VM AND THE VM COMMUNITY: Past, Present, and Future Melinda Varian Office of Computing and Information Technology Princeton University 87 Prospect Avenue Princeton, NJ 08544 USA Ð.Ð BITNET: MAINT@PUCC Internet: [email protected] Telephone: (609) 258-6016 April, 1991 I. INTRODUCTION I will be talking today about the past, present, and future of VM, with an emphasis on the influence of the VM community on the growth of the VM product. This paper was originally presented at Australasian SHARE/GUIDE in Melbourne in 1989. My husband Lee and I had a delightful time at ASG and are most grateful to ASG for being our host in Australia and to SHARE for giving us the opportunity to represent it there. When I spoke at ASG, I began by conveying greetings from the President of SHARE, Cecilia Cowles. I will do that again today, because the pictures are too good not to use again. In the past, when I've spoken at SHARE and SEAS, my talks have been strictly technical. This talk was the first time I'd been asked to give my opinions, so you may find that you get more opinion than you wanted. Certainly, I should make sure you understand that my views are not necessarily those of my management (and are sometimes not those of SHARE management either). I must also ask you in advance to forgive me my ethnocentricity. Though I speak of ªthe VM communityº, I realize that there are actually several overlapping communities of VM people, located in different parts of the world, both inside and outside of IBM. For the most Cecilia Cowles part, I will be speaking of the community of which I'm a long-time member, whose center is the VMSHARE Page 2 VM and the VM Community ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ electronic conference. This community overlaps heavily with SHARE and SEAS, with the annual VM Workshops in North America, and with various regional VM user groups. It includes many participants from IBM as well. I'll be showing you pictures of some members of this community, but because there's not nearly enough time to show all the people who have made outstanding contributions to VM and to the VM community, my choice of who to show was semi-random, depending a lot on which pictures I was able to get. I owe thanks to many photographers who lent me their pictures, but especially to Joe Morris of SHARE and Stuart McRae of SEAS.1 I am also indebted to Sandra Hassenplug and John Hartmann for their assistance in preparing slides, as well as to several of my colleagues at Princeton. Joe Morris Stuart McRae Sandra Hassenplug ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ 1 I am grateful to the many people who succumbed good-naturedly when I badgered them for photographs. I wish particularly to thank Bob Creasy, Adenah DeAngelis, Jerry DePass, Walt Doherty, Lyn Hadley, Ed Hendricks, Peter and Carol Jobusch, Ted Johnston, Ken Holt, John Shaw, Dave Tuttle, Lee Varian, John Wagner, Lynn Wheeler, Rich Wiggins, and Joan Winters. VM and the VM Community Page 3 ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ John Hartmann Princeton Interactive Computer Graphics Laboratory Page 4 VM and the VM Community ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ I should probably also explain the iconography I'll be using. For many years, the SHARE VM Group lamented the fact that VM had no symbol, no totem. A couple of attempts were made to select one, but they fell flat, because, of course, such things can't be mandated. Meanwhile, the MVS Group had the turkey (which they chose of their own volition), and they went around wearing turkey hats and putting turkey stickers on elevator doors, and so on. The legend is that the MVS Performance Project began using the turkey as a symbol in the early days when MVS performance was definitely a turkey, and the symbol soon got extrapolated to the whole MVS Group. With VM's amazing growth, the VM Group in SHARE has always had a problem making newcomers feel at home, simply because they always outnumber the oldtimers. In 1983, the Group was going through yet another attempt to overcome this problem, and it was decided that at SHARE 60 we would hand out little square yellow stickers to newcomers to the VM Group and little square blue stickers to oldtimers, with the idea that if they all put the stickers on their badges, the oldtimers could identify the newcomers and help make them feel at home. The problem with that, of course, was that nobody could remember which sticker was which, so it didn't work out at all. A couple of days into that week, however, Carol Jobusch bought a few hundred teddy bear stickers, with the idea of affixing them to the cuddlier of the oldtimers so that the newcomers would know that here was a warm cuddly person who ran the warm cuddly system and who could be counted on to be friendly if approached. Within hours, the teddy bear had become the de facto symbol for VM, and everybody in the VM Group, old or new, cuddly or prickly, was wearing a teddy bear on his badge. (The Jobusches subsequently got a 50-KB roll of stickers, to keep SHARE well supplied.) Carol Jobusch VM and the VM Community Page 5 ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ One rather strange result of all this has been that the offices of many hard-bitten system programmers are now full of teddy bears. Typical VM system programmer's office However, even without being reminded of it by the MVS Group, we would have been careful not to let our arctophilia degenerate into icky sweetness. Page 6 VM and the VM Community ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ Not surprisingly, soon after VM adopted the teddy bear, the MVS Group decided that the turkey was no longer an appropriate symbol for MVS, and opted instead to use the eagle. But, of course, such things can't be mandated. I should also warn you that you may notice in my presentation a few slides that indicate a certain rivalry between the VM and MVS Groups. ªIs this any way to treat a guest?º ªThe light at the end of the tunnelº VM and the VM Community Page 7 ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ I hope that none of you will take offense at our banter, for I assure you that the rivalry is a good-natured one and only skin deep. Donna Walker: ªVMÐhalf the size, twice the powerº Jimmy Pittman: ªVM still doesn't measure up to MVSº Page 8 VM and the VM Community ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ ªHe ain't heavyÐhe's my brotherº In fact, most installations in the SHARE VM Group run MVS, and most Group members use MVS every day, although, of course, very few of us use TSO. Running TSO is like kicking a dead whale along the beach. Horace: ªArs Poeticaº VM and the VM Community Page 9 ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ II. DIGRESSION: ON WHERE REALLY GOOD SOFTWARE COMES FROM Before getting into the history of VM, I'd like to discuss briefly some observations I've made over the years on where really good software comes from. I want to talk about this topic a bit because I think it may serve as a theme for what follows. First of all, let me define my terms. To me, ªreally good softwareº is simply software that greatly enhances the ability of people to use computers, software that lets people use computers to do easily things they couldn't do at all before. Perhaps the best test of whether a program or a system is really good is whether people fall in love with it, whether their eyes light up when they talk about it. The reason that it's important to understand where such software comes from is that it is the source of the real growth of our systems. Really good software enhances the productivity of our end users, makes our systems grow, and expands IBM's markets. So, everyone of us in this room benefits when IBM or its customers find ways to create more really good software. In case it's not already clear, let me add that I'm not talking about software with low APAR rates. Really good software often has extremely high APAR rates, especially when it is new. Indeed, I'm almost, but not quite, willing to assert that an extremely high APAR rate in a new product should be cause to give the author an award. Certainly, a very high APAR rate in a new product is often an indication of high product acceptance. If I may give a couple of examples: · First, let's consider the early days of Xedit,2 although I always hate to use editors as examples because they're so controversial. I can't remember now who it was who said, ªEditors are like religions, except that people don't have such strong feelings about their religions.º There can be no question that by releasing Xedit in 1980, IBM gave CMS a new lease on life. Nevertheless, when Xedit first came out, its APAR rate was so high that an IBMer whom I greatly respect asked me whether releasing it had been a mistake. In fact, the APAR rate was quite high, but the problems that were being reported were almost all very small problems. It became clear that people were using Xedit so enthusiastically and so creatively that they were stretching it to its limits, and in the process running into little errors that hadn't been discovered in IBM's testing. While the errors that were being reported were genuine and needed to be fixed, the remarkable thing about many of them was that people cared enough ÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐÐ 2 When asked what other editors influenced the design of Xedit, Xavier de Lamberterie graciously replied with the following note: Well, Xedit comes from a long way.