Re: Slashdiot article about P6

On 1/6/07, Keith Carpenter <carpcon@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Steve Richter wrote:

> that's my point, Keith. The community should be angry at IBM. They are
> not investing in the platform, the hardware is geared down and it is
> way overpriced. If IBM does not want to be in the i5/OS business -
> they should sell the platform to someone who does.

I can't get angry over the fact that IBM wants to make a profit.  If you
think you can do better, then why not apply the job.  Make all the
investments and lower the price.  Of course, you'll need to show how
you'll increase revenues to recoop it.


> I dont know. I am not convinced that getting the ILE C compiler to
> compile GNU C packages is impossible.  i5/OS might need DB2, but user
> application code can use any database. You just need an RPG
> precompiler and the APIs to call.  My guess is database systems
> written in C could be ported to native i5, and if the hardware ran at
> modern, dual quad core speeds, it would be a viable alternative to
> DB2.

Oracle has decided that linux is their OS.  No RPG compiler, but it
already runs their database on cheap fast hardware.


> What about Zend? Would be great if that company bought i5/OS. They
> know how to write great software.

Doubtful they are big enough.  But assuming they were to write a new OS,
what features of i5/OS would you be looking for ?

there are so many. i5/OS has not been improved since the early 1990s.

long object and field names

libraries can contain libraries. basically go the directory organizing
route, but retain the library list over the search path.

add XML support to DB2. Decouple db2 from i5/OS.

Scrap spooled files. replace with XML documents.

expand pointer size so the 16meg limit on spaces and strings can be
eliminated. or scrap/redo the single level store architecture.
Possibly, limitations and security problems of the SLS is what is
preventing IBM from investing in our system.  You dont need the SLS to
get the features of i5/OS.

by default, journal all files.

better support for multiple signatures in service programs. Previous
signatures should auto map the export number of srvpgm exports from
what they were when the signature was current to what they are in the
current signature.

ability to create associated spaces of an object.  did you know a
srcmbr can have an associated space? could use the associated space of
a srcmbr to store meta data such as extended member text, or info used
by a precompiler.

a garbage collection memory model that holds objects. this means you
need a facility for defining and storing object types. ( you need a
reflection type facility for calling the dispose method of the object.
)   One use of something like this would be system APIs would return
objects that are typed, that are self describing. In the case of a
list objects API, the system would return an object that is holds an
indexed array with the capacity to list all the objects on the system.

etc, etc. most important, if the system was able to run at p5 speeds
and prices, 3rd parties could provide a lot of what is needed to
improve the OS and language support.

-Steve