Alan, The point I think you are missing is that z/Architecture CAN TECHNICALLY run on a FLEX box, it's just that IBM REFUSES to allow FLEX z/Architecture boxes to non PWD customers, so they are forced to either purchase the smallest z/890 box, plus a small Shark, or dump IBM VM/VSE/z/OS etc. altogether and go with a new platform. For a small shop, that doesn't have the floor space, environmentals, and power allotments for the above configuration, they are left swinging in the wind by IBM. That seems to me, (as a system Z bigot, AND IBM shareholder, although with only a fraction of Chuckie's investment in IBM), to be a very short sighted business decision. Wayne Driscoll Product Developer JME Software LLC NOTE: All opinions are strictly my own.
-----Original Message----- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alan Altmark Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2006 11:11 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: FLEX-ES and z/VM 4 or z/VM 5 On Sunday, 04/16/2006 at 04:46 EST, Stephen Frazier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Our company is very willing to continue to pay version 3 price for version 5. If > IBM were to offer version 5 at version 3 price to its current > customers now > running version 3 on flex almost all would take it. Stephen, it wouldn't do any good for us to offer z/VM V5 to you for your S/390 FLEX box - not at any price. As I said at WAVV (and here, previously): z/VM V5 simply CANNOT run in S/390 mode. Really. It uses instructions and facilities that are available ONLY in z/Architecture (http://www.vm.ibm.com/zvm520/architecture). For what it's worth, it won't run on a 9672 or Multiprise 3000, either. > The fact that other > customers with large IBM machines are paying much less for version 5 would not > matter. When and if a company grows its flex box to where it > approaches the size > of a small IBM box, then having VM cheaper on the IBM box will make a > difference. It will encourage users of large flex boxes to go to an > IBM box. z/VM V5 is already cheaper than V3 on the IBM box, so it doesn't make sense to me that the decision to move from a large FLEX box to an IBM box would revolve around the price of z/VM. The acquisition costs of a z/Architecture box appears to be the primary issue. Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
