Final CSS tips

Just to finish the year, I thought I’d complete this article – although, since I started publishing it, I have come up with quite a few more. Anyway, as I’ve said before, while I’ve been designing Web sites recently – to W3C standards I might add – I have put together some CSS tips that I’d like to share with you over the next few weeks.

18 Simple 3D link button effect

HTML
<a href="#">LINK</a>

CSS
a {
display: block;
border: 1px solid;
border-color: #aaa #000 #000 #aaa;
width: 8em;
background: #fc0;
}

a:hover
{
position: relative;
top: 1px;
left: 1px;
border-color: #000 #aaa #aaa #000;
}

19 CSS buttons with mouseover effects

CSS
div#buttonA {
margin-left: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
font-family: arial;
font-size: 8pt;
color: #fcfcd5;
font-weight: bold;
list-style-type: none;
height: 24px;
width: 150px;
margin: 2px;
text-align:center;
}
div#buttonA a {
display: block;
text-decoration: none;
font-weight: bold;
border-width: 6px;
}
div#buttonA a:link {
color: green;
font-weight: bold;
background-color: #fcfcd5;
border-style: outset;
}
div#buttonA a:visited {
color: green;
font-weight: bold;
background-color: #fcfcd5;
border-style: outset;
}
div#buttonA a:hover {
font-weight: bold;
color: #fdd017;
background-color: #fcfcd5;
border-style: outset;
}
div#buttonA a:active {
font-weight: bold;
color: red;
background-color: #fcfcd5;
border-style: inset;
}

HTML
<div id="buttonA">

<a href="index.htm" onmouseover="window.status='Home page';return true;" onmouseout="window.status='Elegant Solutions';return true;">Home page</a>

</div>

This repeats for the other buttons.

20 Table that highlights lines on mouseover

HTML

<table id="hilite-table" summary="Retirement age for women">

<thead>

<tr>

<th scope="col">Date of birth</th>

<th scope="col">Pension age</th>

<th scope="col">Pension year</th>

</tr>

</thead>

<tbody>

<tr>

<td>April 1950</td>

<td>60yrs 1mth</td>

<td>2010</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>October 1950</td>

<td>60yrs 7mths</td>

<td>2011</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>April 1951</td>

<td>61yrs 1mth</td>

<td>2012</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>
There are more entries in the table than shown – but you get the idea.

CSS
#hilite-table
{
font-family: arial;
font-size: 12px;
font-weight: bold;
margin: 45px;
width: 480px;
text-align: left;
border-collapse: collapse;
}
#hilite-table th
{
font-size: 13px;
font-weight: normal;
padding: 8px;
background: green;
border-top: 4px solid green;
border-bottom: 1px solid green;
border-right: 1px solid #f5f5dc;
border-left: 1px solid #f5f5dc;
color: gold;
font-weight: bold;
}
#hilite-table td
{
padding: 8px;
background: #f5f5dc;
border-bottom: 1px solid green;
color: green;
border-top: 1px solid green;
border-right: 1px solid green;
border-left: 1px solid green;
vertical-align: top
}
#hilite-table tr:hover td
{
background: green;
color: gold;
font-weight: bold;
}

Have a happy New Year.
By the way: anyone looking for an experienced technical writer or Web designer, contact me at trevor@itech-ed.com.

2008 – what happened?

It’s December, so it’s the time of year when everyone is reviewing the year and making predictions about the following year – so I thought I would too. See whether you agree with me, or whether I’ve missed any important trends in 2008.

Firstly, the biggest trend in 2008 was money disappearing! You thought your house was worth X amount of money in January, and by December it is worth X-Y. Money has disappeared. And so have some banks! And, of course, banks are the biggest business group to use mainframes. I had a friend who reckoned that you could tell how well business was going in general by attending exhibitions and seeing what companies were giving away free. During the good times you always got something in a box as well as a pen. In the bad times you were lucky to get a pen! I haven’t acquired many things from vendors at all this year. There is a corollary to this law, which states that the last thing a company will do before going bust is give away promotional items – mousemats with their name on, noteholders, keyrings, etc.

Sadly, 2009 seems likely to continue this trend. Governments are talking about spending money to keep their economies going, but car makers know that they will sell fewer vehicles because people will wait perhaps an extra year before buying a replacement. And I bet many organizations that planned to upgrade their mainframe, to perhaps a new z10, are going to do the same and try to put off the purchase for as long as possible. The IT department are going to have to make a very compelling case in order to win the argument. And this is going to impact IBM’s and other hardware manufacturer’s figures. Incidentally, mainframe software vendor Iona, one of last year’s sponsors of the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook, has been taken over by Platinum and almost completely disappeared from view as a separate entity.

