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I dearly wish IBM would have a low cost box that allowed programmers to get familiar with the machines. At this point, their whole business is really reliant o

I dearly wish IBM would have a low cost box that allowed programmers to get familiar with the machines. At this point, their whole business is really reliant on existing companies. It doesn't even have to have all of the fancy hardware, just enough to get an actual environment up. This goes for the i Series as well as the z.

naikrovek 4y ago
yes, exactly. encourage innovation here, please, IBM & HP. accessibility is key
wmf 4y ago
Their "low cost" option is a $5,500 emulator. https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/28/ibm_mainframe_test_dev_environment/ https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/28/ibm_mainframe_test_de...
- naikrovek 4y ago
  not exactly "low cost" to anyone I know.
  - krylon 4y ago
    Not to a hobbyist, unfortunately, especially when Hercules does the job just as well (AFAIK, at least) and is free. Compared to what you pay for the hardware and a support contract and the OS license, it is practically free. But I don't understand why IBM doesn't just run z/VM on a mainframe and allows hobbyists to run their own VM with an operating system of their choice. Doesn't even have to be free! Five or ten bucks a month for one or two vCPUs and a GiB of RAM would be acceptable to me. I get that due to the high profit margins[0], mainframes are a real cash cow for IBM, but it's sad they complete ignore the low-end market to preserve those margins. [0] Last I heard, the mainframe divisions generates 10% of IBM's revenue, but 25% of the profits, so those margins must be juicy.
neverartful 4y ago
I agree. However, I believe that there are some within IBM and also at customer mainframe shops who like it this way because they believe there's an additional layer of security through obscurity.
- js8 4y ago
  > However, I believe that there are some within IBM and also at customer mainframe shops who like it this way because they believe there's an additional layer of security through obscurity. This mindset is changing in the recent years. There is more information how to hack z/OS than ever, and IBM is trying to fix the weaknesses (for example, discourage custom authorized code, scan existing customer and vendor applications for vulnerabilities, etc.). So they are realizing that obscurity is too little protection for a determined attacker.

naikrovek 4y ago

yes, exactly. encourage innovation here, please, IBM & HP. accessibility is key

wmf 4y ago

Their "low cost" option is a $5,500 emulator. https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/28/ibm_mainframe_test_dev_environment/ https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/28/ibm_mainframe_test_de...

naikrovek 4y ago
not exactly "low cost" to anyone I know.
- krylon 4y ago
  Not to a hobbyist, unfortunately, especially when Hercules does the job just as well (AFAIK, at least) and is free. Compared to what you pay for the hardware and a support contract and the OS license, it is practically free. But I don't understand why IBM doesn't just run z/VM on a mainframe and allows hobbyists to run their own VM with an operating system of their choice. Doesn't even have to be free! Five or ten bucks a month for one or two vCPUs and a GiB of RAM would be acceptable to me. I get that due to the high profit margins[0], mainframes are a real cash cow for IBM, but it's sad they complete ignore the low-end market to preserve those margins. [0] Last I heard, the mainframe divisions generates 10% of IBM's revenue, but 25% of the profits, so those margins must be juicy.

neverartful 4y ago

I agree. However, I believe that there are some within IBM and also at customer mainframe shops who like it this way because they believe there's an additional layer of security through obscurity.

js8 4y ago
> However, I believe that there are some within IBM and also at customer mainframe shops who like it this way because they believe there's an additional layer of security through obscurity. This mindset is changing in the recent years. There is more information how to hack z/OS than ever, and IBM is trying to fix the weaknesses (for example, discourage custom authorized code, scan existing customer and vendor applications for vulnerabilities, etc.). So they are realizing that obscurity is too little protection for a determined attacker.