> DB2 V8 : Some of the reasons I can recall : > > a) You could not upgrade to V8 unless you have a 64 bit machine.. > Where in the World have you heard that a Software supplier forces you to > run a 64 but machine before you can "Upgrade".
That happens all the time and not just in the mainframe area. IBM and everyone else in the industry is trying to move forward. DB2 V8 is a radical redesign of DB2 to take advantage of the 64-bit architecture. They could have dual-pathed the code to support older machines but that would have just been stupid. > The concept of 64-bit machines is basically to allow you to move some of your buffers into "Above the bar". It is a lot more complex than that. The 64-bit architecture provides a basis for continued growth, particularly for new applications coming from other platforms that have had 64-bit for a decade or more. It is true that most of the applications in the z/OS world don't know or care, but the OS and subsystems definitely do. It is not just DB2 that needs those capabilities. Every new OS release incorporates and exploits more 64-bit features. z/OS 1.6 was the first to require 64-bit architecture and it is going on 2 years old now. Ignoring that is just swimming against the tide. > So if you do not need to move anything "Above the bar", as most DB2 users, > why are you forced by a Database vendor to move to a 64-bit machine ? That's obviously in the eye of the beholder. I know of lots of customers who were hard up against addressability limits in their DB2 work and it was an impediment to their own business growth. They are the ones begging for more constraint relief and (typically) also the ones with open check books. The development goes where the customer demands are. If you don't actually need the head-room and you are on older supported releases of hardware and software then nobody is going to hold a gun to your head to make you move. If you needed the functionality, then it's a whole different story. How much was that functionality worth to you? > b) It cost more for DB2 V8 > Which implies , that as a V7 user, you could not order V8 and play with it > until you are ready. In the old days, the maintenance covered the upgrade. > Now they argue, it's actually a new product. Well there is a massive difference between V8/9 and anything older. IBM spent a huge amount of time and resources to rework it to really exploit the new architecture. I don't see anything wrong with them recovering their (pretty significant!) costs on developing the "upgrade". It's not like the PC software vendors give you their new releases for free either. It's a business, not a charity. CC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
