Welcome To The World-Wide Caucus
For
Ecumenical Social Services
www.ecumenical-social-services.org
and
Associated with the World-Wide Caucus for Libertarian Social Democracy:
and the World-Wide Caucus to Save the Planet:
www.israel-palestine-51-52.org
The
briefly bi-national Israel-Palestine, west of the Jordan River, must become the
51st and 52nd States of the United States of America -- for at least 75-years.
Shall we tarry
while the planet burns?
***** mike-egger@libt-social-dem.org
The following web names are domain
forwarded to: www.ecumenical-social-services.org.
This list of 20
(including www.ecuss.org) will expand to include
other civic, religious, and commercial organizations. I believe there should be no copyright claims regarding my use of
these following web site names.
Please contact me
at mike-egger@libt-social-dem.org
if you wish to participate in this social services effort, sponsored by the Ecumenical Social Services
Foundation, a non-profit
organization in Bogotá, Colombia, South America.
1.
www.atheist-social-services.org
2.
www.backslider-social-services.org
3.
www.citizen-elizabeth-ii-social-services.org
4.
www.cowboy-social-services.org
6.
www.evil-twin-social-services.org
7.
www.friends-social-services.org
8.
www.german-gypsy-social-services.org
9.
www.indigenous-social-services.org
10.
www.jerry-oliver-social-services.org
11.
www.mcpe-social-services.org
12.
www.non-believer-social-services.org
13.
www.porn-one-social-services.org
14.
www.posse-comitatus-social-services.org
15.
www.psy-war-victims-social-services.org
16.
www.reilly-ii-social-services.org
17.
www.religious-social-services.org
18.
www.union-social-services.org
19.
www.united-social-services.org
20.
www.wi-fi-social-services.org
*****
mike-egger@libt-social-dem.org
*****
I have begun working on a project called a
“civic server” to help organize community services, and most importantly, to
help advance “small business incubation”
The following is a letter I wrote to the
IBM Company, recently. After that is a
short proposal for a “bidirectional” bilingual school program.
***** To the IBM Company:
The
Civic Server And Small Business Incubation
November
2003
OS/390 and VSE
Mainframe Marketing Department
IBM Colombia
Bogotá
Dear IBM:
I’m writing to
ask your help getting started with a Web to mainframe CICS/DB2/Data Dictionary
system.
In 2002 I bought
a large number of Web Site Names in the mode of www.ecumenical-social-services.org and I founded the Ecumenical Social
Services Foundation, a non-profit organization in Bogotá -- this in honor of
the good works of Catholic Social Services in the United States.
This Web Site is
not active at the moment, as I am in the process of changing ISP’s. I have Windows 2000 Professional, Word 2000,
Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, Ipswitch WS_FTP Pro (Internet File
Transfer Program), L&H Power Translator Pro, and a Basic compiler, and not
much more.
A Multi-Purpose “Civic Server”
What I have in
mind is a multi-purpose “civic server” -- that has a multitude of home and
small business “data processing support functions” -- including secondary
backup and recovery of all PC user files.
A number of
years ago, I was very impressed to learn about a “very small business” loan
project in Bangladesh. These were
mostly loans of perhaps $100 or $200 to individuals -- for things like a buying
sewing machine, or an old small tractor, or indeed to buy a mule and a month’s
supply of hay! Literally!
To Promote Small Business Incubation
This program was
reputed to be a big success, and I think that is how we go about advancing
economic growth -- one individual at a time -- with a very good computer system
to promote small business incubation.
This civic
server should promote home economics, child safety, nutrition, all kinds of
education and training, and so on. There is a big overlap of business and home
economics when someone is trying to operate a business out of their home.
If you sell soft
drinks or do laundry for your neighbors, you must plan for electricity costs,
water for the washing machine, repair, maintenance, etc. What is the measure (amount) and cost for
the laundry soap needed for each wash load?
In a practical
manner, people running businesses from their home need to control home and
personal costs -- in the same business system as their “money-making
enterprises”.
I also want to
manage a “PC Citizen’s” interaction with the local government bureaucracy --
licensing, taxes, minimum wage -- who makes these laws and regulations? -- and
including telling people how to register to vote.
The civic server
might also be a good place to coordinate Spam and Internet virus
interception. We might also set up
server/ PC systems to manage storage of an individual’s medical records, and
possibly even to help retirees manage their personal money, and other things.
The satellite
PC, like a PC3270, should be capable of operating a business and keeping
professional records without a harddisk or even a CD/DVD. DVD burners should be very inexpensive after
a few more years. Computing costs for a
very small business can be very low.
Mainframe CICS/Internet Connection
I was starting
to work on an “informal proposal” for the Catholic Church, when I read in the
Web Services Journal, June 2003, about a CICS/Internet connection. (See attachment.) It seems this is a well-established interface, operating in a
production mode.
I have many
ambitious plans, and they are such, that they could generate significant sales of
computer equipment and services. I’m
hoping to convince the church to set up a test system -- and I’m hoping to come
up with enough money to do this myself.
Previous Mainframe Systems Programmer
Experience
At one time in
the distant past, I was the responsible systems programmer for a 370/138
DOS/VSE system with VTAM/ CICS/DL-1 /Data Dictionary /3705 NCP, and prior to
that I had extensive experience on large mainframes -- like a 370/ 165 with
OS/MVS with IMS DB/DC. (Do OS and DOS
still have different JCL and different modes of operation?)
It seems what
was once called DOS/VSE is now called “VSE”.
In this usage, “DOS” means IBM’s Disk Operating System -- before virtual
memory -- or DOS/VSE -- after virtual memory -- and not to be confused with
PC-DOS or MS-DOS.
I presume OS/390
is software for large 390 mainframes.
Is VSE an operating system for “small 390 mainframes”? Can a 390/Server manage an Oracle database/
data dictionary server system? DOS/VSE
used a different JCL (Job Control Language) from the OS/MVS large systems. Is this still true for VSE systems vs.
OS/390?
(I mention
Oracle only because I have read some good references about their data
dictionary.) Can a “regular” non-IBM
Internet server (a physical server) be connected directly to a channel on an
OS/390 or on a VSE system?
What is the
difference between IBM’s mainframe SQL server vs. CICS/DB2? Can you plug in an Oracle Application Server
to a CPU Channel as if it were a CCU communications controller that might or might
not want to interact with the mainframe?
I know nothing
about servers, except some of them have database systems. In the business world, what are some of the
configurations mixing mainframes and servers?
What are the capabilities for various configurations?
OS/MVS TSO vs. DOS/VSE ICCF
Also different
was the timeshare system. OS/MVS used
TSO (TimeSharing Option). And DOS/VSE
used ICCF -- Interactive Command and Control Facility. I attended IBM’s TSO systems programming
class, and I once wrote a very involved TSO macro to submit production
jobs.
ICCF was a
“batch job” which was a control system that attached the CICS control
program. The user at a 3270 activated
the timeshare mode by issuing the CICS transaction: ICCF. This was an interactive transaction and
could last for hours.
Is this still
the timeshare system for VSE, and what are the macro capabilities? Or perhaps is the VSE timeshare system now
actually TSO?
Can you do TSO
or ICCF “sessions” over the Internet?
