowboys tune into that idea? (Maybe raindrops kept falling on their heads? Maybe everybody was talking at them?) What was the top-grossing movie that year?
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