On Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:50:42 -0500, Thompson, Steve wrote: >-----Original Message----- >From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On >Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 2:45 PM > >"could". But would it happen? Is z/OS at any price a preferred >instructional platform? How relevant to mainstream computer science is >teaching students to code DD statements for CKD DASD when the view of >many sophisticated readers of this list is that CKD should be superseded >by FBA? > <ST> >With the advent of Unix System Services, your workstation can make use >of Open Office running on the mainframe (I think, I don't have the >opportunity to install it here to try it out). And you could chose to > IBM would need to address the EBCDIC problem before that became practical. I truly wish that IBM would extend its Enhanced ASCII support so a user, at his choice, could operate Unix System Services entirely in ASCII. This does not appear to be high on IBM's agenda.
>make that system a server to handle email if you so desire, or you can >get your email direct to the workstation from your ISP. > Sendmail reportedly works on z/OS UNIX. We're not using it. Are any installations using z/OS as their primary email platform? Why not? >Back to your DD statement arguments, that to me is a strawman. What or >how the SCP supports the hard drives is not truly germane. Yes, you and >I battle with it because we choose to. But tell me again what SMS is >for? It's not a simple choice. I get paid pretty well in a job that often requires me to code DD statements. And SMS doesn't eliminate the DD statement. It moves the battle of understanding a few of its operands from the end user to the storage adminstrator. And absent talent in that storage administration, z/OS withers. FBA and elimination of the 54GB ceiling would be a significant simplification. Again, not high on IBM's agenda. >Now imagine every major university having HLASM, COBOL, C/C++, etc. >taught in true cross platform environments. How many z/xxx licenses >would that make? > If I were advocating languages for true cross platform environments, HLASM would not be high on my agenda. >Imagine being able to develop an integrated application that small >offices would want, and IBM could license the software for less than >what they do now because the base is no longer a concrete pond -- >100,000 and growing z/xxx installs would allow for software prices to >soften a bit. Get that over 500,000 and the prices should drop more. >Service would not be that tough because most users would not be pushing >the limits (well, except for you, me and those hacker type students of >course). > The paradox: Must one become the enemy to compete with him? -- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
