I think there's probably a few factors involved: 1. Writing completely solid, fully debugged software is Not Sexy, which is why Linux is getting shinier and sh

I think there's probably a few factors involved: 1. Writing completely solid, fully debugged software is Not Sexy, which is why Linux is getting shinier and shinier but the software still has bugs. 2. You and I have probably been spoiled by working with Unix. Now, I've never used an IBM mainframe, but I have used VMS, which is definitely more businesslike than Unix. Working with VMS feels like going to the DMV. Imagine how it would feel to be living in a mainframe world, right out of IBM's most conservative, straight-laced era--because I'm gonna bet you wouldn't be able to play as fast and loose if you had mainframe-style fault tolerance.