Hi Phil, Oh, they wanted to kill it alright! The fact that they have been unable to is a testament to it's customer loyalty and the fact that it is such a robust and dependable system.
It's ironic that IBM's latest innovation (i.e. Linux/390) and potentially it's most important factor in new hardware sales depends entirely upon the "ugly step-sister" to help Linux/390 achieve it's full potential. Remember VIF (Virtual Image Facility)? This was basically just VM with some Linux installation and management aids - but IBM couldn't go back to their customers whom they had convinced to get off of VM and tell them that they now needed VM to properly implement Linux/390 - so VIF was born (no, no - it's not VM - trust me, ignore those HCP.... messages!). :) I worked as a consultant to a division of IBM for about 7 years (most of the 1990's). During this time there was a published mandate that ALL IBM business processes (including the ones which I authored and was supporting, on VM of course) were to be migrated off of VM to Lotus Notes. Any business process that would not or could not migrate off of VM to Lotus Notes would be retired. A LOT of great internal business processes were "retired" resulting in a huge loss of functionality and productivity. The number of installed VM images within IBM (supporting their world-wide business) was cut from dozens/hundreds to just a dozen or less (I'm not there anymore, but I think there are just a few VM systems remaining). Fortunately, the business processes which I authored are still "alive and well and living on VM" - and hopefully they'll stay there. Anyhow, that's just my $.02. I'm glad to know that VM is still alive and well, and that the folks who maintain and enhance it are still doing an outstanding job! Michael Coffin, VM Systems Programmer Internal Revenue Service - Room 6030 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20224 Voice: (202) 927-4188 FAX: (202) 622-6726 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----Original Message----- From: Phil Payne [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 10:55 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: IBM announces LINUX-only 1 to 4 engine zSeries > Sorry, just venting - for over 10 years IBM has been aggressively > trying to kill VM ... Simply not borne out by the facts. If they had wanted to kill it (as they have many other things) it would be forgotten by now. -- Phil Payne The Devil's IT Dictionary - last updated 2002/01/20: http://www.isham-research.com/dd.html UK +44 7785 302803 Germany +49 173 6242039