At the little end, it’s been reported that many organizations were reluctant to roll out Vista, and it is quite likely that many people will have to make do with their old computer for another year because there is still no money in the budget for new ones – and besides, Windows 7 is just around the corner!

My next two big trends were also the trends last year – they have just grown in importance. They are being green and virtualization. Looking at virtualization, any company with more than a few servers is going to be able to make the business case for virtualization. And, as well as having servers virtualized, I bet in 2009 we see more virtualized laptops. It’s so easy to do, that you don’t have to be the nerdy kid anymore.

And greenness will become so much more important. Not because people want to save the planet or measure they’re reducing their carbon footprint, no, it will be important because it saves money – and consequently all those environmental things. Corporate Web sites and brochures will push the greening of their company, but the truth is the drivers will come from the CFO not the CGO (Chief “Green” Officer), should such a role exist.

I also predict a growth in outsourcing. The financial savings that some organizations will be able to achieve will outweigh the inconveniences sometimes experienced.

And, I predict the growth in Open Source software! Yes, I know I’ve been wishful thinking this for a number of years, but I think with finances becoming so tight, more and more people will opt out of paying £600 or $1000 for software and use a free alternative. Now whether that’s Open Office or Web-based equivalent that looks like a desktop application because it runs inside Google Chrome, I don’t know.

And lastly, mash-ups everywhere. Even, dare I say it, mainframe data being included in mash-ups on corporate Web sites for the benefit of customers(!) and not just the techie guys who wanted to try it out.

So there we are, a review of 2008 and predictions for 2009. What do you think?

Mish mash-ups

Everyone’s talking about mash-ups, even some people sitting near me in the pub the other day. And everyone has seen what clever things you can do with Google Earth and some other high-profile mash-up sites. But has anyone seen a mash-up using mainframe data? And would it add business value?

But what is a mash-up? That’s the first problem – actually defining the term because it’s been used for slightly different things. Some mash-ups simply display data in a different way, while others combine information or capabilities from two or more separate sources to deliver new functions and insights.

And how do you create a mash-up? Well that’s up to you. At the moment, there is no standard way to build mash-ups – everyone has choice and flexibility. However, they are typically built on a Web-oriented architectures like REST (REpresentational State Transfer) or SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), and leverage lightweight simple integration techniques like AJAX (Asynchronous JAvaScript and XML – itself and acronym for eXtended Mark-up Language), RSS (Really Simple Syndication), and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). The result should be the fast creation of rich desktop-like Web applications.

Typically, "widgets" and "feeds" (probably) from independent sources are mashed together, but do not change when mashed. A Web feed is data formatted in XML and used to provide users with frequently-updated content. Content distributors syndicate a Web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of Web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an Internet aggregator (of course!).

A widget is a small program or piece of dynamic content that can be easily placed into a Web site. Widgets are given different names by different vendors, eg gadgets, blocks, flakes. Widgets can be written in any language (Java, .NET, PHP, etc) and can be as simple as an HTML fragment. Widgets can be non-visual, and often encapsulate an API. "Mashable" widgets pass events, so that they can be wired together to create something new.

IBM, of course, has mash-up software. This includes Lotus Mashup, Infosphere mashupHub, and WebSphere smash.

Going back to my original questions, mash-ups can include mainframe data, and can take data from that most efficient but complicated beast, IMS. It’s perfectly possible to convert an IMS asset into an IMS RESTful service, which has the ability to consume and be consumed by other Web 2.0 services. IMS customer could then remix and mash-up their data rapidly with IBM Info 2.0 tools to extend their business logic without the need to write a single line of code.

Alternatively, by publishing an IMS RESTful Service to the Web 2.0 community, this opens up the possibility of third parties generating creative mash-ups that could benefit both third-party developers as well as the original IMS service provider. The third-party developer would now have IMS assets available to them. While, the IMS service provider could benefit from new business opportunities and increased partnership on the Web. And this answers my second question – it would add business value.

Some of the information in this week’s blog was taken from a recent presentation given by Jenny Hung from IBM’s IMS Development Division to the Virtual IMS Connection (www.virtualims.com) virtual user group meeting. A copy of Jenny’s presentation is available for members to download from the Virtual IMS Connection Web site.

