Re: slanted article "Inside System Storage -- by Tony Pearson"

Unfortunately it looks like it's now too late to post further comments to Tony Pearson's shamefully inaccurate blog article of Aug 10. So I'll post my response here. See below.

Regards,
Roger Bowler
Hercules "I can't believe it's not a mainframe!"

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Comments to Pierson blog article dated 10 Aug 2010 at
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/InsideSystemStorage/entry/ibmtechu_ibm_storage_university_in_washington_dc_day_5_the_new_zenterprise26?lang=en

Tony>"Nobody wanted to pay IBM for its Intellectual Property on the
Tony> z/Architecture or license the use of the z/OS operating system"

I have to call BS on you on this one, Tony, just as Jay Maynard and I called BS when you made the same comment in your blog back in May 8, 2008 https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/InsideSystemStorage/entry/the_pot_and_the_kettle?lang=en
Is your memory really that short?

Here's what you said then (although this statement and my response to it were later edited out of your blog when you cleaned it up for the IBM lawyers)

Tony>"Since IBM published the interfaces, some clever x86-server
Tony> vendors tried to sell IBM-compatible systems based on the
Tony> [Hercules] emulator, but were closed down because they were
Tony> unwilling to pay IBM for the z/OS operating system."

In fact, the reality is quite the reverse. In the PSI case, PSI complained about IBM's refusal to grant them patent licenses, and refusal to license z/OS for use on PSI systems. Fundamental Software have stated that they paid IBM patent licenses, and we know that their customers paid IBM for z/OS licenses until IBM terminated FSI's ability to deliver systems that would run z/OS. Both T3 and TurboHercules have now filed complaints with the European Commission on the grounds of IBM's refusal to allow customers to license z/OS for use on OEM systems.

So, far from "nobody wanted to pay IBM or license the use of the z/OS operating system", the fact is that people were queueing up to pay IBM, but IBM has clamped down to preserve its monopoly of the legacy mainframe market.

Your response to Jay Maynard in 2008 (and this one's still in the blog at the time of writing) was "Jay, it looks like I got things "badly wrong"."

Tony, you *still* have things badly wrong.

- Roger Bowler
Hercules "the people's mainframe"