On Monday, 12/13/2010 at 09:41 EST, George Henke/NYLIC <george_he...@newyorklife.com> wrote: > I'm just grateful z/VM is still alive and well and getting stronger and better > every day especially with the advent of the z196 and that it is only a question > of time before the compiler issue will be addressed.
Not likely, George. The problem with CMS as an application platform isn't the compilers. As others have noted, that's easily and [relatively] cheaply solved. The problem is that application developers use compilers as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Business application programmers want to write web-enabled apps and services for UIs and database access. They want WebSphere, WAS, DB2/UDB, Oracle, and WebLogic. They want to write RESTful applications. They want to write in Java. And, of course, they don't want just some minimal core level of function, they want the whole enchilada. And in case it's not evident, business cases for compilers are developed around *business* application development, not systems management. Firstly, companies don't *want* to write their own systems management software - they want to buy it. Secondly, the number of people wanting to write their own systems management software on CMS is vanishingly small. So to have a viable business, you have to have enough demand to drive significant revenue. I say "significant" because there are lots of places IBM can invest. Should it invest those resources in something that returns a small profit, or large? (Note: I'm a stockholder, so I'm biased.) Those who are in the *business* of CMS-based [systems] software development might *prefer* COBOL or PL/I, sure, but they know what languages are available to them and they have to decide whether the market conditions and the availability of "development infrastructure" are sufficient to meet their business goals. In IT, as in almost all walks of life, it is unfortunate yet true that that the wishes of the Few or the One are ignored in favor of the wishes of the many. You will see that z/VM continues to invest in its native back-end System Management APIs and in the CIM "lowware" that pushes on them in order to free the systems management software from *having* to run ON CMS. Ultimately being able to manage system configuration, virtual machine provisioning, real resource provisioning, operation, event management, accounting, security, DR and HA, all from modern front-ends UIs with their own scriptable CLIs. As you suggest, this is all part of the appeal of zEnterprise. By the way, none of the above in any way denies the acknowledged inherent coolness of CMS. It's a simple and fast operating system; it's "single userness" eliminating huge amounts of complexity. Of course, we make up for that by having invented SFS and BFS, reintroducing some of that complexity. :-) It is a two-edged sword! Alan Altmark z/VM and Linux on System z Consultant IBM System Lab Services and Training ibm.com/systems/services/labservices office: 607.429.3323 alan_altm...@us.ibm.com IBM Endicott