Hello – is anybody there?

When I was a youngster and first learned how to operate a mainframe, first learned how to load tapes, and change removal disks, first learned how to stick paper tape together again after a ripping time, and first learned how to hold a deck of cards up my arm without dropping it, everyone else was similarly aged. And we had fun.

And then we stopped being operators and started being programmers, managers, trainers, and writers. And we still had fun – but not so much because we had mortgages and children, etc.

And then we became very senior personnel and started talking about pension plans and setting up trusts so the right people benefited from our hard-earned money and possessions.

And in the meantime, mainframes stopped being interesting to the rest of the world, who thought working on Unix and Solaris, or Linux and Windows was much more fun. And people trained in COBOL and Fortran started sitting together in the staff canteen because there were so few of them and everyone else wrote in Java, C++, Python, etc, etc.

But the mainframes continued improving, and large organizations continued making do with fewer staff, and ran their important business on the mainframes – confident in their continuing success.

However, for a long time now, those mainframers have begun to retire, or to get less demanding jobs that have reliable hours and a short commute.

So what reminded me of this skills shortage? CA recently released a study by InfoPro of 270 senior IT execs from Fortune 2000 companies. The study found that 80 percent had mainframe staff who were eligible for retirement now or over the next couple of years.

No great surprise there, but it does highlight quite a serious problem. So is there an answer? Unfortunately, there are lots of answers! First the good news, autonomic management of mainframes is getting better, which means that it’s easier to tell the mainframe how to perform and then the machine will reliably get on and perform according to the instructions given. This means that less-skilled people can be used to run the mainframe and its major components like IMS, CICS, DB2, etc. Also the interfaces are looking more Windows-like, which makes communicating with the mainframe easier for “the youngsters” than in the “green screen” days.

There have also been moves by IBM to train youngsters to be able to program mainframes – so well done to them any other organizations doing the same. And, perhaps as an aside, it might be a good idea for more organizations to retrain their own IT staff to understand the workings of a mainframe.

The third alternative is the not so good news. It is to get rid of the mainframes altogether and migrate applications and data to mid-range machines.

So, from a blogger’s point of view: option one means that there will be fewer people reading this; option two means that youngsters will be able to read this but won’t because it’s not on Facebook or I should have made a video of me saying the words and put it on Youtube; and option three means that no-one at all will be reading it. So, depressingly, none of them are very positive from my perspective!

Anyway, if you are still using a mainframe, make sure you fill in the user survey at www.arcati.com/usersurvey09 - time is running out. The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2009 will be out in early January.

Even more CSS tips

As I said about a month ago, while I’ve been designing Web sites recently – to W3C standards I might add – I have put together some CSS tips that I’d like to share with you.

10 If you are using numbered lists or bullet points
Remember to define the style.

CSS
li {
font-family: arial;
font-size: 10pt;
color: green;
}

11 Format pseudo classes in the right order - Lord Voldemort Hates Apples
Text rollover effects won’t work correctly in all browsers unless they are in the correct order in the CSS.

CSS
a:link { color: red; }
a:visited { color: yellow; }
a:hover { color: green; }
a:active { color: blue; }

12 Place an image permanently in the bottom left-hand corner of a Web page

CSS
body {
margin:10px 10px 0px 10px;
padding:0px;
background: #f5f5dc url("es.gif") no-repeat fixed left bottom;
}

13 Drawing a green line

HTML
<hr />

CSS
hr {
border: 0;
width: 80%;
color: green;
background-color: green;
height: 5px;
}

14 Making an orange XML or RSS buttons or other icons without using an image

HTML
<a class="feed" href="http://h1.ripway.com/t_eddolls/teblog.xml">FEED</a>

CSS
.feed {
border:1px solid;
border-color:#FC9 #630 #330 #F96;
padding:0 3px;
font:bold 10px arial;
color:#FFF;
background:#F60;
text-decoration:none;
margin:4px;
}

15 Centering text in a paragraph

HTML
<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center">

16 Positioning within a container
In the example below, the … (or whatever) appear exactly 200px from the left and 150px from the top of the container box.

