Come on, guys. You can keep complaining if you want, but let's complain about the real stuff, OK? Let me summarize:
1. IBM charges zero for sub-peak monthly 4HRA CPU usage. z/OS JAVAC tirekicking has *got* to be exactly the sort of work that's sub-peak. (And if it isn't, you're really doing something wrong.) Enjoy. 2. IBM charges zero to download and use (yes, on your PC) the JZOS Toolkit, and you can compile as much as you want there. Enjoy. 3. IBM donated all of the original Eclipse developer toolset to the open source community and continues to slave away (at great payroll expense) on improving it. At the JZOS Web site, Kirk has carefully documented how to connect free Eclipse to your z/OS machine via Ant and FTP, again at zero cost. (Thank you, Kirk.) Enjoy. 4. Every CICS TS V3 or higher and IMS TM V9 or higher customer has access to one no charge Rational Developer for System z license, so you can use the full-blown professional-grade workbench, too, at no charge -- as long as you personally are the first one to grab the brass ring. (Though if you want full support beyond specific use cases with CICS TS or IMS TM, IBM will require a support charge.) This RDz package also includes the entire Rational Application Developer or Rational Business Developer tool, which we charge everyone else in the world for *except* our CICS and IMS customers (for their first license). Enjoy. 5. If you don't have a z/OS machine handy, the *most* you'll pay for your own (virtual) z/OS machine for application development purposes is $350 per month, as many or as few months as you want. (Assuming you're at least somewhat reasonable with CPU and disk resource consumption, and assuming you fit the rather expansive qualification criteria.) If you happen to be affiliated with a university or even high school, it's probably no charge rather than $350. Enjoy. 6. There's still the PartnerWorld program (zPDT or System z hardware) if for some reason you want your own z/OS machine in your own building for for-market software development, and at low price. 7. If you work for a top secret government agency (or whatever), and the above options still aren't good enough and/or you don't qualify, ring your friendly IBM representative and use the magic words "System z Solution Edition for Application Development, please." If you qualify (which probably isn't too hard), IBM will happily sell you a full z/OS application development kit, with all kinds of goodies, for a total 3, 4, or 5 year price (not cost -- price!) that is distributed UNIX-competitive. Hardware, hardware maintenance, software, and standard software support -- the full kit, bottom line competitively priced. Now, let me just share with you one data point here that might put this all into perspective. If you want to create a video game for the Sony PlayStation, you will need to contact Sony Computer Entertainment, execute a rather restrictive contract, and pay $10,250 (in North America), upfront, for your developer kit just to get your foot in the door. You'll then have to pay steep royalties on all the games you sell, and there is no guarantee that Sony will electronically authorize your game to run on their (!) PlayStation. (They have full veto authority.) For a video game! Or let's consider Apple. If you want to develop an application for the iPhone/iPod touch, you'll need to get a Macintosh and (preferably) an iPhone or iPod touch. That's not too terribly expensive, but it's an expense. Then you must submit your application to Apple for approval, because there's only one way to distribute your application: through the iTunes Store. Apple can (and does) refuse applications for any reason, often at a very leisurly pace, and their decision is final. If Apple refuses your application, you can still distribute it -- but only the tiny minority of iPhone/iPod touch owners who have hacked their devices can run it. And you're going to be hard pressed to collect any revenues from that application. If Apple does accept your application into the iTunes Store, Apple collects a 30% royalty right off the top -- and again, you have no choice in that. Now, I don't mean to pick on Sony and Apple specifically, but let's look at this rationally. IBM has been working mighty hard to lower the development hurdles (and costs) for z/OS, and -- as you can see -- there's been much progress on that front. Could more be done? Perhaps, but how about we concentrate on the real remaining issues and not try to invent unreal problems, OK? Thanks for putting up with my venting. :-) - - - - - Timothy Sipples IBM Consulting Enterprise Software Architect Based in Tokyo, Serving IBM Japan / Asia-Pacific E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