What do you need to do other than present CICS with a 3270 screen
image? Or similarly, other than to
present OS/390/TSO, with a 3270 screen image?
In my reading
recently, I read that “screen scraping” programs which expect a 3270 (hardware)
bit stream don’t work with new SNA (System Network Architecture).
The small
mainframes 20-years ago used DOS/VSE CICS/DL-1 with ICCF. This was comparable to the typical “large
mainframe” system with OS/MVS/TSO with IMS.
IMS was a
transaction based, teleprocessing system different from CICS, but in either
case, both systems used a DL-1 (Data Language-1) database with a -- DL-1 based
data dictionary.
Under TSO or
ICCF, the programmer at a 3270 (non-programmable) terminal could edit source
text files, submit batch jobs with “Job Control Language” or “JCL” to the
“background” OS/MVS or DOS/VSE system, receive the “sysout” reports at their
3270; and as well operate in a timesharing mode, as if a “batch job”, with
interactive reading and writing to the 3270.
This is a
“single client, single server” process with exclusive access to the
programmer’s source and test databases.
I actually want to be able to do this in a form of group collaboration
for some projects, but that is not necessary at the beginning.
OS/MVS IMS DB/DC
I’m not at all
familiar with the application side, but I did attend the full complement of
IBM’s (OS/MVS) IMS DB/DC systems programmer classes -- this is Information
Management System /Data Base /Data Communications on an OS/MVS system --
Multiple Virtual Systems -- for large mainframes.
In the systems I
was familiar with, the CICS control program executed along with all its TP
functions and user transactions -- in one mainframe “region” or “address
space”.
IMS was intended
for very large systems, and it had a TP and database manager and transaction
scheduling control program in one address space, and any number of independent
regions to actually execute application transactions.
The actual (IBM
software) code to manage the database functions was shared between IMS and its
transaction regions in a very large “Inter-Region Communication area”. Is this what it’s actually called --
IRC? As I remember SVA -- Shared
Virtual Area -- was for DOS/VSE.
NCCF and NPDA
On the VSE system,
I installed NCCF and NPDA -- Network Communication and Control Facility and
Network Problem Determination Aid. This
will be very important for my distributed server system.
It may be in
this area that I need to be able to write 390 Assembler Language programs along
with a Virtual Private Network interface.
TPNS -- Teleprocessing Network Simulator
I also took
IBM’s class for TPNS -- Teleprocessing Network Simulator, and taught
applications programmers how to set up TPNS “scripts” to test their applications.
One of the first
things that I learned was that many applications programmers don’t know their
transactions very well! It’s a huge job
to set up automated testing of update transaction and system errors. Mostly we tried to overload inquiry transactions
to test system capacity.
We ran the TPNS
control program on one mainframe, with a dedicated 3705 (CCU) for TPNS -- to
present simulated terminal activity, and with a “null modem” connection to
another 3705 with a test NCP, and test CICS or IMS systems on the 2nd
mainframe.
I have a
Master’s degree in mathematical statistics from UCLA, the University of
California at Los Angeles, and about 1979, I took the UCLA Extension course
called Probability, Statistics and Queueing Theory for Computer Science
Applications.
This course was
taught by the author of the book of the same name, who also taught the same
course at IBM’s Los Angeles Education Center.
Need An Informal Cost Estimate For A Small
Mainframe
My immediate
purpose is to give an informal cost estimate to the Church for an installation
with a small mainframe, a CCU (Communications Control Unit) and also with a few
“regular servers”, and at least one Windows PC, a Linux PC, a Mac, and maybe a
few more PC’s that I don’t know about.
All this is for
configuration and test purposes. We
won’t necessarily have all of these machines at any particular “production”
location.
What would be
the cost for a 3-year lease for a small mainframe and a CCU, and all the
software I will need? Or perhaps a VM
(Virtual Machine) VSE and CCU software functions with only one 390 CPU --
assuming you actually have that kind of configuration.
Perhaps we could
have that VM system operate two 390 CPU’s -- one for the control program and
the other for managing the network -- or perhaps with programmable microcode to
emulate Intel or Apple or other PC and Server processors.
This gives you a
potentially huge base for future equipment and software services sales.
Small Business Incubation
One of my most
important objectives is to advance small business incubation. I’m thinking about how to do this, “Player
Piano” style.
Player Piano is
a very famous book by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., which explores the social problems of
taking human workers and programming machines to perform automatically the work
previously performed by those skilled workers.
The best skilled
workers are used to “imprint” the software of this “manufacturing machine” with
their motions -- in a numerical control system” -- using the machines to
replace human workers. What we really
want to do is replace human work with machine work.
To do this in
today’s world, we need to advance all kinds of training. We provide an Internet computer system --
available to almost everyone in the world -- to do this training. And in an important adjunct fashion, our
civic server alerts interested users to the location, fees and curriculum for
the trade schools in their hometown.
I want to
develop a “piece of paper” input system -- to scan, organize new paperwork, and
question the analyst regarding any new data elements -- and incorporate this
into an “Online Secretary School”.
We need to
establish a “business activity log” and incorporate this into our dynamic
“business activity model”. We need to
do this whether we are “mechanizing” an existing business, or whether we are
starting a new business over pizza and beer with some friends.
We will also
want an “Online Treasurer’s School” to encourage people to practice long-term
financial planning -- most especially
-- how to avoid unexpected “cash flow” problems that can cause sudden failure
and bankruptcy.
For all these
online schools, we need to incorporate information about business training that
is available in the community, including music or art classes for individuals
-- children or adults.
I want to put a
core project into this business support system, which is to have the ability
for a person at a PC, or perhaps a small team, to have program access to both
the “growing” Enterprise Data Base, and a reference data base for “your
particular type of business” -- at field definition time -- in an aggregation
process to complete your database definition and structure.
This system will
need to update the Enterprise Data Base structure if the field description
process indicates a logical connection to another field in the growing
database.
The reference
database will be a “business model”: one for each of the many different kinds
of small businesses that there are.
A second
function will be to “mention” to the PC “new enterprise” owner: other “items”
in the “logical neighborhood” of the data element that just got added -- in the
growing Enterprise Data Base -- as well as -- in the corresponding
“neighborhood” in the reference data base.
How to do this
for the purpose of small business incubation, probably requires some artificial
intelligence methods that I don’t know about.
Is not a “fuzzy
logic” operation an analysis of “planes” or subspaces of information -- with
the idea of coming up with some kind of operational measure between elements --
of its related planes or subspaces?
How does it put
things together? How does it know when
something is related? Can this tell us
how we know when database elements are logically related?
I don’t know
anything about fuzzy logic, but I wonder if there is a mathematical structure
there that could infer or even specify logical relations or field parameters.
All TV’s Will Soon Be Computers
In a few years,
all TV’s will be computers. I think
this will have a revolutionary social impact, and I want poor people in their
neighborhoods to be able to plan and manage possibly a very small business.
The part of my
social services plan that is most important to me is an “interactive business
discussion” between business planners and their growing data dictionary.
The idea is to
discover new data relationships by having the social services “business
prototype” program investigate the existing data dictionary items and
descriptions for some business application -- and referencing a prototype small
business model -- searching for these new relationships each time a new data
dictionary item is added.
