Reg, Did you mean "greenfield opportunity" or did you mean "greenscreen opportunity"? 😉 Sorry, it is Friday afternoon...
Rex -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Reg Harbeck Sent: Friday, January 31, 2025 12:33 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [EXTERNAL] Mainframe Culture Watching the latest exchange with interest. Since becoming a CICS Sysprog at the beginning of my career in 1987, and especially since finishing my Master's degree with a focus on the humanity of the mainframe in 2021, I've been struck by how critical the mainframe culture is to the success of the technology, and particularly the curmudgeons who keep it running, and yet how critical the denizens of said culture tend to be. Mainframe: a technology that's been around so long that it's often operated by a crank. I've followed the history of mainframe pricing, acquisitions (I used to work for a company that I jokingly described as "an acquired taste"), and efforts to stabilize products that refused to die. And while I agree that there has always been plenty to complain about, I think that our propensity to make dark of everything new is actually a limiting behavior. What other platform experiences such constant resistance to any novelty, especially if it didn't originate with Big Blue? And yet, what other platform could stand in the light of the scrutiny we relentlessly apply to our home platform? I think that the mainframe is an unlimited greenfield opportunity, but I also recognize that new entrants into the field have great trouble surviving, mainly because no one wants to welcome newcomers. /rant Reg Harbeck, MA +1.403.605.7986 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
