SecMusings

InfoWorld reports that datacenter software vendor Mantissa has released a product that allows you to run Microsoft Windows under z/OS on a mainframe. Their product z/VOS provides a hypervisor and hardware abstraction layer for the Intel platform, so that any Intel based operating system can run underneath it.  According to Mantissa, “users will be able to create a PC in 15 seconds, have it operational in 15 minutes, and use it once or have it permanently without worrying about depreciation of hardware.”

While my initial reaction was “Why?”, that’s really the wrong question.  The question is really when it makes sense.  Mantissa claims that a single mainframe can run thousands of virtual PCs.  So as large enterprises consider moving to virtual desktops (accessed by thin clients) it becomes a question of cost effectiveness. Which is more economical, a bunch of VMware or Windows servers hosting virtual PCs or a single mainframe?  I have no gut feeling right now.  It will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

While I’m still preparing new material, amuse yourselves with my favorite XKCD cartoon (at http://xkcd.com/327/):

This is, of course, SQL injection as we fondly remember it — one person mano y mano against the database.  More on how the world has changed in a future post.

This blog has been dormant way too long.  I’m back and will be putting up some provacative posts soon.  Stay tuned…