Re: COBOL Compiler for Windows

On Thu, 1 May 2008 10:39:46 +1200 "Pete Dashwood"
<dashwood@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

:>Most people consider these factors to be unique to mainframes:

:>1. Huge processing power.
:>2. Stability and security.
:>3. Traditional proven development methodology, perfect for batch
processing.

:>To obtain these benefits, many sites are happy to pay the much higher
costs 
:>of hardware/software and the support teams necessary to keep them
running. 
:>(They have been conditioned to over years by vendors, ever since the
days 
:>when the mainframe was the only game in town.) But I think it is being 
:>questioned now.

:>The latest top end Network servers can compete very favourably on point
1. 
:>And even though the price of mainframes has fallen, the servers are much

:>cheaper and can be more easily configured and reconfigured and
redeployed in 
:>ways to suit the Business.

You have to define "huge processing power". Many chips run faster than
those
on mainframes.

They can parallel process huge amounts of data.

:>Point 2 is largely an illusion. Certainly, there are no viruses on 
:>mainframes, but there will be once they are opened up to the network; it
is 
:>only a matter of time. (No, I don't have mainframe virus writing on my 
:>"TODO" list, but it would be an "interesting" exercise... :-)).

Spoken like a true PC expert, who has no problem with reboots. So much so,
that they do it multiple times a day.

Point two is really 5 9s.

The reliability of mainframes and their components are such that failures
can
be tolerated with fallover, so that the end users are not even aware that
a
component has failed.

Mainframes regularly run months without rebooting. And that is with CPU
95%+
busy much of the time.

Point three is so meaningless that it isn't even worth addressing.

--
Binyamin Dissen <bdissen@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
http://www.dissensoftware.com

Director, Dissen Software, Bar & Grill - Israel


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