Paul Gilmartin writes: >Exactly; I mean per installation. The putative personal z/OS >makes each customer a systems programmer. You can run >a Linux/OS X/Windows system without a systems programmer; >not likely z/OS. (But note that when IBM makes steps in that >direction, many contributors to this list feel job security >threatened.)
I disagree. There are systems programmers for Windows, Linux, UNIX, and other operating systems. They may or may not be called system(s) programmers, and they may or may not have other jobs in addition, but the jobs exist. In huge numbers to support merely large numbers, which is a problem if you care about productivity. Heck, I'm the systems programmer for my iPhone. I manage network connections, install/remove/update applications, perform backups (and occasional restores), periodically update the operating system, etc., etc. I don't have the title, and I do that work part time, but I still do the job. Don't confuse the fact that some (not all) IT organizations with mainframes choose to have well-organized, well-structured, dedicated IT staffs with clearly defined roles and responsibilities. That's an optional feature (and advantage) facilitated by the platform, not a bug. By the way, people-per-installation is not particularly relevant. People-per-business outcome is much more relevant. If it takes 1,000 instances of operating system Y to deliver substantially the same business outcome as 2 instances of operating system Z, who cares that it takes only twice the number of people per installation of Z? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples Resident Enterprise Architect (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: timothy.sipp...@us.ibm.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
