-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 05/11/07 06:42, Greg Folkert wrote: > On Thu, 2007-05-10 at 17:22 -0500, Ron Johnson wrote: >> On 05/10/07 16:12, Greg Folkert wrote: >> [snip] >>>> I guess that's called a mainframe :) >>> No, mainframes are not really that "capable" as a holy grail to set your >>> sights on. Yes they operate on a different set of standards, but over >>> all, they were designed to handle large amounts of input and output in a >>> very reasonable way. They really don't do computing any better or worse >>> (subjective, yes, I know) than any other systems. The only real thing >>> mainframes do better than many other systems, that I know of, is COST a >>> lot of money to maintain and upgrade. >> Did you just contradict yourself? They're *great* at IO. And >> they're durable. > > Durable, through HUGE maintenance contracts. Though... > > I should have said: > > Besides IO, the only real thing mainframes do better than many > other systems, that I know of, is COST a lot of money to > maintain and upgrade. > > Some costs I have seen in the past, associated with "mainframes": > > * $50K just to get TCP/IP enabled on a single network interface. > * $120K to enable another, already there, processor. > * $60K to "update" the disk IO scheduler, that was mistakenly > ordered with the wrong configuration > > I could mention others, I don't have all day. These were all done in > about 30 minutes after a P.O. was cut and faxed.
You're absolutely correct. But they must be of some corporate benefit, because otherwise they'd have been replaced by big Alphas & SPARCs. - -- Ron Johnson, Jr. Jefferson LA USA Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Hit him with a fish, and he goes away for good! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFGRGp8S9HxQb37XmcRAv+4AJ4pmKhl/uNAhOSga9hfRkSl4D++qwCfShL2 ZmL9snlbJW/dF5kSfsYhbmQ= =bScF -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
