Published: January 26 2009, 05:46 AM | no comments
by Marcel den Hartog

And for those less familiar with the Dutch language than the average Dutchman/women, “Hallo” is the low-land equivalent of “Hello”… But most of you probably guessed that..

After reading zBerts first Blog, I could not help myself looking at my famous 5 finger system while I was typing this text. At the same time, I wondered what the problem was that he described. For all my life I have been thinking faster than I could write, so typing is actually a way of getting my thoughts on paper as fast as possible.. But the fact that I never learned how to “touch type”, and that my first real typing experience was entering Fortran code (written by somebody else on a piece of paper) on a teletyper connected to a time sharing system called Mark III from GE (so I have given away my age now as well..), is probably the reason for my strange but fast typing technique.

I still remember one afternoon in my early days (it must have been day 3..) as a "real" junior programmer, working on an IBM Mainframe. I was so proud that I changed all the COBOL data definitions from one program (and yes, we all copied a lot…) to a different naming convention using the arrow keys and just two letters in a few minutes.. But then my mentor (a very senior programmer) looked at me and said:”You can do that much faster using the “Change” command in the command line…". I remember my disbelief when I saw him make global changes in the blink of an eye… Programming was truly for “the chosen”… The Sheer Magic!!!

I sometimes think that all that wondering “Gee, I did not know you could do that, maybe I can do something else as well…” in the early days of computing made most of us the people we are today. Never stop wondering why, never stop being curious, never stop to be surprised and never stop wondering if something can be done more efficiently or more creative.

In upcoming blogs, I hope to surprise the readers of this Blog and my buddies Bruce and zBert. Sometimes with new insights, sometimes with blunt observations, sometimes with anger, but always with that typical Dutch humor (yes, it exists… ).

Till next time (or as we say in Holland: “houdoe!!”)

Brammie

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Published: January 21 2009, 06:08 PM | no comments
by Reg Harbeck

Hello. I'm zBert, which you may choose to pronounce however you want. I'm a mainframer with some experience and attitude, and I'm going to be blogging about both.

I typed the word "hello". I didn't print it, and I didn't write it (though, once upon a time, I might have been able to say that I was typewriting it).

In fact, while I haven't forgotten how to write yet, it's a skill that is well on its way to atrophying with me. I type faster than I print or write, and my writing has never been that legible to begin with.

I don't think I'm alone here. I think computer users around the world are picking up the pen or pencil less and less often, even if they don't "touch type". Instead, we point and click and type.

Sure, we still occasionally write or print stuff, but I'll bet that fewer and fewer people are employing handwriting, which leads to it being used less often, and slowly becoming less legible.

As my first prediction in this blog, then, I'm going to predict that handwriting will disappear within a generation.

What has that got to do with the mainframe?

Easy: my second prediction in this blog is that using text-based 3270-style terminal interfaces will also disappear within a generation.

Don't misunderstand me: I don't think CA or IBM or other mainframe software vendors will stop supporting 3270 interfaces as long as anyone cares to use them.

I just think that a new generation won't care to use them. Eventually, they'll even have advanced interfaces that probably greatly exceed today's point-and-click GUI's. Maybe they'll be voice- or gesture-based, maybe they'll be descended from today's mouse.

Now, here's the thing. I'll always be comfortable with 3270 and other text interfaces. And I'm young for a mainframer (which isn't saying much). But I won't be here forever, and the next generation - have you seen how they use computers? I don't think they even use the command line (e.g. DOS prompt) on their PC's!

So, bye-bye handwriting, bye-bye text interfaces - just not while I'm still around.

But, hello ca.com/KnowHow!

Let's blog! (That means you too: what do you want discussed?)

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Published: January 21 2009, 04:00 PM | no comments
by Reg Harbeck

That was a pretty impressive presidential inauguration yesterday! It seems to have given many people reason to look forward optimistically to a brighter future than the present economic turmoil we're experiencing, which I think is probably a good thing.

However, I also noticed that, in Obama's inaugural speech, there was a clear reference to the need for everyone to take responsibility for making things turn out well. I especially liked that, being a mainframer.

After all, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I consider the mainframe to be the most responsible computing platform for any organization large enough to have one, and especially if they already do have a mainframe.

Still, it seemed like a good thought for my first (slightly delayed) blog of the new year: it's time we all take responsibility for the future of the economy, both locally and globally. And one of the most important ways to do that is to stand up and say something when people are going in the wrong direction.

For example, if your organization is moving off the mainframe to a platform that is more costly, less reliable, and will entail transition costs that will be more than double what it would cost to just stay on the mainframe, get the word out. It's time for companies to stop wasting money on arbitrary decisions that have no fiscal value.

Or, for that matter, if you're using multiple solutions, both in-house and possibly from multiple vendors, to all perform the same task, when you could be doing it all with a single, simple, reliable, quality solution from a vendor you trust instead of maintaining many, why not save your organization the time and money and uncertainty and pick a winner?

And, if you're looking at moving to Linux and/or virtualization and/or cloud computing, make sure you've got the right platform and enabling technology mix so you don't end up buying more and more computers (or hitting a ceiling that hurts productivity) if your workload expands suddenly and rapidly.

While you're at it, if you're looking at saving money through energy consumption, floor space and staffing optimization, make sure the true costs of every platform you look at are considered, and make sure that includes the mainframe.

Personally, I love this new environment of responsibility, because I'm convinced that it can wake organizations up to the value of their hidden mainframe treasure. It's just up to each of us to make it so.

Will you?

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