> OK, dumb question of the day. It's linux right? Why would you keep one of > those machines for Linux when you could go down to best buy and get > something with more horsepower? > Unless you lost the source code or something...
Short answer: by now, the H30/H50 is almost always completely paid for, doesn't require any additional extra space or power, doesn't imply increases to MLC and software charges, and adding Linux applications to it adds value to the machine, and is another reason to prevent/avoid an expensive migration process that likely as not won't improve their business or operations (in almost every case, the non-IBM replacements for their VM or VSE-based systems are less reliable and less functional). Many of these customers have long term 3rd party hardware support contracts, and any change in the hardware to modern IBM gear would be dramatically more expensive. Many of these customers also still have internal DASD in the MP3Ks, and can't afford moving to external disk. IBM also really doesn't have much to offer these customers; was trying to help a IBMer with a customer like this in rural Louisiana who wanted to migrate of a H50, but couldn't -- every option IBM possessed cost at least 3 times what they were paying in MLC charges, even hosting the whole mess on IBM-owned gear in a SO center. A zPDT would have been an awesome solution for them -- but they couldn't qualify. These are SMALL customers (obviously, if they can continue to live on H30/H50 hardware) -- school districts, little manufacturing companies, small cities/towns, that kind of customer. They have zero margins, and zero upgrade money. If they can continue to get more out of what they have (and improve services -- example case: the z/VM 4.4 SSL server could only serve 200 connections. Period. A Linux-based SSL server could handle close to 900 on the same iron), then they win AND they stay on IBM technology and keep paying those MLC bills month after month. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on Linux on System z, visit http://wiki.linuxvm.org/