HTML
<div id="container"><div id="navigation">...</div></div>

CSS
#container
{
position: relative;
}
#navigation
{
position: absolute;
left: 200px;
top: 150px;
}

17 Making links more exciting

CSS
a.ttt {
font-family: arial;
font-size: 10pt;
text-decoration: none;
color: red;
cursor: pointer;
}
a.ttt:visited {
color: gold;
}
a.ttt:hover {
color: navy;
background-color: red;
font-style: italic;
cursor: pointer;
}
a.ttt:active {
background-color: navy;
color: red;
}

HTML
<a class="ttt" href="http://www.itech-ed.com/">hello world</a>

More hints and tips next time.

By the way: anyone looking for an experienced technical writer or Web designer can contact me at trevor@itech-ed.com. Also, if you haven’t completed the mainframe user survey yet, go to www.arcati.com/usersurvey09. And if you’re a vendor, then you need to complete the form at www.arcati.com/vendorentry - and there are still Yearbook sponsorship opportunities available.

The Sun shines out of mainframes

Earlier this month, IBM and Sun Microsystems announced that a mainframe version of Sun’s OpenSolaris operating system was available for download. The announcement wasn’t completely unexpected because it had been demonstrated in November 2007.

The port of the OpenSolaris operating system to the mainframe was made possible by a company called Sine Nomine Associates, which is also developing a Java software port to the mainframe.

Solaris you’ll recall already runs off Sparc platforms and can be found on x86-based machines.

So how does it work? Well it doesn’t just sit on the big iron like z/OS, it makes use of z/VM. Using z/VM allows many virtual OpenSolaris images to run simultaneously. Now VM itself has had a bit of a chequered history at IBM, with efforts at times to remove it, and other periods when its development was really rather ignored. Which all seems rather strange with hindsight when nowadays everything can be virtualized – even your laptop at home! I’ve always been a big fan of VM – in fact I wrote two books about it many years ago. (Archivists might be able to find you a copy of VM Performance Management and Introduction to VM.)

So porting OpenSolaris to a mainframe is an interesting technical challenge, but why should non-techies care? The answer is the ability to do more with less. Mainframes are very good at maximizing asset usage and exceptional system performance figures. Moving to a single mainframe probably allows the removal of numerous smaller servers and a “green” benefit of less heat produced and less energy utilized. It also helps to reduce costs and possibly even reduce headcount.

This is good for Solaris users, but it’s also good for IBM. IBM needs a way to get new people to buy mainframes, so encouraging banks etc to upgrade to a mainframe has got to be good for them. Obviously the current economic climate isn’t good for banks! However, history shows these downturns in the economy pass within two or three years. IBM is playing the long game and hopes that when companies do have money to spend they (IBM) will be the organization the money is spent with.

There must be some organization out there that is working on a port of Windows server to VM. It would be really interesting to hear about that. Or perhaps the Microsoft code is so buggy and convoluted it’s an impossible task, even for the excellent z/VM.

And finally, don't forget about the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2009. Last year's issue is still available at www.arcati.com/newyearbook08. The annual user survey of mainframe usage is at www.arcati.com/usersurvey09 - please let us know how you use your mainframe. And vendors, consultants, or service providers, can get a free entry in the vendor directory section by completing the form at www.arcati.com/vendorentry. Plus there are advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

Mainframes on a cloud

I know what a mainframe is, but what is a cloud? I'll avoid any references to white fluffy things and get straight to a definition of sorts. Cloud computing gets its name from the way network diagrams have been drawn for years. There was always a bit somewhere that was drawn as a cloud. That way no-one had to worry to much about what was going on in that bit. Well now the cloud has come centre stage. It's still a way of glossing over the details of whatever infrastructure exists underneath though.

Wikipedia suggests that Cloud computing is "a style of computing in which IT-related capabilities are provided 'as a service', allowing users to access technology-enabled services from the Internet without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them". 

Wikipedia goes on to say, "according to a 2008 paper published by IEEE Internet Computing 'Cloud Computing is a paradigm in which information is permanently stored in servers on the Internet and cached temporarily on clients that include desktops, entertainment centers, table computers, notebooks, wall computers, handhelds, sensors, monitors, etc.'"

Which is all very nice, but what has it got to do with mainframes? Well the answer is Micro Focus. Micro Focus offers tools for mainframe users to migrate off a mainframe to, usually, a Windows platform. The theory goes that it allows programs to be updated and make use of modern technology at a much lower price than staying on the mainframe. Mainframers often argue that migrating applications to other platforms leads to poor performance or an extensive rewrite of the code, which in turn can lead to errors. They also argue that there can be problems when scaling these migrated applications on the new platform. And there is also the problem of off mainframe applications sharing data with mainframe apps. But I digress.

