Submitted by pcs305 on Tue, 2007-05-29 16:34
Posted in
IBM is a big proponent of OSS (Open Source Software) and Community development and involvement. If there is a soap box to climb on and there's a listening audience, IBM sings the advantages of Open Source and Community development. Take the Eclipse platform as an example. IBM started development of Eclipse in 1998 but realized that for Eclipse to be successful, it will have to be embraced by more than just IBM and in November of 2001 IBM adopted the Open Source licensing and operation model for Eclipse and in 2004 IBM handed Eclipse over to the Eclipse foundation, an independent, not-for-profit organization.
Now open source is just part of the picture. There is also the concept of "Community" software where the source code of a product is still protected but the product itself is made available in a "Community Edition" format. Community Edition basically means that you can download the product for free and you are free to use the product as you please. This is the case with DB2 Express-C (DB2 Community Edition) and Websphere Application Server Community Edition. Browsing through Developerworks at IBM there are pages and pages of information, tutorials, web casts and code examples dedicated to Open Source and Community Edition software.
But something is missing!?..
I'm sure that these are not the only examples of OSS and Community software in IBM's arsenal. Reading through the links I have at the bottom or searching Google may produce more but I'm just using these as an example. Take a look at this excerpt from the IBM Developerworks page:
Quote:
Kickstart your application development.
Download and go -- no-charge software that works
You want to write apps that show off your skills. And you want to get started quickly, but be ready to scale your application up to thousands of users -- without hassles. You want someone else to find, integrate, and maintain interdependencies of the platform for your new killer app. IBM can help.
Download this free software and begin building and deploying applications now. This comprehensive, no-charge development, data management, and deployment environment includes an IDE, a database server, and a Web server -- everything you need to get simple Web applications and Web services up and running today.
Who benefits from all this IBM free software and Open source software? I would suggest that IBM does. And the developers, ISV's and smalltime developers that would like to build, support and market software.
What about the Mainframe?
So the trend I detect here from IBM is to get more developers involved, more companies a quick stepping-stone to the wonderful world of IBM software. All for free.
On the other hand, the message IBM sends out the Mainframe developers and vendors is to suck it up, spend hundreds and thousands of dollars and you too can enjoy some of this IBM goodness! And even if you have a couple of thousand dollars available, IBM killed FLEX-ES. You can still get Hercules for free and try and license CICS and z/OS. But even with the free Hercules that option puts z/OS and CICS development way out of the reach of the geek on the street and even out of reach of the a small development company. The bottom line is that you have to buy a Mainframe to do CICS development.
This just does not make sense. IBM realizes that it needs to get the community involved to grow the support base to grow the products! Why not do the same for CICS? Why not package a z/OS on Hercules with CICS and make it available to the world?
More developers means more products means more customers means more sales? And this at a time when more and more shops are moving away from the Mainframe.
Is there something that prevents IBM from releasing a Community Edition of CICS and z/OS?
Regards
Ian.
SOURCES:
Developer Works Open Source page.
IBM open Source page.
Developer Works Community Software
z/Journal on FLEX-ES
Hercules homepage.
DB2 Express-C