I would think we
would need some kind of hierarchical algebra.
We will need to extract as much information as possible from the data
definition process -- from an existing procedure and “work database” for the
incubation application -- and interact meaningfully with the database designer
-- at the keyboard -- or the voice board -- as it will soon become.
I would like to
interpret that according to some standard artificial intelligence results. I think we do separated hyper-planes. It’s mainly a comprehensive -- and orderly -- word search with algorithms to determine
the importance -- and what kind of category -- are the associations.
The associations
give us hyper-planes -- or isolated subspaces of hyper-planes. Our model or prototype identifies these
associations and directs the process toward action to fulfill the business
requirement identified with that local subspace -- or “logical neighborhood” of
the new business item for the data dictionary!
These “logical
neighborhoods” can be very complicated of course, and I might imagine the world
of artificial intelligence could tell us something, but I don’t know about
that.
Small Business Incubation As A Game
I’ve been
thinking about setting this up as a game -- which I don’t know how to do -- but
we could do caves and demons and stuff on the way to City Hall to get business
permits! You have to visit all the
caves and defeat all the dragons -- but the database designer chooses what to
do when -- and in the process we give a good introduction to business
practices.
I hope this
“game involvement” promotes the active -- and interested -- involvement of the
“incubation entrepreneur” in learning their business.
Business Pattern Recognition
I’m also quite
interested in business pattern recognition, to set up automated business
services. Think about very poor people
who have a TV-computer -- and who think they want to try to start a business.
I’m hoping to
pay for this kind of research and development project, myself, one of these
days, but at the moment I don’t have enough money.
More specifically,
I want to establish an on-line interface to read a standard Data Dictionary
database -- looking at all data dictionary definitions and descriptions for the
indicated application -- at the time of adding or changing a field definition
for that application.
This can be an
iterative process, and I want to be able to perform this function on a mature
data base definition -- or to begin accumulating fields for a new application.
In the
aggregation process, once the data base designer believes there is enough
information to define a new relationship, I want to be able to do that on-line
-- with the approval of the database designer.
Discovering New Data Relationships
Mostly I’m
thinking about discovering a logical relationship between the new field and a
preexisting field -- which might indicate the need for an alternate index or to
create a dependent segment -- of one or the other.
Or perhaps
something from the new element will indicate new parameters for some
preexisting field.
I simply want to
construct the data dictionary input control statement -- to be in the standard
form to add or change the data element definition, then to perform the data
dictionary change -- upon approval from the data base designer.
This is my “small
business incubation process” -- to start up a new business by talking to your
computer.
I will want to
be able to access an independent database at the same time I’m reading the data
dictionary database.
Or, I might want
to extend the data dictionary itself -- IBM’s Data Dictionary -- with new
segments and new relationships -- and new procedures extending the
functionality of the Data Dictionary.
This is the most
important part of my application, and I need to learn how the data dictionary
is structured.
Need Dial-In Or Internet Connection To A
Time-Share 390
Initially, I
only need only an Internet connection or a (telephone) dial-in modem to connect
to a CPU channel on a mainframe “timesharing” system, to write a few OS/390 or
VSE Assembler Language programs.
Are there
production systems with a time-share interface over the regular Internet -- to
be able to write and test simple VSE or 390 Assembler Language programs? I assume VSE systems use the 390 instruction
set -- or perhaps a slightly restricted version.
You could have a
PC program to simulate the display like a simulated 3270-display device or a
PC3270. I need to learn about these
things for long term planning, but I would like to start writing test 390
programs -- in a timeshare mode -- as
soon as possible.
I want to teach
some of my friends how to be systems programmers. This is something I can do to help advance my friends, as well as
to start advancing my social services project -- without spending very much
money at the beginning.
Does IBM, or
perhaps does another private company in Bogotá, offer or provide limited
timeshare usage of a VSE or 390 mainframe?
This can be a traditional dial-in system -- or from the Internet.
This mainframe
doesn’t have to be in Colombia of course.
If someone has an Internet connection to their S/390 timeshare system --
it can be almost anywhere.
Need A Mainframe Systems Programmer
Library
I was a
mainframe systems programmer for many years on the IBM 360 and 370 mainframes
(and the 3705 CCU with NCP -- Communications Control Unit with Network Control
Program.)
This was many
years ago, and my knowledge is long out of date. I’ve started to learn about the PC and Internet World, but mostly
I’m only an interested observer.
What technical manuals
do you have for planning and starting up an informal systems programmer’s
library?
I will need
copies in English and Spanish whenever both are available.
I will need a
390 Systems Guide, a 390 Principles of Operation (machine instructions), a 390
Assembler Language Programmers Guide, a 390 Assembler Language Macro Guide --
how to write macros. I’ll also need C++
reference and training guides, and Java, and various other things that I don’t
know about yet.
I’ll need a
Computer Master Operator’s Guide, IMS and CICS operations guides, NCP and SNA
guides (Network Control Program and System Network Architecture), TPNS guides
and operations manuals, NCCF and NPDA guides and operations manuals.
I would like
very much to have a queueing theory primer that starts with basic calculus and
develops some of the important queueing theory formulas for computer networks
Does TSO/BTS-II
still exist? This was for large
mainframes to simulate and examine IMS transactions. I can’t remember, but I think TSO/BTS-II was available for CICS
transactions as well -- to a database or to some other kind of VSAM file --
though I think I never actually used it this way.
Data Dictionary References
I will need DB2
and Data Dictionary systems manuals, the Internet Data Base Administrator’s
Guide -- and of course many more. In
particular, I need to know how the how the “Data Dictionary database” is
constructed and configured.
If you are
planning an application and you are developing or “constructing” a database for
it, I want to be able to access and read other elements of this application’s
data dictionary items -- especially the data element descriptions -- to try to
identify patterns.
This is to be
done in an interactive manner with the database designer referencing a small
business prototype or “model” database -- including local licensing, tax and
labor law requirements.
I’ll need to
know the exact construction of your data dictionary database. This is for my small business incubation
project.
Managing A Virtual Private Network
I’m also
interested in possibly coding some VPN -- Virtual Private Network -- routines
in 390 Assembler Language -- as a teaching example. I think a good project for this teaching promotion would be to
keep a multi-copy distributed database up to date at every location.
I would think
this kind of example could be used to begin to familiarize “informal PC users”
with ideas of enterprise data integrity as well as systems and network capacity
-- vs. transaction response time. The
local user gets good response time at their point-of-sale -- but there is a
communications network cost to maintain data integrity.
And this leads
us to ideas such as the cost to the business enterprise -- of slow response time
in the businesses’ operations centers and offices vs. spending some money on
additional computer and network capabilities.
Need Online Contributions In Various
Currencies
I want to get
this web site started and be able to accept contributions online. I’m going to try to expand this project to
many countries, and I need to be able to accept contributions in US Dollars,
Euros, Colombian Pesos, etc.
I’m worried
about currency conversion problems. I
don’t know how the system works. Is
this an easy thing to do -- just converting everything into dollars as the
contributions come in?
You also have to
pay someone to convert the currency, and I’m afraid these systems can get
complicated.
