Steve Guendert wrote:
My experience in attending both several times is that SHARE offers
better content, and a wider variety of content from a wider variety of
resources. I have also spoken at both, and I can say that IBM appears
to try and restrict the content of zExpo, as well as the scheduling of
sessions. The decisions as to content at SHARE are made by people who
work for a wide variety of companies, both end user and vendor.
If you had to make a choice, I'd recommend SHARE.
zExpo is a good conference. It's smaller and more expensive than SHARE,
though registration can sometimes be financed with so-called "blue"
dollars--a sort of discount coupon rewards program for buying hardware
from IBM. For the extra money, they feed you three squares per day and
give you a conference bag with wheels. Naturally, all content decisions
are made by IBM. The sessions are longer and start at all sorts of weird
times, which is a bit confusing. (It's like living in the US and
traveling to a country that uses the metric system or vice versa. Takes
some getting-used-to.) There are more time slots than sessions to fill
them. So, some sessions are repeated. There is a z/VSE track, which you
don't see at SHARE. The proceedings are never made public.
SHARE is a user conference paid for with good old fashioned greenbacks.
All decisions of the users, by the users, and for the users, are made by
hard-working volunteers from its member organizations. At SHARE,
information moves bidirectionally. There are "hands-in" [look for these
words in the session titles] sessions and an official requirements
process to help direct IBM's development efforts. MVS Program volunteers
can become privy to early z/OS technical disclosure material. There is a
zNextGen project to help recruit and address the needs of those new to
z. IMHO, the SHARE content and experience for those who want to learn
about and participate in shaping the platform is unmatched for z/OS
users. (I really can't comment on z/VM. And, z/VSE users go to WAVV.)
The proceedings are made public.
--
Edward E Jaffe
Phoenix Software International, Inc
5200 W Century Blvd, Suite 800
Los Angeles, CA 90045
310-338-0400 x318
[email protected]
http://www.phoenixsoftware.com/
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