Hi Folks,
We must not forget what this wonderful forum is for. It is for
bringing up problems in the MVS (z/OS) area, and solving them. It is
for people putting their heads together and making the sum as being
(far) more than the individual parts. It is for cooperation. And it is
for PROGRESS.
Any tools that help solve problems for us, are fair game to mention
in this forum. Sometimes the solution to a problem is a free tool (or
once in a while, a "pay" tool). (It just takes care of the problem, and
the problem goes away.) We have many of these tools on the CBT Tape,
and therefore we can help solve many people's problems. IBM doesn't
have programming time to invent every tool--nor would we want them to.
They have done enough by supporting the operating system and by buying
out a lot of vendors. Individual initiative should have its fair place,
too, and we certainly want the right to write our own tools the way we
want them to be. So all of that is fine to talk about here--IBM's stuff
OR OURS.
In my own travels, I've (occasionally) come across individuals
whose experiences, or position, induced them to prejudice themselves
against me in my workplace. Later on, when they were at another job (no
longer in the same workplace as me), they woke up and realized that we
are doing a public service with our tools, and that they (in their new
position) need the tools just as much as they did when they worked
together with me in the same shop. THEN, they became appreciative and
helpful, the same as everyone else. People in certain positions, aren't
objective. But when you remove them from there, they wake up and ARE
objective and appreciative.
I think I understand (partially) our particular complainer. He
mentioned once, that in his shop, he was given the task of standardizing
the shop and getting rid of all kinds of junk that consultants had
installed there and left there. In a large shop, this can be a big
problem. This junk can (understandably) sometimes get in the way of a
later IBM release of a component. One zapped or old module,
concatenated in a library (somehow) ahead of the latest IBM versions of
that module, can cause problems and abends which will interfere with the
production work that is the shop's bread and butter. So, given this
task, he had to fill his brain for an extended period of time with the
obsession of getting rid of non-standard modules and component parts and
(unfortunately) extra tools in that system. He wound up developing a
mindset that anything non-standard had to be gotten rid of. It seems
that this mindset has stayed with him, hence the origin of some of his
complaints.
We need to establish a balance between a standard, working, and
stable system, and also the extra tools that we all need. Once the junk
has been cleaned out, and the system has been put in order, one doesn't
need to be obsessive any more. At that point, extra tools are OK,
because the situation has been brought under control.
We all know that every individual has a different point of view.
Those of us who have been around (most of us), have seen quite a few
different points of view, and different approaches in the MVS
sysprogging environment.
But all this can be put to our advantage. Nobody is in the same
position, exactly. Nobody has the same job (or talents) as anybody
else, exactly. Each of us can share the solutions to his or her
problems with the rest of us, who have had to spend our time on other
things. So when there is diversity, which there always is, and we share
our experiences, AND WE COOPERATE, then we all gain. This is an
absolute truth.
That is really what this forum is all about. (At least it is my
view of it.)
All the best of everything to all of you.
Sincerely, Sam Golob
P.S. Shai, you don't have to fight at all. We'll do all the
negotiating for you. Just keep on producing your wonderful product and
keep on talking about it. I don't know of anything else that anyone has
written (for a reasonable price at least)--anything that covers the same
ground as your wonderful product does. You just keep on working, keep
on posting, and nobody had better start up with you, OR
ELSE........*@#$%&^&$%#@***
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