The complicated
thing would be to have a whole mix of bank accounts in a local currency for
local contributions -- with projects in mind for those countries where the
contributions came from -- without currency conversion fees.
I want to do
this with Colombian Pesos, at least, and I don’t see any way to do this other that
to have two different Internet Merchant Accounts, one in dollars and the other
in pesos.
I may have to
travel physically to Puerto Rico or Miami to open a US Dollar “Internet
Merchant Account”, and I’d like to avoid that if I can. (I am a U.S. Citizen.)
Need Solution For Internet Merchant
Account
Do you all at
IBM, have some easier solution -- for an Internet Merchant Account -- a
multi-currency bank account and integrated web contribution service? I would appreciate any advice you can give
me about this.
I promise no
goods and no services -- only a report each year for the Colombian
Government. Mostly at least, refunds
should not be a problem.
I think it will
cost about USD-$300 to get the Internet setup done with about $30/month
continuing fees, and about $200 to set up the Internet Merchant Account at a
bank, with perhaps $20 or $30 /month continuing bank fees.
This is for a
minimal system that can handle recurring (monthly) credit card
contributions. I can’t afford much more
than this at the beginning, but I’d like to know about alternate possibilities.
Property Insurance For A Non-Profit Civic
Organization
Another thing
IBM might be able to help me with is finding an insurance company to insure my laptop
computer if it is stolen or damaged outside my home. I have not been able to find this kind of insurance, and I need
to carry my computer around with me for some of the projects I have in mind.
This kind of
policy is called “Inland Marine” in the United States. Perhaps with my non-profit foundation I can
obtain this insurance -- and hopefully also for my friends who will work with
me on my social services project. This
will include computers, cameras, web cams and many other such things.
I intend to ask
the Catholic Church for advice about this as well, but I thought IBM might also
have information about this. I have
insurance for items inside my home, but if I carry anything outside, the
insurance is no longer valid.
I’m hoping I can
accommodate this somehow being a “non-profit” civic organization -- my civic
organization might be able to buy insurance that an individual cannot.
Various Software Licenses For Non-Profit
Organizations
I’m hoping to do
something similar with software. I can imagine
this to be very complicated. I don’t
especially know how to go about finding information. I wrote a letter to Microsoft about some of this, but they never
answered.
A friend of mine
who has a PC wants to help me with this Internet project. What I want to do is upgrade my Windows 2000
Professional to XP, and add Office XP with Front Page -- to my existing laptop
-- but use the allowed 2nd computer for XP licenses to be on my friend’s
computer.
Perhaps as a
non-profit civic organization, I might get some special consideration, but it’s
difficult to learn the rules about all of this.
Linux And Other Hardware And Software
Systems
I was very happy
to hear that IBM was advancing Linux strongly.
I want to add a Linux system to my personal laptop, and eventually, I
want to buy a second computer for myself and develop a 2nd PC with a Linux
system as its primary operating system.
I want to
install Windows XP and Office XP on this system as a backup. This is allowed under Microsoft rules for a
backup computer -- and not have to pay for a 2nd license.
I also want to
have Apple products, and others, over time of course. I don’t even know who the other major computer companies are in
the world. I’m imagining a world-wide
system and I want to be as inclusive as possible.
Consider The Value Of Open-Source Freeware
For whatever I
can control for the Ecumenical Social Services Foundation, I want open source
freeware as much as possible -- for the full range of software to be employed.
I know it is a complicated
business and legal matter, but I think IBM should consider the value of
open-source freeware with service contracts for the various services --
primarily with advance problem reporting and resolution -- and emergency error
corrections in a production environment.
What are IBM’s
legal requirements for bundled -- or “not bundled” software? If it’s open source freeware on the Internet
-- how far upstream can you go? Why not
have VM/VSE plus database server software as open source freeware? I think you make more money that way.
I like the Linux
approach. You can make money supporting
the software, and selling computer hardware.
The idea is to expand the world of 390 programming to the greatest number
possible. You need to provide enough
“free stuff” to get people involved -- ready to become mainframe systems
programmers -- and that augments IBM’s “strategic reserve”.
Multi-Processors On This VM/VSE System
Another thing I
was thinking about is dual processors or multi-processors on this VM/VSE
system. (Two processors sharing the
same electronic memory is called “tightly-coupled”, is it not?)
VM works with
one or more processors, does it not?
Are not many server systems now multi-processor systems?
I would
recommend as small -- and as inexpensive -- as possible with two 390 processors
sharing the same electronic memory and two primary functions -- two virtual
machines.
One Virtual
Machine could consider itself the database server -- or “accessor-retriever” of
the database and the other Virtual Machine could consider itself a 390 CCU like
a 3705 with NCP -- a Communications Control Unit with Network Control Program
-- to access the communications network.
I imagine that you already have systems like this, but I don’t know
about it.
You have a
mainframe server and CCU -- I think you could get a powerful performance from
hardware that isn’t especially fancy -- and therefore “not especially
expensive” -- with this kind of tightly-coupled system.
Presumably, you
can add modular capabilities -- a VM system with an n-tuple processor. You have a “loadable” or programmable
microcode “emulation process” for all the common server hardware -- and then
start adding the various PC processors to your loadable microcode library.
Add A TV/390
I think you need
to add a TV/390 to your hardware component.
Then you add PC emulation to your TV/390-- to emulate everyone’s PC’s
and servers -- and you have a direct “expansion route” for literally billions
of TV watchers.
On the TV/390 --
or on the 390 Server -- have the same 390 Assembler Language “teaching
promotion” -- and an introduction to the idea of system control block
structure.
In a parallel
manner, you should add both 1) a free Internet connection to a 390 Server with
an associated PC program for all platforms to act as a 3270 remote terminal to
a 390 timeshare system, and 2) conversely, a 390 emulation program for Intel,
Apple, and other PC’s -- written to run on these PC’s -- so the programmer
thinks he has a 390 CPU.
This is to teach
the world how to write 390 Assembler Language programs. IBM probably has some of those 390 emulation
systems for PC -- already written -- if not actually marketed.
It doesn’t
matter if this 390 emulation is what we used to call: “a real clunker” -- its primary
production value is to promote 390 Assembler Language.
I think the idea
of the logical construction of the database records can be an easy lead-in to
the logical connections between the between database control blocks and system
control blocks.
I’m talking
about very simple data base construction as a teaching and promotion item.
Let the world
write 390 programs. This will give
ambitious programmers everywhere a route to success. And I think this rebounds to IBM’s advantage.
Macros To Emulate Higher Level Hardware
I presume you
have “lower scale” 390 hardware platforms that do not implement all
instructions. I imagine you could have
your 390 assembler specify the extent of the instruction set -- using implicit
macros for non-implemented instructions.
Position Yourself In The New Market
I think you can
powerfully position yourself in the new market with a cheap PC390 that doubles
as a TV set and can manage the complete home environment -- refrigerators,
power consumption, and also telephones and fax machines and printers -- and can
manage a proper post office function.
And you need a great big supply of fiber optic cable.
I’m also
thinking about a clerical organization system that can also be used as a
household organization system -- to be part of this.
Digital TV will
be fully operational soon. We can
replay brief advertisements and display business logos during replays of
entertainment programs. The problems of
advertising revenues and scheduling will all fall before the power of the technology.
