On Tue, 26 Nov 2002 09:49:20 -0500, David Boyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> David, I disagree with your characterization that IBM's certified >mainframe development >> platform costs a "goodly sum a pop". The guy asking the question is the >VP Engineering >> of Sendmail.com, and if his company produces offerings for zSeries, which >I believe they >> do, then they are eligible for a low-cost offering from IBM's Partnerworld >program. >> That program can provide the guy with a Linux-based Thinkpad (2Ghz, 60gig >drive, 1 gig >> RAM), Flex-ES, 3 years of Flex-ES maintenance, loan of z/VM AD-CD's, >fully integrated >> and ready to IPL, all for around $13,000. > >I am aware of the PID discount. I am also aware that the solution you >propose does not work well in a data center environment (ever tried to >reliably rack a Thinkpad? not easy), and that for me, the equivalent >Hercules environment (minus the ADCD CDs, which I can't license) costs me >the price of a 80 gig disk, which at the local discount outlet amounts to >about $115 plus tax, about $300 if I go super-duper Ultra160 SCSI. > >If IBM were to offer a single-user hobbyist license for the ADCDs in the $2K >to 3K range, controlling the use via T&Cs, then developing for S/390 starts >to look like a reasonable proposition to Joe Average Developer -- at that >rate, it's in the ballpark of buying this week's MS Visual Whatsis per seat, >and everybody's legal and above-board. For that price, I'll buy multiple >copies of the ADCD for developers and we're set. From IBM's failure to do so, I conclude that MVS (OS/390, zOS) is in an end of life stage (5-15 years before death) and IBM is following the common practice of minimizing investment and maximizing revenue. Growth and new markets is the last thing they want. Not pretty... but with all those Cobol programmers retiring and dying, there isn't much choice. john alvord