Micro Focus has a long history of migrating COBOL applications to Windows and .NET. Now it is focus on Windows Azure Services Platform cloud. Micro Focus is hoping that COBOL will become a standard cloud computing programming language - like Ruby and Python. Micro Focus are saying that because COBOL is designed to run in large computing environments, it is an ideal programming language for cloud computing. They are also suggesting that cloud computing could make a good substitute for IMS and CICS systems.

Now, as a died-in-the-wool mainframer, I'm not going to recommend that anyone migrates their applications off the mainframe. However, it is interesting to think that cloud computing could be integrated into the Enterprise computing environment in much the same way as distributed processing has been. And if younger programmers learn COBOL for cloud computing, it would be only a short step for them to be able to become CICS programmers - which would solve the problem of where the next generation of COBOL programmers are going to come from. I certainly applaud the efforts of Micro Focus to make COBOL a standard cloud computing programming language.

And finally, don't forget about the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2009. Last year's issue is still available at www.arcati.com/newyearbook08. The annual user survey of mainframe usage is at www.arcati.com/usersurvey09 - please let us know how you use your mainframe. And vendors, consultants, or service providers, can get a free entry in the vendor directory section by completing the form at www.arcati.com/vendorentry. Plus there are advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

It’s back!!

I used this attention-grabbing headline so I can tell you that the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook is back for another year – or it will be very soon. The celebrated Arcati Mainframe Yearbook is one of the very few vendor-independent sources of information for mainframe users. 

The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook has been the de facto reference work for IT professionals working with z/OS (OS/390) systems since 2005. It includes an annual user survey, an up-to-date directory of vendors and consultants, a media guide, a strategy section with papers on mainframe trends and directions, a glossary of terminology, and a technical specification section. Each year, the Yearbook is downloaded by 10 000 to 15 000 mainframe professionals. Last year’s issue is still available at www.arcati.com/newyearbook08.

At the moment, the compilers of the Yearbook are hoping that mainframers will be willing to complete the annual user survey, which is at www.arcati.com/usersurvey09. The more users who fill it in, the more accurate and therefore useful the survey report will be. All respondents before the 5th December will receive a PDF copy of the survey results on publication. The identity and company information of all respondents is treated in confidence and will not be divulged to third parties.

Anyone reading this who works for a vendor, consultant, or service provider, can ensure their company gets a free entry in the vendor directory section by completing the form at www.arcati.com/vendorentry. This form can also be used to amend last year's entry.

 

As in previous years, there is the opportunity for organizations to sponsor the Yearbook or take out a half page advertisement. Half-page adverts (5.5in x 8in max landscape) cost $500 (UK£250). Sponsors get a full-page advert (11in x 8in) in the Yearbook; inclusion of a corporate paper in the Mainframe Strategy section of the Yearbook; logo/link on the Yearbook download page on the Arcati Web site; a brief text ad in the Yearbook publicity e-mails sent to users. Price $1700 (UK£850).

 

So, get cracking and complete the user survey so it’s the most comprehensive survey ever.

The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2009 will be freely available for download early in January next year.

More CSS tips

As I said last time, while I’ve been designing Web sites recently – to W3C standards I might add – I have put together some CSS tips that I’d like to share with you over the next few weeks.

5 Dividing a Web page into parts

You can use CSS to divide a Web page into four parts - an area across the top, then underneath that an area on the left for buttons, an area in the middle for text, and an area on the right. 

CSS

#top {

position: absolute;

background: #ffffff; 

top:145px;

left:80px;

right:100px

}

#leftcontent {

position: absolute;

left:80px;

top:200px;

width:80px;

background: #f5f5dc; 

}

#centercontent1 {

position: absolute;

top:200px;

left:200px;

width: 35%; 

margin-left: 81px;

}

#rightcontent {

position: absolute;

right:0px;

top:500px;

width:30%;

background:#f5f5dc;

}

HTML

<div id="top">

</div>

<div id="leftcontent">

</div>

<div id="centercontent1">

</div>

<div id="rightcontent">

</div>

6 printing your page

You may want people to print a Web page as black text on a white background while at the same time having lots of fancy stuff on the page. You can achieve this by having a print stylesheet associated with the page.

HTML

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="print.css" media="print">

or:

<style type="text/css" media="print"> @import url(print.css); 

</style>

You need to put appropriate styles in the print.css stylesheet.