Set up a fully
operational system to manage the presentation of entertainment items -- to
manage this extremely cheaply -- and you will eventually defeat Hollywood and
Nashville.
Billions of
brand new people will have computers -- soon.
These TV’s will not all be PC390’s of course, but even for other brands
-- and I say especially for other
brands -- you should “fix it up” so they can progress smoothly to their local
VM server capabilities. Remember: 390 emulation for your PC!
I don’t know what
your experiences were, but one aspect you should consider is how to rapidly
expand your systems programmer support base -- in the entire business world.
Before I
discovered the “CICS/Internet” connection, I was starting to write a Basic
program -- that’s the only compiler I have -- to construct a very simple
hierarchical database, and now I have written that program in “a reasonable
facsimile” of an S/390 Assembler Language program.
Set up a simple
timeshare capability on your VSE civic server -- with a corresponding program
like you would have for a PC3270. You
just do a few very simple programs, make the language documentation available
and start teaching a few systems concepts.
Try To Imagine “Almost Free” S/390
Computer Orientation
If this is
available to billions of people -- almost free -- you will have many millions
of bright young people throughout the world “almost ready” to become mainframe
systems programmers.
You folks at IBM
do understand the value of having a near monopoly of mainframe systems
professionals who are technically proficient exclusively in your hardware and
your software? IBM invented the
process.
In my own work,
I hope to develop a more complex database (than my very simple one) that I
could use to manage my household affairs.
I will probably
develop this same system in Basic -- as a comparison -- and also because Basic
is free to “almost free” -- people can use this to develop programming skills.
This is a very
minor project, but I want to put it on the Internet as an example.
Startup System For Small Business
Incubation
What I want to
do is take advantage of the fact that in 5 to 10 years, most TV’s will be
computers -- which means that almost everyone will have an Internet capable
computer.
I want to set up
an easy startup system for small business incubation. What I’m thinking about is the process of individuals -- who may
be very poor -- setting up very small businesses.
Altogether, this
could be a very big distributed processing system. The church’s small mainframe in the barrio can provide backup and
recovery, and formal (secondary) storage of business records.
You understand
the idea: everyone has a computer, and that means everyone who wants to startup
a business, can have various kinds of “business application software” delivered
free by the local “civic system” set up by the church -- or other civic
authorities.
Focus On Education
I’m enclosing an
article by Washington Post writer David Broder about an independent education program
in Alaska that allows students to complete requirements for high school
graduation -- by age 14 -- or by age 21.
I want to
advance this kind of independent approach to education and training -- with a
structured computer system to do most of the work.
Additionally, I
am enclosing some notes about advancing a bidirectional
bilingual education system. The
instance I heard about was an MBA program in Spain conducted by Harvard
Business School and a University in Barcelona.
These are not
directly related to my project, but I think these ideas should be at the core
of our thinking about small business incubation.
Internet Juke Box
I’m also trying
to advance the idea of a “juke box” type system to replay broadcast and cable
TV programs -- news and entertainment -- movies and music.
The power of low
cost electronic transmission will overwhelm such issues as time-of-day
competition, advertising revenues, physical distribution systems -- and the
entertainment industry’s strong desire to maintain their oligopoly every way
they can imagine.
You should be
able to manage this through replay statistics.
This can be managed from the civic server’s access statistics, or in
some cases perhaps, from an accumulation of PC usage statistics -- statistics
for those items from the civic server’s Internet Juke Box.
I think this
could be set up with SMF type user statistics -- for every PC user. SMF is System Management Facility, and it
saves usage statistics for CPU time and I/O calls and wait time and many such
things for batch jobs and transaction calls.
I imagine SMF has been upgraded significantly and possibly renamed.
How small and
how cheap can you set up a 390 mainframe server system for perhaps thousands of
“neighborhood civic servers”? Swapping
movies back and forth and determining strategies to do it in a utilitarian
manner, can generate a great deal of communications and computer activity.
My
recommendation for IBM would be to develop prototype business systems to manage
this “juke box” activity -- for almost every entertainment item -- movies, TV
shows, music, sports events -- with and without video -- that’s ever been
offered for sale -- then set up the process to offer local musicians and
entertainers a local Internet market -- and then gradually expand.
Because your
electronic presentation costs are so low -- you can offer artistic works at an
extremely low cost -- but because your costs are so small, your potential
market is extremely large.
I’m not saying
IBM should go into the entertainment business, but you should set up the
business infrastructure -- for private businesses to do so -- and indeed I want
to do this on my civic servers.
In looking at
things this way, charging for most if not all PC software -- programs and
entertainment -- through a combination of statistics from the server and from
accumulated PC statistics about program usage -- you could fairly return money
to software program developers as well as to entertainers.
I don’t see any reason
not to do this kind of system for all ISP’s and other various servers -- as the
primary software and entertainment delivery system -- for almost every PC user
in the world.
System Management Facility (SMF)
Accounting Statistics
It seems another
possibility with movies, music and TV shows of all kinds -- would be to begin a
very low cost way of paying money to entertainment companies and software
companies.
I used to be
responsible for some computer usage reporting systems using SMF data -- System
Management Facility -- which reported on “batch jobs” -- “non-teleprocessing”
--mainframe application activity.
We could
accumulate the usage statistics at the civic server -- for everyone in the
neighborhood -- and accumulate a small surcharge on ISP fees to proportion
royalty payments for entertainment companies, as well as for software.
This would be
taking amateur and local performers in the new SMF type system -- giving them
access to the performers market -- and gradually replacing Hollywood and others
in the entertainment industry who have set up a structural monopoly in their
promotion and distribution schemes.
The only problem
with this is that prices cannot be sustained in their physical distribution
system -- with the virtually free cost of electronic network transmission. Set up your local, amateur system to be
inclusive, and eventually your performers will be making more money -- and you
win the competition.
VM Virtual Machine and Application Servers
What are the
various configurations of 390/Mainframes 390 Servers, and their major software
systems and subsystems? Can these be
used in a VM configuration? Can an NCP
for a 3705/CCU, operate on a 390/mainframe under VM with a VSE/ CICS DB2
system? I presume an OS/390 system
(like an old OS/MVS system) can operate under VM.
And why not
something like an Oracle DataBase operating under VM/390, along with “everyone
else”. Does it work? I presume you could also have a
“channel-to-channel” CPU connection between say, with an OS/390 mainframe and a
mainframe/ NCP/ Server.
I’m thinking of
using the “CCU/mainframe” as multipurpose, under VM. If you were able to have a full and complete VM model, could you
not also have two CPU’s sharing the same electronic memory?
I think that
could be a powerful combination, perhaps on a “small and cheap” mainframe
system -- a VM system with one or two CPU’s -- “loosely coupled”: with a
“channel-to-channel” connection, or “tightly coupled”: sharing main memory.
I don’t know
“how small a computer you can go” with the 390 instruction set. With two 390/CPU’s, tightly coupled with a
great big chunk of “toggle switch memory”: very fast CPU memory, you could do a
“big PC setup” that should be quite powerful -- and cheap!
