This realy shows my age … the world of IBM mainframes

I just read an entry by Mark Cathcart called Looking back, Unix System Services, Linux et al.

I started my computing life on VM systems way way back, and the fact that I actually know all the acronyms and terms that Mark was using, say’s a lot. This trip down memory lane gave a very good insight into how IBM looked at Unix and then in the later years Linux on their big systems.  I still do not know whether I totally agree or like with the i, x, p and z Series names for IBM’s hardware.  I so much more liked it when it was called 360 Systems, 390’s, 9375’s etc and OS/390 or MVS, VM etc.

Every year I hear somebody say that the mainframe is dying but it just goes from strength to strength.  When it comes to reliability, scalability and pure cost/performance then nothing beats it … even if you throw a multi CPU clustered Intel or AMD machine at it.

When looking at how IBM implement and innovate around Linux, I am confident that in years to come Linux will play an integral role in helping business in optimizing their computing requirements. As an Open Source and Linux supporter, I will use these solutions more and more in my dealings with my customers and clients.

Lastly, I am so glad that the WIN32 API was never implemented and used in the IBM software stack.  Just imagine the situation IBM might have been in today …

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