> I've been given the task of finding out if windows and windows apps can > > run on the z/890 and z/VM. I've told the uppers that windows type apps ca > n > run under Linux BUT no pure windows and/or windows apps. I tried to > explain the machine architecture wouldn't allow windows to execute. BUT I > > was told that other research has been done and I was wrong.
Since Adam is probably still pre-coffee out there in BC, Canada: It is *technically* possible to run unmodified Windows applications on zSeries (photos on request). It is *prohibitively* resource-intensive to do so, and provides no consolidation or licensing benefits. Each virtual machine running a Intel processor emulator and a copy of Windows consumes approximately 180-220 zSeries MIPS to emulate a 200-210 Mhz Pentium II-class CPU idling at the desktop. No applications, just desktop. That obviously won't scale. > The argument > I > got was "well it runs on apple computers now" Windows runs acceptably on *Intel*-based Apple computers. On a PPC-based Mac, the emulation speed is usable only for light testing or debugging purposes, not production work, and certainly not server-class workload. Windows was not modified to run on Apple hardware; Apple changed the entire architectural basis for their hardware and rebuilt MacOS to run on Intel processors. To run Windows efficiently on zSeries, IBM would have to do the same. Not bloody likely, as a friend would say. > The argument of mine didn't carry water > so > I'm asking the experts on this board, JUST incase I'm wrong or I've misse > d > an announcement from IBM and BILLY I thought I'd come here and ask. > Mace No, you were mostly right. We did it here at SNA as a proof of concept, but there is no -- that's zero, nada, nyet, nein, it'll stop hurting when you stop doing that -- basis for recommending such a thing for production use. -- db
