11 Jun
2009
11 Jun
'09
3:35 p.m.
Cameron Kaiser wrote:
I'll drink to that (strychnine, probably). But let's be realistic --
probably the vast majority of people using the
"other" O/Ss also use either a Windows machine, a Linux machine, or a
Mac, or some combination. I'm okay using quite a few different
computers in quite a few O/S environments, but nothing beats having a
machine for which new and useful programs are being written every day.
The user base drives software development. And, for smart purchasers,
software development drives hardware purchase choices.
That being said, I am constantly amazed at how many IBM IMS database
applications I see running in a week - more than ANY other older
system. It's also amazing to see how little the system has changed
since I was using it on a daily basis about 25 years ago. That was some
freaky cool software for its time. Very functional and intuitive, at
the application level.
Warren
_The other amusing thing about which people here (at
least) should know
better is the visibility factor. _VMS, OS/400, MVS, and VM are
*everywhere*...but people think they're somehow "dead" because the only
thing they see in for sale in WalMart is PCs running Windows. _Do these
people really believe PCs running Windows process their bank transactions,
maintain hospital databases, or run railroads?
Let's also give credit where credit is due - there are huge numbers of
*nix guys that are as bad as the Windows guys. The penguin crowd are
the worst offenders.