If you had a
second CPU, whose priority was to manage communications traffic, I think you
could get by with two CPU’s that were significantly slower than a single CPU,
fast enough to achieve an equivalent “system throughput capacity”. I would predict a big jump in “cost
effectiveness”.
If you could
market these PC/VM/390’s -- with server and CCU/NCP/SNA software and everything
-- (Communications Control Unit: Network Control Program for System Network
Architecture) you could establish a great base for future upgrades.
DVD Capabilities and Neighborhood Business
Promotion
As part of this
“neighborhood” small business development project, I am reminded of a project,
about 20-years ago, implemented by the Chamber of Commerce of Vail, Colorado --
a mountain skiing town.
This was when
the DVD laser disk system was first implemented. These were platters about 12-inches in diameter. I had an RS232-C device for my computer that
could direct the DVD player to a specified frame number.
The Vail project
was simply driving a car or truck down the length of every street, taking
pictures at about 1-frame per second.
This way, they
got a photo of every business, and could do advertisement promotion. I don’t know what all Vail actually did with
this, but I would like to use this idea with the idea of the French project --
first implemented about 20-years ago -- called the dialup yellow pages.
We show a
picture of the storefront wit a “click-field” for inventory and pricing, and
maybe a “click-field” for apprenticeship training opportunities.
The Germans
especially, have a very large cultural commitment to apprenticeship
training. I think we should try to
incorporate something like that into our neighborhood business development
project.
We can do this
with a storefront acting as a “cave” in our game representation. We can have “caves” for our individual
businesses -- the database on our personal PC’s, and we can also have “caves”
from our civic server for resources external to our PC-small-business.
We will need
somehow to know -- locations of suppliers and also about various governmental
regulations -- information about these requirements and how you can go about
actually completing the forms -- whether it is through Internet communication
or whether someone actually has to go to an office -- and what they need to ask
for when they get there -- and all the information requirements represented by
these business and governmental necessities, etc., etc.
I think the
Catholic Church is well situated in communities throughout the world to begin
this kind of work in the local communities.
Music, Video and Software Juke Box
There is another
function that I think the Church is well suited for. That is to manage the “music and video” jukebox -- as a neutral
manager for presentation and paying royalties.
Whether it is
music or movies or Cable TV redisplays, or indeed if it is computer software
applications, you can set up an SMF-type (OS/MVS System Management Facility) to
record PC usage statistics, and charge perhaps 1-peso for a song, or perhaps 10-pesos
for a movie, against a 5% surcharge on the Internet user’s monthly ISP charges.
I think we need
a “neutral authority”, like the Church, to manage this, and to do so in an
“honest and fair manner” -- I’m not trying to set up the church as an entertainment
competitor!
The music,
video, and software industries will make an enormous amount more money with
this kind of online system, to replace costly packaging and distribution
systems.
The
entertainment industry right now has a big problem in that they have a closed
“oligarchical” cartel system that keeps them in control of the competition, but
I am convinced the technological advancements and the resulting cost savings,
will soon crash this system.
This kind of
system would result in huge data storage and data traffic systems. There should be some serious mainframe
business in this area, and artists’ royalties should skyrocket! If you can get the marginal presentation
cost down very low -- your market explodes exponentially!
Involvement In The Neighborhood
An essential
part of small business incubation is the requirement for various business
licenses and permissions. Our “model
data base” should include complete information about taxes, and what licenses
and permissions are required -- for the “locality”-- for each “locality”.
This is a very
big job that I think the Church would be well suited for. I will encourage them to work on this as
part of the community involvement effort.
As well as
information about business licensing, and regulation and taxes and such.
Political
involvement process at all levels -- especially various permits for small
businesses -- what groups of bureaucrats have permission “requirements” -- and
exactly how to go about fulfilling those requirements -- as well as who made
those rules and how they get elected or otherwise selected.
I hope we can
develop this kind of process to advance grass-roots democracy even to countries
that are not democratic. I think local
democracies can present fewer
problems to a dictatorial
national regime than many other means of managing local communities! I think this could be a “utilitarian
approach” that might filter up after a while.
About the same
time that I started the social services project, I bought the name www.web-club-88.com with the idea of setting up Internet
Cafes -- sometimes with a very nice restaurant.
Some of this could
properly be managed by some civic authority on a non-profit basis, and some
others would possibly be better as part of a commercial endeavor.
This is
speculative at this time, but I have in mind trying to set up a premium cable
TV service -- like for premium movies -- to play and replay the various
political and economic news programs -- that play over every weekend.
I also want to
make these programs available on wideband Internet, with transcripts, and search
processes available on the “word index” of the text file, augmented with
subject and keywords.
I would like to
set up a system where cable companies provide Nature, and History and National
Geographic channels in English for people in countries where the language is
not English -- for an additional cable fee each month.
I am especially
interested in political issues regarding trade, and I also want to make
political discussion regarding the various trade issues -- and other political
news -- programs which originate in other languages.
Free Trade, Training, And Education And
Labor Issues
Free trade,
training, and education and labor issues will become important political issues
-- as NAFTA expands to the entire western hemisphere.
A well-informed
citizenry will be important to all governments engaged in free trade issues,
and I think political discussion across the language barrier can inform
citizens of all countries as the process advances.
Then business
people in the various countries can begin to imagine ways their businesses
could adapt to suggested changes in the trade law.
If business and
labor interests of affected trade areas are represented in such a way as to
expose to partisans the direct interests of their opponents -- in a public discourse
-- this should lead to better free trade agreements.
I want to
explore and publicize the issues of business profitability and labor
policy. I believe a gradually
increasing minimum wage “lifts all boats”.
If people have more money in their pockets -- businesses will have
higher profits.
I once spoke
briefly with a Colombian Senator, and he told me the most important thing for
Colombian workers would be proper labor law.
I want my civic server concept to advance awareness of this.
I grew up on a
farm in West Texas, and my father supported wage subsidies from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture -- USDA -- to farm workers. USDA agriculture subsidies moved my family from being poor -- to
being “moderately poor” -- so I observe this discussion with interest.
And so, I was
quite interested in some discussion at the WTO talks in Cancun, Mexico
recently, who called U.S. and European agriculture subsidies an “imperialist
tactic” -- to make poor countries dependent on cheap subsidized food -- instead
of being able to develop their own agricultural industries locally -- to
develop their own competitive responses to the world-wide “free market”.
I’m not going to
try to solve those problems, but I do want to develop public understanding of
the issues, of what the interests are -- of business and labor -- in the
different countries.
Mass Translations Of Entertainment
Programs
I have the
L&H “Power Translator Pro”, and I notice that it sometimes confuses whether
a word is being used as a verb or as a noun.
If the writers
(or transcribers) of the original text are aware of the grammatical
combinations that can cause confusion, they can give hints to the
“semi-automatic” translation process.
My L&H
program seems to have the ability to specify user macros -- perhaps to override
some of their (of L&H) decision process.
Perhaps this
could be presented -- when the translator program recognized a potential “point
of confusion” -- and then present a choice to a human translator -- with all
imagined relevant information.
If someone like
IBM wanted to invest in a lot of supercomputer work -- you could try to do live
events -- translate as the event occurs -- from the spoken word. If this were done, it could still be used as
an intermediate phase of the translation process into my “lower intensity” and
“slower” system.
