Tony Thigpen wrote: <begin extract> We have several customers running our software that are on pre-MP3000 machines that don't even support relative instructions. They still pay us for support and that includes software upgrades.
Other vendors may not care about existing customers, but we do. </end extract> Gerhard Postpischil wrote: <begin extract> As they say, all generalities are false. Some of us write dual mode code, to be used both on modern systems and on traditional ones. The Hercules groups for DOS, MVT, and MVS have hundreds of users, and legacy systems and software are alive and well. Running old programs as a hobby is considerably less expensive than many others, and may even help delay the onset of Alzheimer's. </end extrract> Binyamin Dissen wrote: <begin extract> The eternal separation between practical business programming and pie-in-the-sky elitism. </end extract> Let me deal with them in reverse order. Binyamin's argument is ad hominem, name-calling; and that is enough to say about it. For the record, I will, however, note that, while I like 'pie in the sky', resonant as it is of Joe Hill and the IWW, it combines badly with 'élitist'. Gerhard's point is not so easily dismissed; but 1) it is self-defeating for the technology if pushed very far: it freezes software in a posture that is now more than fifteen years behind the state of the art; and 2) the market for even moderately-priced software among MVT-using hobbyists is very small. Still, seriously pursued dual-path software is is certainly viable. Tony's argument surprised me a little in two ways. I was surprised by the apparent size of the market he describes and by his vehemence, both of which may reflect special characteristics of VSE users, about whom I know too little. In his circumstances dual paths would also seem to be appropriate. As a now certified élitist, I am nevertheless unrepentent. Urgings about compatibility requirements and the like usually hide Luddite impulses, reluctance to accommodate the (not very) new, which account for a good many of the troubles that the mainframe community is experiencing. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA
