On 30/01/2013 3:42, John McKown wrote:
We don't have the money to convert from CICS or batch COBOL to something else (likely Microsoft .NET based <shudder/>).
I am curious why you single out .NET specifically here? I develop in .NET, and I think it is quite good, with some very powerful features.
On the wider topic, the move away from desktop to web is a major plus for z/OS - it removes one of the big drivers for migration. The end user (ideally) can't tell the difference between a web interface deliverd by z/OS or Windows or Linux.
z/OS is arguably in a more secure long term position than Windows because of the move away from desktop. Windows growth has been based on a copy on every desktop, which is looking shaky now. I'm more confident that z/OS will be recognizable in 20 years than Windows.
The languages and development environments are one of the critical factors. RDz seems to be a solution for the IDE (although I wonder what percentage of sites use it) but the features available in the languages are probably more important. Things like generics and powerful collections (hashtables, dynamic lists/vectors, sets etc.) make development far more productive, and the programs more efficient. It's a long time since I did any real z/OS application development, so perhaps these facilities are available in the common z/OS languages now. If not, asking someone who has used them to program without them is like asking a builder to build a house without using power tools.
The best approach for z/OS shops is probably to steer new development towards Java. This gives programmers a relatively familiar and productive environment to work in, and should drive down development costs. Unfortunately, I think many z/OS sites are resistant to Java.
In reality, selling points are not important, until you remove the factors that result in z/OS being crossed off the list. If you can't do that, no amount of selling points will help.
Andrew Rowley -- [email protected] +61 413 302 386 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