7 Use "title" and "alt" attributes for images

With these encoded, screen readers can correctly parse your page.

HTML

<img src="myimg.gif" alt="me" title="me" />

8 Invisible text

Invisible text can be useful for people who use screen readers. It can also be useful where images contain text because search engines can’t “read” images.

CSS

position: absolute; left: -5000px

The text is positioned 5000px to the left of the left edge of the screen.

9 Drop cap

This adds a drop cap to the left of a block of text.

HTML

<span style="margin-right:6px; margin-top:5px; float:left; color:white; background:gold; border: 1px solid #000; font-size:80px; line-height:60px; padding-top:2px; padding-right:5px; font-family:arial;">H</span>ere is a drop cap with a gold background, white text, and a black border.

<div style="clear:both;"><br />

</div>

More hints and tips next time. 

By the way: anyone looking for an experienced technical writer or Web designer, contact me at trevor@itech-ed.com.

CSS tips

While I’ve been designing Web sites recently – to W3C standards I might add – I have put together some CSS tips that I’d like to share with you over the next few weeks.

1 Use default values

There is no need to specify a value for a property if you use that property’s default value. 

2 Less is more

The less code that has to be downloaded, the faster the page loads. So shorten hexadecimal colour notation, where possible. 

#000 is the same as #000000, #ffffff is the same as #fff, and #123 is the same as #112233, etc.

3 Less CSS is definitely better

For fonts:

Bad CSS

font-size: 1em;

line-height: 1.5em;

font-weight: bold;

font-style: italic;

font-variant: small-caps;

font-family: arial;

Good CSS

font: 1em/1.5em bold italic small-caps arial

You must specify both the font-size and the font-family. Unspecified values (font-weight, font-style, or font-variant) will default to a value of normal.

For background:

Bad CSS

background-color: #fff;

background-image: url(image.gif);

background-repeat: no-repeat;

background-position: top left;

Good CSS

background: #f5f5dc url(es.gif) no-repeat top left

For list-style:

Bad CSS

list-style: #fff;

list-style-type: disc;

list-style-position: outside;

list-style-image: url(es.gif)

Good CSS

list-style: disc outside url(es.gif)

For margins:

Bad CSS

margin-top: 2px;

margin-right: 3px;

margin-bottom: 4px;

margin-left: 3px

Good CSS

margin: 2px 3px 4px 3px 

                   (top, right, bottom, left)

For borders:

Bad CSS

border-width: 1px;

border-color: black;

border-style: solid

Good CSS

border: 1px black solid

4 Using two classes together

Two classes can be combined. They must be separated by a space (not a comma) in the HTML. The rule is that where an overlap between classes occurs (in this case, one and two), the class nearest the bottom of the CSS file takes precedence.

HTML

<p class="one two">...</p>

More hints and tips next time. 

By the way: anyone looking for an experienced technical writer or Web designer, contact me at trevor@itech-ed.com.

Mainframe myths

Enterprise System Journal ran an interesting article by CA’s Chris O'Malley (he’s executive vice president and general manager of the Mainframe Business Unit) called Seven Mainframe Myths No IT Decision-Maker Should Believe. It’s at http://www.esj.com/enterprise/article.aspx?EditorialsID=3351&pg=1, if you want to read the original.

Chris suggests that a number of myths about mainframes are in existence and decision-makers often make the wrong decisions because they believe the myths. He then sets about destroying the myths.

First to go is the myth that mainframes are merely relics from the past. He cites zIIP and zAAP specialty processors as well as IFL (Integrated Facility for Linux) as clear indicators that the mainframe provides sophisticated and advanced computing.

His second myth is that mainframes run only legacy applications. He suggests that the growth of SOA means that many mainframe applications and databases have been repurposed for running Web-based applications.

Next to go is the myth that mainframes don’t “play well” with distributed infrastructure. Chris points out that mainframes support industry standards such as TCP, XML, SOAP, and Web services. They also provide excellent scalability, reliability, and security. Plus, he point out, mainframes can be managed in a common manner with distributed, Web, and mobile infrastructures.

Myth 4 is that mainframes are expensive. Chris admits that the initial cost of a mainframe is high, the TCO is very good. He cites Gartner. Readers will, I’m sure remember Xephon’s Dinosaur Myth, published many years ago, that pointed out the total cost of ownership of a mainframe was better than mid-range machines and PCs.

