Today is Groundhog Day, and I’m reminded of the movie with that name, in which Bill Murray plays an arrogant reporter who gets trapped on that date, waking up each morning back at the beginning of the same day, until he clues in and becomes an honestly caring person.

Another reason I’m reminded of that movie is because of something else that goes round and round: the wheel. And I don’t just mean that it rolls in its natural motion. I also mean that we keep rediscovering it – or reinventing it, as the case may be.

Let me give you an example from my own experience. Just over eleven years ago, when I joined CA (back when it was Computer Associates), I began to travel regularly. My laptop case had a shoulder strap, my small suitcase had a handle, and my large suitcase may have had some very small wheels, but they didn’t work very well. So I had to do a lot of carrying.

Then, a revolution of sorts occurred: it turned out that everyone, myself included, was tired of lugging our luggage. Suddenly, a new sort of laptop and carry-on case rolled out, with wheels! I can’t tell you how much wear and tear this has saved me, but I’m sure it’s substantial.

But here’s the funny thing: the wheel has been around since the dawn of human history – maybe longer. Yet we’re still discovering new, obvious uses for it.

Which brings me to what I’ve been really writing about all along here: the mainframe. After all, every time a new innovation in quality computing comes along (for example, virtualization), it turns out that the mainframe has already been doing it for quite some time. And that it’s doing it better than any other platform.

Which is not meant to mock those who put their workloads on other platforms. Just to remind those of us who use mainframes to rediscover it, just like we can rediscover the wheel even if we use wheels for all sorts of things every day.

And then, once you’re thinking about all the useful things that can be done with something so tried-and-proven, make sure to tell the non-mainframers you know about it. You could start something that will benefit all of us.

After all, one good turn deserves another!