Clark Morris wrote:
[snip]
The devil is in the details. I agree that changes to name lengths and
use of Unicode will require drastic changes to the BCP but the
combination of FBA and name length and character set changes will have
a drastic impact on the JESs.
The most important questions are:
1. Are the changes that I have recommended including longer names,
move to Unicode, Fixed Block Architecture, etc. necessary for the
future?
2. Is there functionality currently in z/OS and z/VM that is both
needed and not available at least one other IBM platform?
3. Assume z series functionality is either unique to the platform or
is for critical functions significantly more advanced than other IBM
platforms and the functions I recommended are vital to have in
environments in the future. Then what is the least resource
consumptive way to get to an operating environment that has all of the
function required for the future from both an IBM point of view and a
customer point of view? Any of the choices that I can envision are
expensive and potentially disruptive. Any course of action will have
to be able to be executed in incremental steps. Basically where do we
think our organizations should be heading and how do we see them
getting there?
Well, let's bite the bullet. Or, well, have IBM
bite the bullet. The truly bold way is to design
a new architecture. I call it SA for Single Architecture.
SA is UTF-32 based. It is scalable from wristwatches
to z990-class machines. It builds on all we've learned
in the past 40+ years in terms of operating systems:
security, reliability, availability, work scheduling
and balancing.
All data is either UTF-32 text or binary (for
executables, images, multi-media, etc.). When data
comes in it is either allowed as is (binary) or
converted to UTF-32. This includes numeric items:
all stored in character string notation (integer,
decimal, float). When data is sent out, it is
either sent out unchanged (binary or UTF-32 targets)
or it is converted to UTF-16 or UTF-8.
Never need a code page again. But allow all human
languages in a single document, file, page.
Never have competing architectures (zSeries, iSeries,
pSeries, etc. I still can't keep them all straight).
Just the SA series. Think of the cost savings. Think
of the simplicity.
Ah well, Nirvana awaits.
Kind regards,
-Steve Comstock
The Trainer's Friend, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