In these “green” times, the next myth is that mainframes are energy-inefficient. IBM suggests that 1,500 x86 servers would be needed to provide the processing capacity of a z10 mainframe – yet the z10 would consume 85% less energy.

The sixth myth is that mainframes are an IBM monopoly. Well, it’s true that nowadays all the processors are made by IBM. However, when you’re looking for suppliers of DASD, tape, printers, communication devices, then the choice is huge. And in terms of software, yes you need IBM’s operating system, but after that, there are plenty of choices.

Myth 7 is the gerontocracy myth – only old people know how to run mainframes. While this is partly true, there’s now lots of software from lots of suppliers to make the running of a mainframe much easier, so those years of experience are now incorporated into the software.

The article is well-worth a read, and definitely worth pointing out to business managers when they are discussing their current IT environment and what they need for the future.

By the way: anyone looking for an experienced technical writer, contact me at trevor@itech-ed.com.

Chrome – first reports

I have been using the new Chrome browser from Google since it first became available. And I find that I am using it in preference to Explorer 7 (I haven’t tried the beta of 8 yet) and Firefox 3. But there’s much more to Chrome than just being another browser – and that’s what I’d like to talk about.

Firstly, I’d like to say that I have found it very easy to use and generally very robust. My one criticism is that the flash plug-in dies suddenly for apparently no good reason. This has been an irritation at times. But otherwise I have found it user-friendly – particularly when opening new windows to a site that I visit regularly.

What makes Chrome different from other browsers is the fact that it is really a big JavaScript engine and could, very easily, run services and applications as if they were desktop applications. Things, perhaps, like Docs & Spreadsheets or Picasa, and I’m sure many other Web-based applications that aren’t anything to do with Google! This is what’s known as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

The interesting thing, from a user’s perspective is that if I don’t know a company’s URL, I can just type their name in the address bar and Google searches it, in the usual way, and displays the results of the search in the page. I can then click on the correct URL. 

I also quite like the idea of the secret browse! Control+Shift+N gives you an incognito window, which doesn’t save any data locally. I’m not sure quite why I need it, but people who share computers with others might want to hide their tracks.

You can grab a tab a drag it out of the Chrome window into space on the desktop, and you will have a separate version of Chrome running. You also have “about” commands that you can type into the address bar. These tell you about plug-ins, networks, etc. You may like the “about:internets” command to see the Chrome Easter egg.

Everyone’s saying that Chrome is a major escalation in the rivalry between Google and Microsoft – and, of course, it is. It’s also the start of a war with Firefox. Many people were using Firefox, both because it was good and because it wasn’t Microsoft. However, it hadn’t quite made it as the standard corporate browser. Most corporations are very conservative, sticking to what they know works (even when it doesn’t work particularly well) rather than trying something new that might be a disaster. Now corporations have to choose one from three!

Chrome is open source and it support EV-SSL security certificates, so it might be chosen by organizations for its security credentials. We shall see, over the next few months, whether hackers and crackers can do anything nasty to it.

Some people might be a little concerned about Google collecting around 2% of the keystroke data collected by the address bar’s auto-suggest feature. Or maybe it will just confirm the worst fears organizations have of their staff spending too much time on Facebook or looking for pornography. Or maybe we should just spend all our time working from the incognito window.

You might also take another look at Google Gears. The current version (0.4) includes a desktop API that lets Web applications perform file-handling tasks on a user’s desktop. Why should you care? Well it’s a way of making the underlying operating system – typically Windows – unimportant. 

So, at the moment, Chrome, even as a beta, is an easy-to-use browser. The SaaS features may make it able to act more like a mini-operating system. And maybe it will turn up on PDAs and mobile phones, and a million other devices that have Internet access.

Have a play with it and see what you think.

Desktop and mainframe integration

There is a dream that many IT users have. It is simply that the advantages of the mainframe will be available to them on their laptop. Now I know that Microsoft and Co get sniffy about mainframes, and talk about the performance of their servers etc etc until I have drifted into a semi-comatose state; but the truth is that mainframes work and they work well. Which, I guess, is the reason that their long-promised demise hasn’t happened. In fact, it appears that mainframes sales are increasing.

As an aside, there is one giant fly in the ointment in terms of mainframe sales at the moment and that is the current banking crisis. Banks and insurance companies are probably the biggest corporate group to use mainframes – and they are the ones badly affected by the current recession and lack of confidence in banking and insurance.

