Re: FAST400 and now FastACT: CFINT revealed

From: Jerome Draper <jdraper@trilosoft.com>
> I wonder if the AS400 wouldn't be a more robust and ubiquitous platform
> today if IBM hadn't been so secretive about the internals to the AS400.

I agree with this sentiment. Now the AS/400 has "security through
obscurity" (which sometimes may be helpful, but mostly is not).
But we have hashed and re-hashed this many times. Generally,
it is a mistake to believe that you can keep secrets forever.

By hiding the internals, IBM also does not get input from the
community as to whether a design or feature is sound. Of course,
being IBM, they may say that they know best and no input is
needed. I think that past history does not bear this out.
Example: the password stored in clear, not just in one place,
but in two (followed by defective PTFs -IIRC- to fix it).

Some of the best utilities (e.g. SEQUEL) were written by
people that somehow had gotten hold of internals. There
is no doubt that many more would have been produced
by smart developers if internals were not so secret.