Thank you Jay

IBM is terrified of competition in the mainframe space – their hardware is
way over priced and the software pricing model is completely arcane.  It
is purely (for now) a cash cow for them and the select few ISVs that
actually support it.

They can hide behind patents and lawyers and continue to crush the
competition.  They can continue their arrogance when it comes design but
for how much longer?  This whole thing reminds me of what they did with
OS/2 to some degree – technology alone to does make for success.  And
speaking of the z technology in all honesty what has been pioneered on z
in the past 10 years that would make you say – now there is some real
innovation.

10 GB OSA
64-bit
Encryption
FICON / FCP
Virtualization
Accurate time keeping

IBM may have led Virtualization with VM going back to the 1970s but the
real innovation in that space for the last 10-years has been on VMWARE/ESX
– z/VM is catching up with version 6, but they are not breaking any new
ground here.

The biggest expansion of MIPS in the mainframe space has been because of
Linux and z/VM - “legacy workloads” are a necessary evil in most large
corporations; and every last one of  them is looking to cut those costs
any way possible.  The landscape will change as soon as someone figures
out how to port COBOL, CICS, VSAM, and PDS to another platforms wholesale
– IE. Linux.  I'm sure that day is not too far off and of course the IBM
law suites and suites will not be too far beyond that – look at Neon.

The platform is becoming harder and harder to defend – and for good
reason; we live in a good enough society – Cadillac went bankrupt – the
other platforms have been good enough for a while and are now literally
one step away from being better.

The z Platform needs to become way more competitive, innovative, and
eliminate boundaries in licensing or join the original T-REX.

Roger, Jay and everyone else - thank you for Hercules - hopefully someone
has a big stone in their bag.



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