That's not really true although it IS the "IBM supported method" BS. No one, including IBM, is going to say that you can't get to z/OS 1.8 from OS/390, just that it isn't "supported". It isn't covered in the migration guide, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.
There is absolutely no reason they could not convert to z/OS 1.8 from OS/390 2.10. I have completed over 40 conversions from various levels of OS/390 (and older versions) to z/OS at various levels over the past 7 years, with 4 of them so far this year alone from various levels of OS/390 to z/OS 1.8. In fact, I am currently working on 2 separate conversion to z/OS 1.8, one from OS/390 2.9 and the other from OS/390 2.7. One is just about done and the other is just starting. While the process is not supported, or for the most part even desired by IBM, I have had no problems either performing the conversions, currently or in the past, or in opening problems. I will however agree that I have run into more problems moving to z/OS 1.8 than to z/OS 1.7 from levels of OS/390, but it's not because of the conversion itself, it's just that z/OS 1.8 "appeared" to have more issues, (i.e. PTF related problems), than z/OS 1.7 did. The only time that I would ever advise two steps is when you have not yet moved your OS/390 system to a z-series hardware box. And in that case it's really just a small-step before the big-step where you need to put the z-series maintanence on the OS/390 system to support the z-series hardware. There is actually very little testing involved and the end users are normally not inconvenienced in any way. The second step is the conversion itself, which is more work for the systems programmer, but not insurmountable. I have always pushed that the end users don't really need or want to go through the testing process twice, it's a waste of company time and resources. There are a lot of things you can't do, at least not the same way, during the conversion, and there are several pitfalls you have to look out for, but it's not as difficult as some people might want to make it seem. If you would like to discuss the process of doing the conversion from OS/390 2.10 to z/OS 1.8, I am more than willing to give you as much help as I can, although I don't think it's a good idea to discuss it via this list since it can get pretty complicated and in a lot of areas very boring :} Feel free to contact me offline and I'll help you all that I can. I would post my 800 number here, but there is no telling what restroom walls it will end up on:) Brian Westerman [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
