Thanks Alan. I realized that coming up with a definition of what is an operating system was a slippery slope. So I thought to ask if maybe it was more well defined for z/OS by IBM.
I tried to think of an example where things were clear. I could think of maybe PC-DOS 1.2. If I remember correctly the OS was quite definable there. Then again, would command.com have been a part of the OS or not. (-: Perhaps it all really is just an academic discussion, but I can't help but think there should be a clear definition somewhere. Maybe I'll try to Google a bit harder. Lindy -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alan Altmark Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 9:13 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: What part of z/OS is the OS? On Monday, 08/28/2006 at 06:45 ZE2, Lindy Mayfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Is there a general consensus about what pieces or aspects of the software > shipped with z/OS would be defined as the "operating system"? It depends on your definition of of "operating system". The classical definition is the chunk of software that manages the real system resources, allocating them to application programs. That is, the gatekeeper for access to the CPU, memory, and I/O devices. That would be, again classically, just BCP: the thing that holds the SVCs. Of course, as computing has gotten more sophisticated (has it?) the definition has become far more complex. Is JES *really* part of the operating system? Or is it just an application with the same privileges as the operating system itself? Hmmmm.... What about apps that run authorized only for performance reasons? Are they part of the OS? There must be a PhD dissertation on this *somewhere* out there.... ;-) Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
