Company without a name unveils mainframe Solaris

The OpenSolaris project and Sine Nomine Associates have announced that Sirius - a Solaris port for IBM mainframes - is ready for action. The Sirius variant of Solaris runs atop IBM's z/VM operating system, which is also one of the pioneer virtualization environments for servers. The Sirius code is a 64-bit implementation of …

[douglas dooley]

Re: openSolaris on Mainframes

holy "christ",

could there be anything less consequential in the enterprise IT marketplace than an irrelevant OS on top of a dying hardware system?...

i barely read this article, because i could honestly care less about any openSolaris efforts, so i think i gathered that a company actually was put together to do the above trick - - is that right?...

someone has so much time on their hands, enough money, and that little of imagination, that their project is Solaris on Mainframes?...

i really don't what to say, other than:

planet earth to Sun management,

no one frickin cares about your dead OS, move on, so your customers can begin the relatively painless migration to Linux, seriously, grow up, and admit defeat, it isn't that bad...

[Frank]

Confidentiality?

Why wont you tell us their name? Isn't this taking confidentiality too far?

[Anonymous Coward]

VM or not VM

"mix of microcode based largely on earlier versions of the VM platform for mainframes"

IBMers will strenuously deny this; they always do. Alas I never got close enough to the stuff to be able to make a decision one way or the other.

Of course, VM in its various incarnations has been IBM's best OS for many decades now and is the leader in virtualization. No, don't argue with me. Anyone who's used the various OSes over the years and looked at everything with an unbiased eye will tell you this. The only OS I've ever come across that was better was TOPS-20.

[Anonymous Coward]

re: Douglass Doohickey

Perhaps I shouldn't credit you with a response - that's what you're after, after all, or so I gather - but I've had enough whisky not to care less.

I've been trying to suss out your marketing angle as a sales droid. Perhaps you would explain it to us - are you just trying to stir up those who will take you at face value? What's the scoop?

[Anonymous Coward]

hmmm

I have some customers who could use this to eliminate some rather painful application integration issues between mainframe and solaris environments. Application issues are what drive large enterprises --- not OS loyalty

[kissingthecarpet]

Arrgh

@douglas dooley - How much do you care about openSolaris?

I say this because if you *could* care less then you *do* care, especially when you're being so honest about it.

Please don't do it again.

[amanfromMars]

Re: Confidentiality?

"Why wont you tell us their name? Isn't this taking confidentiality too far?" .... By Frank Posted Saturday 18th October 2008 05:02 GMT

Frank,

The only logical explanation is that they have a client in mind to offer their resources to, who is running a virtually live rogue/proxy program, but have not yet ventured to make them an offer because of the implicit sensitive admission that systemic help and assistance is needed for success.

So while they prat around worrying about egos does the whole kit and caboodle go under, with the newcomer forging ahead without them in another System/Way of Working with Information and Intelligence.

If what they are doing was any good, it would be already leading Virtualisation of Systems, so that suggests they are up against a brick wall and have run out of future options within their own parameters. That needs a New Goal and Direction from a Foreign Source which is Sympathetic/Empathetic to their Legacy Systems/Dependent Customers.

And there is a direct mirror of the situation in the Financial Markets, where Core Processes have been discovered badly and deliberately corrupted and putting in place remedies will require replacing core source providers/old processes and practices with something completely different. So Be IT for Success. Anything less will be Epic Fail in the Face of a Solution Provided and Rejected and thus a compounding and mercilessly catastrophic comeuppance is guaranteed, with Zero Sympathy and Empathy available.

[Nuno]

Re: Confidentiality?

"Why wont you tell us their name? Isn't this taking confidentiality too far?"

What do you mean, they don't tell you their name?

http://www.sinenomine.net/

what more do you need?

[Frank]

@amanfrommars re.re.Confidentiality?

That explains everything, and a lot more besides. Thank you :)

[Matt Bryant]

RE: Re: openSolaris on Mainframes

This is just another example of Project Copy Linux. IBM has had a measuer of success getting Linux on support on older mainframes, it has let their customers re-use old mainframes with a new range of apps, protecting IBM's mainframe revenues and gaining some support revs. So Sun, with their usual lack of invention, have simply tried to copy it. I betcha soon the Sun logo will change to a penguin-like cartoon bird!

[James Anderson]

Minframes not dead yet.

IBMs current mainframe offering is probably the best hardware you can buy!

Its significantly better the the top end IBM unix boxes which are definately the best unix hardware you can buy.

It runs Linux images just as well as any other hardware, and the native z/OS does a pretty good job of impersonating unix in its spare time. (The Unix System Services are more POSIX complient than Solaris!).

Presumably you would need a re-compile to get your solaris programs to run on z/OS hardware, whereas a simple purge of Solarisisms and a recompile could get your C or C++ programs running natively -- so whats the point?