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Technology
Big Blue – posted by Joe
Morrow 12/42001….I will update it soon
They said the mainframe was a dinosaur, which its end was
near…what happened? The mainframe was
going to die, it was the end…. for all of those that invested their lives
into the mainframe, it meant a change in their careers, that something else
was going to replace it. What
happened!!! I graduated from Lake Superior State University with a BS in
Computer Science and an associates in Computer Engineering Technology in
1987, networks were brand new, Xenix was hot, PC Tools Deluxe, lotus and any
thing that could be a TSR, Terminate but Stay Resident program was ruling the
computer industry. Most others opted
for these other platforms. Unix
systems were there, the internet did exist, I used it mostly for subscriptions
to listserv’s and of course gopher.
There were a lot of fun things to do on computers in those days, BBS’s
were popping up in every city and reached their peak until the internet
boomed, …it seemed very pioneering and exciting. Its almost as if I could actually keep up with technology in
those days. I grew up on pc’s, TRS
80’s, Zenith, Super Brains, Commodors, Texas Instruments and Apple was always
there. Gaming was a big thing as it
is now. Most households didn’t know
what DOS was, let alone the internet, now at least most people have heard of
DOS, even though there is a lack of understanding. Out of college, I landed a job as a computer operator with a
Marketing Research firm in Detroit.
From there I quickly moved into a systems programmer position, I was
on top of the world, I had IBM at my disposal, worked closely with Wayne
State University, University of Michigan and at times a couple of T.V.
Stations in the Greater Detroit area.
I quickly became a Systems Guru and frequented VMEM, VM Enthusiasts of
Michigan I took several courses
offered through IBM to gain much of the Systems knowledge that I have
today. All of this was mainframe
knowledge, with my education being centered around microprocessors. In 1990, IBM rolled out ESA, as I
attended a dazzling performance by IBM at the Fox theater in Detroit. IBM announced its future and demonstrated
its commitment to CMOS technology.
In the past IBM relied heavly on Bipolar technology which required
great amounts of electricity, and equipment much larger than today’s….a
capacitor was bigger than a pepsi can,
an HDA, or a portion of DASD was so large it took two people two
remove itifrom a 3380. This era doesn’t
seem like that long ago, but was a crutial turning point for the computer
industry. There were still card readers;
there were still teletype terminals and TEKTRONIX as still hot. TEKTRONIX was famous at the time for
their graphics terminals. I remember
IBM; passing around their brand new RISC (reduced instruction set) based
processor and amazed everyone that everything they had would be running on it
one day soon. I remember when IBM and
Microsoft were both equally 50 billion dollar companies with two major
differences. One was IBM’s
architecture was all Bipolar, while Microsoft based all of its applications
on CMOS. The other major difference,
which is still true today, is infrastructure. IBM has customer centers in just about every major city in the
United States and presence in almost every major country in the world, which
Microsoft just does not have…. I have yet to meet a Microsoft representative,
but meet IBM rep’s all the time, every where I go. IBM had OS/2 and operating system way ahead of its time, and
too complicated for a home user.
OS/2 could not compete with Microsoft’s operating systems and their
ease of use. Although built on a
much better foundation than Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, OS/2 fell short of
the ease of use and is very a classic example of most other IBM software and
applications….you have to be a systems programmer to understand it!!! IBM concentrated on Business, while
Microsoft went to work with Windows NT, to compete in the business
world. IBM has lost ground ever since and with the exception of its
Aptiva line of computers has pretty much stayed out of the home, where
Microsoft has ruled. Meanwhile, IBM
has concentrated on the Business side of things and still dominates today
with its mainframes, RISC 6000 (AIX) and AS400 products and operating
systems. The mainframe never really
died, bipolar technology did, way back in 1990. The rest is just software and has been evolving into this
brand new world involving the world wide web. IBM has rolled out it’s z-series operating systems and has
pretty much tied most of its major applications into it’s websphere product
line. IBM now has LINUX running on
it’s Z-series processors and as the
only maker of mainframes in the world today ready to take on the computer
industry. I look forward to the
future with both hardware and software and very excited to be part of an
exciting era, playing a vital role in both mainframes, pc’s and all that is
in between.
Joe Morrow – Morrow Technologies This document will be updated
soon. |
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