That's easy! > How can IBM know that your hardware is working correctly
They can't. You get zero support (other than Google, which is pretty good!) with your developer license. > So, why does IBM want to give you all the specs to be able to do this? They don't. But Hercules already exists and seems to do pretty well. > how can IBM know that you aren't running production workloads without paying > them the requisite license fees? They can't, but 1. You are not going to do a heck of a lot of production work on Hercules. 2. As I say in a lot of mainframe software license contexts: if it is not mission-critical you are not going to pay IBM-type license dollars no matter what; if it is mission critical you are not going to run it on an unsupported (less than unsupported, positively "illegal") environment. 3. If you don't mind illegality, then you are already running production on z/OS on Hercules. "When Hercules z/OS is outlawed only outlaws will have Hercules z/OS." (Please folks, no quibbles about "illegal." I put it in quotes. You get the idea.) > I think IBM really needs this competition. No argument, and no argument with the original premise, that IBM needs (in the good sense of the word) hackers sitting in their basements writing the world's coolest software installer. Or porting it from Linux. Charles -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Steve Thompson Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2016 2:14 PM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Why not an IBM personal use z/OS license? (Was "Installation Improvements (was ...") Ok, you decide to make your own hardware to run IBM's software. How can IBM know that your hardware is working correctly and they aren't having to diagnose your hardware system rather than just diagnosing their software, if you get what I mean? How long will it take you to develop architectural testing software that will ensure that the machine you have (actual microcoded and/or emulated) will give the correct results? So, why does IBM want to give you all the specs to be able to do this? There are non-documented instructions that zVM and z/OS use. I used to know a few of them in another life with a company that competed with IBM on mainframe hardware. If IBM blesses your system, how can IBM know that you aren't running production workloads without paying them the requisite license fees? Do not get me wrong. I think IBM really needs this competition. IBM was a very healthy company when Amdahl was making machines in my personal opinion (having worked at IBM as a contractor after layoffs at Amdahl). I found it interesting that IBM started having problems and then Lou Gerstner was brought in. I don't think IBM has been the same. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