Anyway, ignoring the outside world, most people would benefit if their laptops and a mainframe were in regular communication. That’s why there have been so many column inches printed about Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) over the past few years. The truth is that carrying so much stuff around on a laptop – like files and applications – is a hugely out-of-date computing model. The reason most people complain about the slowness of their PC is because of all the unused programs that are using up the processing space. An ideal laptop would be in constant fast communication with a mainframe and would have all its data files regularly backed up, and it would download just those parts of an application that it wanted to use, as it needed to use them. You’ve only got to look at the number of Excel functions available, as compared to the number of functions that most people use during the day, to see how much extra unused capacity most programs have.

In what they describe as a move to help accelerate desktop integration to legacy mainframe and green-screen applications for the contact center, Cincom and Attachmate have announced an alliance. Through Attachmate Verastream integration solutions, Cincom Synchrony’s unified agent desktop will, they claim, quickly and inexpensively incorporate back-end systems using minimal IT resources.

Although aimed at contact centers, the principle behind the alliance is quite interesting. The press release suggests that contact agents need to keep swapping between applications to solve customer problems – and this wastes time. Synchrony’s unified agent desktop is meant to present the right applications, resources, and history for a particular interaction, and Cincom can now integrate this to critical back-end systems even faster with Attachmate. Attachmate’s Verastream simplifies access to critical supporting mainframe applications through its non-invasive integration approach.

OK, this is taken from the press release and all the hype you would expect. Also, it is designed for contact centers rather than ordinary users. But the principle of making mainframe information more easily available to PC users is an important one. It’s definitely part of a continuing trend.

On a different topic, I have been using the beta of Google’s Chrome browser for a while now and have found it to be excellent. The one problem that has occurred a few times though is the Flash plug-in has died for no apparent reason. If you haven’t tried Chrome yet, give it a go.

Lastly, this Tuesday (7th October) sees the next Virtual IMS Connection user group meeting. If you are an IMS site then you can sit down at your laptop at work and take part in the meeting. There’s a presentation by BMC Software’s Nick Griffin. If you’re not a member of the group, you can sign up at www.virtualims.com (it’s free).

IMS – still life in the old dog!

IBM has recently announced the IMS Version 11 beta programme. What this means is that the latest version of IMS can be tested in real environments to iron out any wrinkles before the product is made generally available in the fourth quarter next year.

IMS, which stands for Information Management System, first saw the light of day back in August 1968. Depending on who you speak to, it was either designed as a way for IBM to sell more disk capacity or to help Rockwell and Caterpillar with their Bill of Materials for the space programme. It probably was both. 

IMS comes in two parts – database management and transaction management – and both parts have been updated in V11. Enhancements to the database manager include:

• IMS Open Database support offers direct distributed TCP/IP access to IMS data, providing cost efficiency, enabling application growth, and improving resilience.
  
• Broadened Java and XML tooling eases development and access of IMS data.
  
• IMS Fast Path Buffer Manager, Application Control Block library, and Local System Queue Area storage reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and overall system performance.
  
• Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.
  

Enhancements to Transaction Manager include:

• IMS Connect (the TCP/IP gateway to IMS transactions, operations, and now data) enhancements offer improved IMS flexibility, availability, resilience, and security.
  
• Broadened Java and XML tooling eases IMS application development and connectivity, and enhances IMS Web services to assist developers with business transformation.
  
• Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.
  
• IMS Application Control Block library and Local System Queue Area reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and system performance.
  

Although IMS is a hierarchical database, as opposed to DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, etc, which are relational databases, it allows data to be retrieved exceptionally quickly, which is why it is used at most of the large financial institutions and other large organizations.

There is an IMS user group on the Web at www.virtualims.com, and their next virtual meeting is on the 7th October. Anyone wishing to take part in the meeting can join the user group (it’s free) and they will be sent appropriate joining details. The speaker at the next meeting is BMC’s Nick Griffin. He says, that autonomic computing is not a new approach to the problem of effectively managing database systems, but it has begun to evolve. In order to be self-managing, an autonomic database management system must understand key aspects of its workload, including composition, frequency patterns, intensity and resource requirements. In this presentation, we examine what Autonomic database computing is and where software can help you.

Full details of IBM’s IMS announcement are available from http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/index.wss?DocURL=http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/8/897/ENUS208-258/index.html&InfoType=AN&InfoSubType=CA&InfoDesc=Announcement+Letters&panelurl=index.wss%3Fbuttonpressed%3DNAV002PT090&paneltext=Announcement+letter+search.