On Dec 5, 2008, at 7:12 AM, Dennis Myhand wrote:
>>> Perhaps zero cost for the hardware, but IBM will charge you one >>> hundred thousand dollars PER MONTH, or more, for the software >>> license. >> >> >> Even if I don't give it a line to call home? ;-) >> > > You only have to pay that if you use IBM's software. By then, I'm > sure > there will be "other" software available. If that hardware is System/370 (perhaps the earliest usable hardware at this point), then you DO have to option of using certain System/ 370 software which is public domain, and that generally means MVS/370 Release 3.8j. It is still very capable software, bit it is still over THIRTY YEARS OLD. Any software after that will be a Program Product, and will be charged-for, even though it may be an unsupported release. Certain System/390 products are much, much more current, but all of that is Program Product. Same comment for z/System. Bottom line: you might be able to pick up some IBM enterprise-level servers (or systems) on ePay, or elsewhere, for a song, or even for free, but you will pay for the software license at the current "tier", which is low for single processors, and is proportionally much, much higher for 16-way processors [ * ] . IBM software does not "phone home", but IBM has its ways of discovering illegal use of its Intellectual Properly, and I personally know of at least four cases where IBM sued for violation of its IP license terms and conditions, and the settlement amount was $500,000,000 (yes, five hundred million dollars) for each count. The actual license charge would have been much, much less, of course, but IBM received a stepped-up settlement on the basis of a blatant disregard for its IP rights. [ * ] A relatively full suite of operating system and utility software for a dual processor System/370 could be $120,000 per month. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