In www.web-club-88.com, I also want to make available
“reasonably quick” translations of English newspapers’ web presentations into
Spanish, as well as local Spanish language newspapers into English -- as well
as the local movie schedule -- with full bilingual name and synopsis
translations.
This would
include schedules and promotion blurbs from the local language to English.
This is a much
larger instance of my trade news example, and I would expect regular TV-cable
companies will start providing translations of many of their standard “public
interest” programming, like the History Channel, Discovery, and National
Geographic. This will be an extra cost
feature from cable companies, like premium movie channels.
And of course we
come to movie translations. With
digital TV we can present a multi-language sub-title selection and maybe a
multi-language dialogue track as well.
We can develop a
system, which uses an audio-visual headset for people to wear in movie theaters
when they go to the bathroom or to buy more popcorn. This could be done with current Cellphone technology -- connected
to earphones and possibly connected to a headset “wrap-around” screen.
All you would
need is an optical reader to capture the film image to a TV display output --
with a long enough lead-in so that the microprocessor can do that visual work
-- and keep the headset image and sound in sync with the big screen.
Then you can
bring your own Cellphone or rent a Cellphone at the theater. At the film projector, the optical reader is
connected to a very short-range digital TV transmitter. I presume you could scramble a Bluetooth
transmission to these Cellphones.
This could be modified
by having only an audio track available -- for refreshment breaks or perhaps
for a second language sound track.
There could also
be a subtitle system that can be displayed on a translucent video screen -- or
perhaps on a display at the bottom of the movie viewer’s visual range -- that
allows viewing of the movie on the big screen.
Then we can use
this system for home use -- for digital transmission of cable and broadcast TV
signals -- perhaps different channels to different persons. And I think bars could like this for
different sports channels and different news channels -- especially during
elections and other high profile political events.
It is far beyond
my capacity to develop these kinds of systems, but I would recommend IBM do
some prototype work in this area and develop a workable system. This might be a big-money payback system.
*****
The Data Dictionary and the 3-Page
Solution
I want to set up
my civic server with “small business models” to plan, organize and operate the
various kinds of small stores and restaurants that people start up all the time
-- including small businesses operated out of someone’s home. This is a common practice in much of the
developing world.
These generic
models could be the database and programs -- for every kind of business and can
reside on the civic server, or be downloaded to a PC. These models will have a full and complete data dictionary --
with integrated and automated management instructions.
This model will
be used in a “reflection mode” to compare and contrast as the incubating
business aggregates its “real” database, data dictionary.
I think this is
like the “almanac process” -- but initially we will not have any “operating
data” in our database -- some data elements will need to have “real” data --
but many not.
I am out of date
with current database technology. Is
the data dictionary function now an integral part of the application
database? Many years ago the model was
that the data dictionary was a separate application -- from the “regular”
business applications.
Additionally, we
will need to have information for the “locality” about business licensing, and
regulation and taxes and such -- for every locality. The church’s assistance can be very valuable here.
Think about
business process automation -- MOST ESPECIALLY -- for very small businesses
operating out of someone’s home -- whose owners may know almost nothing about
data processing or business management.
(My dad once told me to “buy low and sell high”!)
Data Dictionary Interface
What I have in
mind is a way to start developing a small business -- having pizza and beer
with some friends and talking to your computer. The computer guides them through the “small business incubation
process”.
I’m not
qualified to develop this complicated, interactive incubation process for
businesses, but with this project, I’m trying to “gather a structured
neighborhood of information” -- including this fancy incubation model with its
reference database and its procedures.
The place where
someone like the church can be very important is the accumulation of all the
bureaucratic requirements, taxes, minimum wage, how to find the information,
and so on.
This is a
separate aspect, but an essential element of what the new businesspeople need
in this civic server system.
This will be a
dictionary interface at “add data element time” and especially at “describe
this data element” time.
At this point we
start to look for patterns, including asking the question, “Is this a ‘1-1’ or
a ‘1-many’, kind of data element relation?
We aggregate
items for the small business’s data dictionary, into a subset -- more or less
-- of the generic business model -- which can reside on the church’s CICS
mainframe, or perhaps, also on the small business’s PC.
We associate
descriptions and other data dictionary facts to inquire about “logical
connections” -- both between data elements of the user’s growing data
dictionary -- and with data elements in the “model” data dictionary.
In a few pages I
discuss a “paperwork management and reorganization system”. This is how to go about inputting external
paperwork information into the developing system -- including “discussions with your computer” in an ongoing,
continuous process -- which keeps operating business information up to date.
AND MORE
IMPORTANTLY -- keeps the database structure current when some “new” paperwork
arrives that indicates a new field and perhaps a new logical relationship in
your database. Or this “new element”
may “cause” a modification of previous parameters of a pre-existing data
element.
We aggregate new
fields and new data from the continuing paperwork input -- channeling all new
clerical inflow “into the database structure”.
This business
process can also perform the same task for personal papers of all kinds -- into
a structured reference database on their computer.
I think this is
how we can go about setting up -- defining -- business patterns.
The 3-Page Solution
1. And there is one more, simple piece to
this. I once took a business-writing
course, and it taught a simple technique.
2. You start with three pieces of paper and
on Page 1, you start writing down items in sequence, as you think of them.
3. At Page 2, you transfer the items “into
groups without hierarchy”.
4. At Page 3 we “hierarchize” and produce a
detailed formal outline.
5. In the process of transferring the items
or “elements” from Page 1 to Page 2, and from Page 2 to Page 3, something very
important happens:
6. As you start aggregating (and thus
defining) your groups, you will think of new items for the forming groups.
7. And that’s it. We apply a similar process to creating the data dictionary, and
we “pretty much” have our data base definition and description.
8. As a separate project, I want to present
the original intent of this course -- using a computer -- to students and also
to people who write business letters.
9. This will be interactive procedure in
which their computer presents them with a detailed outline for their
letter. After that, writing the letter
is easy.
How To Do This
Perhaps we could
use something like Microsoft Power Point.
Each little box -- each “element” (enclosed in a small little box) --
can be one word or just a short phrase.
We move the
elements by click and drag -- to form the groups: little boxes into bigger
boxes. The elements don’t change, and
remain defined as such, probably with a faint little box around each element --
which is one word, or a single phrase.
I also want to
present this 3-page technique in an automated system for all writing students
-- whether in business or in school -- to use to write business letters or
school assignments.
I’m far behind
in the PC-Internet World. I don’t have
Office or Power Point -- much less MS Share Point.
There is a
description of MS Share Point, which discusses “drag and drop” of “Web Parts”
into so-called “hot zones”. I don’t
know how this would work inside my CICS/ Data Dictionary system. It doesn’t have to be MS Share Point of
course, but this is the idea.
Pizza And Beer -- And Start A New Business
I’m also
interested in the idea of team collaboration with this. With XP, you can have friends over for pizza
and beer, and decide you want to start talking to your computer about starting
a business. I know IBM has done a lot
of research in this area as well.
It doesn’t
strike me as being an especially easy thing to do, to set up this “database
design and automated small business management” project.
I wonder if we
could put this into an artificial intelligence structure. We know what we want to do. We want to aggregate the business database
-- in a structured way -- and “talk” the owner through the motions of operating
a business.
