4 ms·

Seems pretty weird that we think it's normal to run a computer that simulates several physical computers, each running an operating system built for the mainfra

by woah 11y ago

Seems pretty weird that we think it's normal to run a computer that simulates several physical computers, each running an operating system built for the mainframe in a 70s university CS department closet that then only ever runs one user and one application. You just think it's easier because you're used to it. I'm glad that this development is happening. In a few years when it's mature, we'll all have a saner setup to work with.

hueving 11y ago
>In a few years when it's mature, we'll all have a saner setup to work with. I'm happy you get to work in an environment with no legacy applications that require a specific old operating system but that's not the case for a massive portion of sysadmin jobs.
- kbenson 11y ago
  From a recent post, here's a talk[1] about containers where they use SmartOS (Solaris/IllumOS derivative) to containerize Linux by just implementing the syscall table. The future of hosting legacy apps might be providing legacy interfaces on modern OS's (IMO). 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coFIEH3vXPw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coFIEH3vXPw
- moonchrome 11y ago
  Well the legacy app is a solved problem - we have VMs - let them live there and be done with it. Expose the API trough network and call it from anything you want.
kozukumi 11y ago
Yeah I certainly see the contradiction(?) in things. That is the world we live in though. I think the biggest issue is with the tools we use to manage things. Looking at things as "a computer" with storage/network/cpu seen as one unit is pretty natural now as it has always been that way pretty much.
nickpsecurity 11y ago
Especially given there were more effective and efficient systems designed back in the 70's for doing exactly what we're doing now. Just better. ;)
- pjmlp 11y ago
  And written in safer systems programming languages! :)
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    With one being on same PDP-11 as UNIX and more portable. The more I learn, the more I want to give modern computing stacks the Double Middle Finger. :)
fulafel 11y ago
University CS dept people in the 70s probably thought the same thing at the time, having witnessed IBM get into it in the late 60s.

by woah 11y ago

hueving 11y ago

>In a few years when it's mature, we'll all have a saner setup to work with. I'm happy you get to work in an environment with no legacy applications that require a specific old operating system but that's not the case for a massive portion of sysadmin jobs.

kbenson 11y ago
From a recent post, here's a talk[1] about containers where they use SmartOS (Solaris/IllumOS derivative) to containerize Linux by just implementing the syscall table. The future of hosting legacy apps might be providing legacy interfaces on modern OS's (IMO). 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coFIEH3vXPw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coFIEH3vXPw
moonchrome 11y ago
Well the legacy app is a solved problem - we have VMs - let them live there and be done with it. Expose the API trough network and call it from anything you want.

kozukumi 11y ago

Yeah I certainly see the contradiction(?) in things. That is the world we live in though. I think the biggest issue is with the tools we use to manage things. Looking at things as "a computer" with storage/network/cpu seen as one unit is pretty natural now as it has always been that way pretty much.

nickpsecurity 11y ago

Especially given there were more effective and efficient systems designed back in the 70's for doing exactly what we're doing now. Just better. ;)

pjmlp 11y ago
And written in safer systems programming languages! :)
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  With one being on same PDP-11 as UNIX and more portable. The more I learn, the more I want to give modern computing stacks the Double Middle Finger. :)

fulafel 11y ago

University CS dept people in the 70s probably thought the same thing at the time, having witnessed IBM get into it in the late 60s.