Bigendian Smalls wrote: >TL;DR - there needs to be a free version of z/os & it’s siblings sooner than >later, to not do this is to potentially starve the platoform out of existence >as we know it.
Didn't anybody read the page that I linked to? There is, already. For up to 15 days. Charles Mills wrote: >What??? THIS is IBM's answer??? As a reminder, I do not speak for IBM. If you'd like *IBM's* answer, ask IBM through an official channel. *My* answer, writing only for himself, is to state a plain fact: free z/OS access is available, today, from IBM, for up to 15 days. I believe in facts. Let's at least start with them. IBM probably will if you're going to make an argument with IBM. Scott Chapman wrote: >I don't see anything there that says one can do real production business work >using z/OS, starting at $0. No, you don't. I answered Charles Mills's question, not some other question that he didn't ask. I would point out that the cost to provide z/OS services, or any computing services for that matter, is greater than zero, especially but not only for "real production business work." If you'd like to suggest that any company price its set of products and associated services below cost, it wouldn't shock me if that company disagrees with your suggestion. That said, IBM has priced z/OS (and associated middleware, tools, and utilities) access at $0, for up to 15 days, per the terms and conditions associated with that offering. The Master the Mainframe contest is another example of $0 z/OS access. IBM provides *some* $0 z/OS access, already. Charles Mills wrote: >How does a smallish business get going on z/OS? (Answer: they don't.) Sure they do. Here's an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtX0naUx6Qo John McKown wrote: >But I'm still not likely to find a z13s at the mom & pop >fast food place like I would a PC or two. Probably not even in a high >priced law firm. Analogously you won't often find a MRI machine in an elementary school's nurse's office. IBM z Systems with their associated operating systems and middleware are major pieces of capital (in the generalized sense, not necessarily in the financial accounting sense), of a certain minimum "heft." The minimum heft is less than many people think (see above, and see Connor Krukosky's parents' basement, as examples), but it is something. Otherwise it wouldn't be an IBM z System (or a MRI machine, or a Boeing 777, etc.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
