On 4/4/2011 12:47 PM, McKown, John wrote:
I have a z/OS web site. It is fairly simple. Because nobody
really cares. "Web on z/OS? We do that on Windows! Does it
support running .NET? No? What a piece of junk!" My web site
main page has a set of links to a Windows Web server which
display mainframe statistics. Why Windows? Because the BMC
product which creates the graphs is Windows based. It has
another link to a z/OS page which does 3.4 type information
for some Solaris people so that they can do a fast check to
see if a mainframe dataset is available (saves doing a TSO
logon). The main use is to a RACF site on our z which allows
our Help Desk people maintain RACF users
(add/delete/revoke/resume/change password/display information).
I wrote that RACF application myself, in REXX and HTML. Mainly
because we can't afford a vendor product (according to
management who really would like the z to simply disappear).
Why not do new style development on the z/OS system? It costs
too much. How? We use subcapacity for billing. We hit 100% of
our MSU cap quite often (using Group Capacity on our z9BC).
If we add more in-house written applications, we will need to
increase our MSU cap. Which will have _every_ major vendor
lining up with hands out for upgrade fees and increased license
fees because our increase in MSU usage is obviously to run their
code more. Yeah, I'm P.O.'ed at vendors (though not all - we do
have some who charge us "one price for unlimited usage" and it's
very reasonable).
Also, I hate to say it (and perhaps it's only us), but Windows
and Linux development is much faster due to superior IDEs. We use
ISPF for development of COBOL programs. Writing Java code using
Netbeans on Linux is much faster than COBOL using ISPF and batch
compiles with CA-ENDEVOR. It is also easier to do testing than
with Xpeditor CICS or TSO. This is just speaking for what _I_ do.
I don't know what product the distributed (mainly Windows)
programmers actually use. I do know that they are mainly into .NET .
--
John McKown
Systems Engineer IV
IT
Administrative Services Group
HealthMarkets®
9151 Boulevard 26 . N. Richland Hills . TX 76010
(817) 255-3225 phone .
[email protected] . www.HealthMarkets.com
John,
Based on the above, and what you have shared with us about
the general IT and corporate atmosphere and your health
issues, it must be damned difficult to keep your spirits
up. I don't know, perhaps you don't.
But I am curious as to why the mainframe doesn't just go
away: there must be one or more z/OS applications that the
Windows folks just can't beat. Can you describe what applications
are keeping the mainframe around? And why Windows folks can't
make it go away?
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Comstock
Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 1:11 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Mainframe Fresher
On 4/4/2011 9:52 AM, john gilmore wrote:
Steve Comstock writes:
<begin snippet>
He looks like a bright young man, the kind we want to sustain our
favorite platform - but he can't find a job. And we on this list
know he is not alone.
This is the kind of reality we face if we don't, collectively and
individually, take positive actions.
Promote z/OS, get current ourselves, tell the stories of cool things
you can do in z/OS.
</end snippet>
has prompted me to reflect that, while it is certainly true that
there are cool things that can be done with z/OS, I have not seen
a cool new z/OS application in many, many years.
IBM code, ISV code, or the like for z/OS that is cool? Yes, sure.
But a cool new application? No, emphatically no.
To describe the applications I see routinely as pedestrian would be
to overstate their merits. The platform is very largely in
the hands
of fatuous, mediocre, risk-aversive crackpot realists who avoid new
technology reflexively: Les courtisans qui l'entourant n'ont rien
oublié et n'ont rien appris.
New blood and new ideas are certainly needed, but how to infuse
them into this tired environment is not at all clear to me.
Steve's post has the great merit that it does not look at our
current situation through rose-colored glasses.
John Gilmore Ashland, MA 01721-1817 USA
But one of my points was: if you don't see it, _you_ should create it!
Perhaps some sort of surreptitious "skunk works" operation to develop
a demonstrable "cool application". You could lead the project in your
copious spare time, assisted by your merry band of cohorts. (Or is it
"band of merry cohorts"? I'm never quite sure.)
About two years ago I offered to prepare a small set of
webpages tailored
to each requestor. I got three requests, so I built small
sample websites,
including their corporate logo, and shipped them out. As far
as I know,
no one ever got around to installing them. Each sample
included 10 html
files as well as a number of supporting files.
I personally think hosting a website on z/OS (without WebSphere or
other charge for products) is pretty cool. It's not too hard to do, so
I tried to make it even easier. On to the next idea.
My current project is to create a page for our website that lists a
number of cool things to do in z/OS with links to our courses where
you can learn how to do those cool things. I hope to have it up in a
day or two.
--
Kind regards,
-Steve Comstock
The Trainer's Friend, Inc.
303-393-8716
http://www.trainersfriend.com
* To get a good Return on your Investment, first make an investment!
+ Training your people is an excellent investment
* Try our new tool for calculating your Return On Investment
for training dollars at
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