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Windows OS Coming To the Mainframe
msmoriarty writes "Following up on its May announcement, IBM has now confirmed that by December 16 it will support Microsoft Windows on zEnterprise via its zBX component."
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... Ferrari have just announced that they will be installing a 125cc engine into their 458 Italia. A spokeman said: "It works'a fine in'a the moped, whats'a the problem?"
The Devil sits on his throne in Hell. On of his minions comes running in.
"Sire! Sire! Microsoft has ported Windows to a mainframe!"
The Devil favors him with a surprised look. "Is it that time already? The end of the mortal world?"
The minion genuflects before him. "Yes! Yes! End of times, master!"
The Devil rubs his chin. "Windows on a mainframe?"
The minion nods emphatically.
The Devil considers it for a few moments, "Well, I don't think I want it anymore."
People tolerate it because it works. Mainframes have compelling performance characteristics, especially for virtualization- or I/O-heavy workloads, and most people don't need a full unlocked processor (a CP.) Linux is the fastest-growing OS on z, and a Linux specialty engine (Integrated Facility for Linux) is relatively cheap compared to the other types of specialty engines. zAAP/zIIP/CP only really matters if you're running z/OS, in which case you're probably a large enough company tat you can afford it, or if you're running z/VSE, in which case you're probably only using one or two processors anyway.
Contrary to the impression left by the misleading title, this is NOT Windows running on a mainframe. It is Windows running on a blade in a blade center attached to and managed by the mainframe. Using a Windows (or Linux, or AIX) box to perform analytics on mainframe data is not new. What is new is the methods for getting the data from the mainframe, and the fact that the whole thing is managed by the mainframe. And in the mainframe sector, management is huge.