Worse than VM/IS and the 9370, a little before that there was the 4331 with
SSX, a packaged version of DOS/VSE. That also made similar claims about a
secretary being able to install it, and so we put it to the test. Having
read the manual we knew that it would format any drives it found, so we
physically disconnected all the ones with real data on them. Then we let
her loose, and actually apart from one question about the name of a key on
the keyboard (I think it was space which she knew as a blank or the like)
she succeeded. DOS/VSE had been hidden behind a paper thin venear of
panels, and it worked quite will, until the real DOS/VSE broke through when
something went wrong. Then you needed a real VSE sysprog. It was a bit
like the saying about GUIs, they make easy things easy, and difficult
things impossible. Well SSX made easy things easy, but left you high and
dry when it went wrong.
"Wolfe, Gordon W"
<gordon.w.wolfe@b To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
oeing.com> cc:
Sent by: Linux on Subject: Re: IBM announces LINUX-only
1 to 4 engine zSeries
390 Port
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
IST.EDU>
01/28/02 09:39 PM
Please respond to
Linux on 390 Port
>run Linux under z/VM V4. The comments in the
> announcement about not needing traditional skills...
>
Reminds me of 1987 when IBM announced the 9370 and VM/IS. Ads were
something like "Your Secretary can install it and run it". True. But if
you EVER needed to change it, say to add more DASD or to grant a privilege
to a user, THEN you needed a systems programmer! That's how I got this
job.
"Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by hitting back."
-Piet Hein, Journal of Irreproducible Results March, 1971
Gordon W. Wolfe, Ph.D
VM Technical SErvices, The Boeing Company, (425)865-5940
> ----------
> From: Jim Elliott
> Reply To: Linux on 390 Port
> Sent: Monday, January 28, 2002 12:43 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: IBM announces LINUX-only 1 to 4 engine zSeries
>
> To clarify some mis-conceptions on the list, you get the full z/VM V4
> product with the zSeries Linux Offering. As Ross stated, these machines
> only have IFLs and only run in LPAR mode. You can run Linux directly in
> the LPARs or you can run Linux under z/VM V4. The comments in the
> announcement about not needing traditional skills relate to your being
> able to use the "default install" option of z/VM and then using the z/VM
> System Administration Facilty. This is NOT another VIF.
>
> It is my personal expectation that while customers without VM skills
> will start this way, they will quickly want to develop VM skills so they
> can take advantage of the full function provided by z/VM V4!
>
> Regards, Jim Elliott - Linux Advocate, IBM Canada Ltd.
>
>
