Wayne
No
This issue has been aired before and the proof that USS is the IBM
abbreviation for Unformatted System Services and *not* UNIX System Services
is contained in a post of mine from approximately 6 months ago, date and
time: 15 Dec 2006, 13:41.
Since I took the trouble to locate it, here are the details:
<quote>
Go to page
http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/zose/bkserv/zose/ussz18...
This is where you can "Search text of all books in: z/OS V1R8.0 UNIX System
Services bookshelf".
Enter USS and click on "Search".
If "USS" was "official" you would expect a massive number of hits.
How many do we find? 4 manuals (out of 11) with 5, 3, 2 and 1 hit
respectively.
1. Checking z/OS V1R8.0 UNIX System Services Planning, we find 5 hits, all
of which refer to the names of something starting with USS_.
2. Checking z/OS V1R8.0 UNIX System Services Messages and Codes, we find 3
hits: 3 messages out of several thousands. In fact here the message
explanations appear to use "USS" simply to mean "UNIX System Services" - a
few isolated exceptions which, to my mind, illustrate the aphorism "Exceptio
probat regulam".
3. Checking z/OS V1R8.0 UNIX System Services File System Interface Reference
, we find 2 hits, respectively, some assembler code comments and some C code
comments, places where non-standard abbreviations are quite common,
especially if the programmer didn't anticipate his/her efforts might appear
in a manual.
4. Checking z/OS V1R1.0-V1R8.0 UNIX System Services Parallel Environment
Operation and Use, we find 1 hit, a sample log file heading.
In other words, despite a few slip-ups, the abbreviation "USS" for "UNIX
System Services is eschewed by the regular IBM manuals for the topic. By
contrast the phrase "UNIX System Services" appears in the hundreds in the
major manuals.
Of course I have no doubt that the developers among themselves use "USS"
very freely as will any, for example, redbook authors or SHARE attendees,
who come into contact with them.
Well, that was my two eurocents of somewhat doubtful value. I guess the
"USS" pedant count has now reached three. <g>
And in case there are some bemused readers who are completely flummoxed over
what all the fuss is about, I can add that, officially, "USS" should refer
to VTAM's "Unformatted System Services", the human end-user "log on"
interface for SNA devices, which still retains some prominence with 3270
TELNET.
</quote>
In case you are using "IBM documentation" as an indication of official
status and the specific type of IBM documentation on which you are relying
is redbooks, let me assure you that redbooks are *un*official documentation
which happen to come from an IBM source with authors just like yourself
whose terminology may have been corrupted by common usage.
When checking this I noticed I said elsewhere in the thread that I am quite
content for the abbreviation USS to be used when the context is clearly UNIX
System Services and could not be confused with VTAM's Unformatted System
Services. Unfortunately, this necessary distinction can be forgotten when
3270 TELNET is part of the discussion.
Claiming that USS is *official* for UNIX System Services is something "up
with which I will not put!" <g>
Chris Mason
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Driscoll" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: Friday musings on the future of 3270 applications
And I've seen IBM documentation refer to z/OS UNIX System Services as
USS, so will you accept that?
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