> *that* hercules was a vapourware release to stop current Skyline customer stampeding to z/900 (nee "Freeway" ) and causing a subsequent haemorrhage of income whilst Trinium came online.
> Ask me, I was in the middle of it - although only as a contractor/consultant, not one with control of any purse-strings. > Different (Hercules) animal altogether - all those chips were supposed to be in the one cage, and operating concurrently. As if ... > Phil will have some thoughts on that as well methinks. The original idea was IBM's - Workplace OS was supposed to have multiple "personalities", each of which would run one of the operating systems of the day. Both Amdahl and HDS tried out the concept of a multiple personality server on their respective customer councils. "Hercules" was the HDS version. Chris Worrall of HDS toured the globe visiting large customers with a couple of Hirai's people in tow - everyone I've spoken to who was in such a meeting says the Japanese were not impressed with the idea. He tried to sell the concept to Comparex, too - I have the minutes of that meeting. The objections on both sides - both Amdahl's and Hitachi's customers - were based on pricing. "Is this thing going to be a Windows server at mainframe prices or a mainframe server at Windows prices?" That was were it fell apart. I don't think the hardware suppliers (Hitachi Kanagawa and Fujitsu) ever took it seriously. Amdahl dropped it first, and like a hot potato - HDS tried it for a while. I note Chris was mentioned in the second article cited. Chris was my boss in Itel Germany from 1978 until around 1981 - I was there on the famous occasion when he almost cleaned out the casino in Nice at roulette while absolutely smashed out of his mind. He'd already cleaned out two one-armed bandits - one at Peter's Pilsstube in Frankfurt/Niederrad and one at Frankfurt Airport. It must count as the luckiest week anyone's ever had. His first wife Lynn and my wife were very good friends - we used to go round to the house they'd rented in a very depressing part of Frankfurt/Hoechst and the women would chat away while Chris's dog shagged my leg. A boxer cross. Incredible stamina, that animal. -- Phil Payne http://www.isham-research.co.uk +44 7833 654 800 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
