🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <33...@cc.usu.edu> SL...@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) writes:
>... I did hear a good explanation for why IBM mainframes are so
>user-hostile once. It seems that IBM once lost a court case and was ordered
>by the court to build its machines such that they could not be used for
>criminal activities. The joke is that they succeeded; since the machines
>can't be used at all, they can't be used for criminal activities. Any
>nice usable user interface would be a violation of court order, so they
>can't improve it.
>
>Roger Ivie

Kudos for creativity to whoever made up _that_ legend.

The upshot of the IBM "interface" was that anybody stubborn enough to
learn how to write a few lines of JCL could become a consultant and
make scads of money doing relatively simple, albeit unpleasant, things
that nobody in their clients' organization could understand.

Perhaps the Mafia couldn't afford to hire JCL programmers.  I doubt it.
Perhaps the JCL programmers just felt silly in the black shirt and white
tie.


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  |  ph...@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG 		 | Phil Gustafson
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