“Does the new
business manager want to talk about business licensing now -- or sometime
later?” I think this would be a good
example or aspect -- of the game style presentation of caves and demons and
such.
This whole
process is meant to be fun -- AND ACTIVE -- going through the motions, but also
actually doing it!
I was interested
in an article in Linux Magazine for October 2003, p.46, about embedding a
database with SQLite. To use this
feature, it requires that the directory containing the database be writable.
I don’t know how
much IBM’s data dictionary product will allow me to change anything
independently. Perhaps I could set up
an independent database -- which will be writable -- and then impose some kind
of enterprise, relational structure -- above both.
The two
paragraphs at the bottom of p.46 and top of p.47 says that SQLite supports
multi-user access, and that the SQLite process locks the entire database during
each transaction.
This is what I
want to do -- in a “cooperative arrival” approved by the application database
designer online -- single server application.
Could this kind
of application be used against a data dictionary database -- to include a new
database relationship structure into the data dictionary?
Indeed, is the
data dictionary structure for an application now embedded into the actual production
database? Are executable program
modules also embedded into the production database? I don’t know how SQL works.
This is very
different from the old architecture which had a separate database for the
dictionary application and also program load modules in the OS/IMS link library
list -- definitely not embedded in the database.
(I never knew
very much about the data dictionary, I installed it on a CICS/DL-1 system and
performed a few test transactions -- and then I turned it over to my “application
support associate”.)
Reference to OS/MVS IMS TSO/BTS-II
There is another
program product that I installed and used, called IMS TSO/BTS-II. There was an older product called BTS or
Batch Terminal Simulator. (TSO stands for
Time Share Option for large mainframes.
IMS was the then large mainframe version of a CICS/DL-1 online database
system.
BTS was a
background “batch job” that simulated an IMS or CICS online transaction,
including the ability to display (or “print”) all the relevant information
regarding or “resulting from” a DL-1 database call.
TSO/BTS-II
displayed this information interactively to a 3270 TSO terminal -- single
client, single server, exclusive control of a test database.
I like the idea
of online collaboration that some companies offer for PC’s.
I want to set up
this interactive kind of function, with data base calls, AND with the ability
to issue “full interrogatory calls” to the database’s data dictionary (and
database structure) -- and indeed, online, dynamic, database structure updates
using the data dictionary’s standard functions.
I want to use 2
data base/ data dictionary “sets” -- for “comparison purposes” for each type of
business -- for almost every type of business.
We “build up” a data base structure compared and contrasted to a “model”
database/ data dictionary -- for that type of business.
This model
database will be for constructing business operating models, and I would like
to be able to do this “construction process” in a team collaboration effort --
similar to that with MS SharePoint.
Paperwork Management and Reorganization
System
In this system I
want to have an independent subsystem to read all paperwork for a small
business, into a hierarchical or relational database -- with a physical label
on each piece of paper (or perhaps just p.1) for full cross reference
purposes. (This can be done for all
personal papers as well.)
We start with
various “piles” of paperwork -- somewhat ordered by category. As we scan each piece of paper the computer
voice asks for “as many categories as apply” -- the clerical person replies by
speaking to the computer.
I think a
multi-screen display could be very valuable here -- augmenting the
“categorization aspect” of our physical “stacks” or “piles” of paper. We have multiple display screens for visual
comparison of different “items of paperwork”.
The tough part
of course, is transferring the data represented by those many pieces of paper
into our enterprise database data dictionary.
This requires someone to review the paperwork, and “speak the meta-data
item values” of that piece of paper -- to the computer.
The idea is to
actually “cause” the small business owner to maintain a permanent data flow
into the computer from all the paperwork that arrives -- and keep a one-to-one
relationship between business paperwork -- an automatic “scan-in” file -- and
their enterprise database.
As much as
possible, we need to divert paperwork flow into the enterprise data processing system
-- with any new data structure relations.
It’s of course better to have “telephone network arrival” of business
information -- instead of letters in the mail, but since this isn’t always
possible, we need a one-by-one “piece of paper” arrival system -- into our
computer -- AND ALLOWING -- THAT NEW DATA ELEMENTS MAY INTRODUCE NEW LOGICAL
RELATIONS INTO OUR DATABASE STRUCTURE.
Big businesses
do this as a matter of course, but the untrained entrepreneurs that we want to
be starting these new stores or restaurants -- aren’t likely to know very much
about regular business practices.
The system I
have in mind is a “two pass system”.
You will actually start with “one big pile of papers” -- and you need to
start forming multiple piles -- of “categories”.
I started
thinking about this kind of system to organize my own personal papers -- and my
own household objects. As far as
physical pieces of paper and physical objects are concerned -- you will have
both physically present in the same place
Organize Home And Business At The Same
Time
People in the
United States may not realize the significance of the fact that in much of the
world many “small business people” may live in the same building as their
business -- and even if not, there will be an overlap of business papers at
home, and some personal papers or objects at the business office.
My system will
separate all that on the computer, and tell you where everything is, and all
its relational connections to other business-personal items.
This kind of organizational
process can be important for small businesses to manage future financial
commitments -- so that lost paperwork doesn’t cause such a drastic effect on
normal cash flow that our small business with a very small margin for error --
doesn’t suddenly fail.
This seems like
another tough thing to do, but since most small businesses tend to fail before
very much time passes, this procedure could help some avoid “cash-flow
bankruptcies”. Let’s try to increase
success as much as we can.
I think a large,
multi-screen display would be helpful for our database design team as
well. We could display “portions” or
“neighborhoods” of our database -- for our team to observe while “building
their data base structure”.
Increasing An Individual’s Personal Wealth
One of my
objectives is to help people learn programming well enough so they can provide
contract programming to local businesses -- business applications on a PC --
and at the server level.
In a way to
upgrade workers’ skills, maids can be trained in “Online Secretary School” to
perform home paperwork management AND home items inventory -- with the
locations where the items are normally located.
All we have to
do is make all these computer systems very cheap -- all kinds of people will
use them and you expand the computer universe -- which means more money for IBM
and other computer companies.
Sincerely,
Mike Egger
***** mike-egger@libt-social-dem.org
***** End letter to IBM.
*****
A Model For Bilingual Schools and
Businesses
This letter is
about a bidirectional bilingual MBA
program that I would hope could be adapted to elementary school children. m.e.
07/19/2002,7:25
AM - To the Arizona Daily Sun:
About 10 or 15 years ago, I noticed an advertisement in the Economist (of
London) about a 2-year bilingual MBA program in Barcelona, Spain. This is not
the same way we think about bilingual education in the United States. This
program is bilingual going both directions.
The program was run by the Harvard Business School, and a university in
Barcelona, with 50% native English speakers and 50% native Spanish speakers.
During the first year everyone takes the business courses, conducted in their
native language, and an intensive language course in their new language.
The MBA courses are the same, whether conducted in English or Spanish. First
year English speakers and 2nd year native Spanish speakers sit in business
classes conducted in English. And vice versa for Spanish speakers.
Look at the valuable cross-pollination. 1st-year Anglos learn business courses
-- in English -- along with native Spanish speakers who have had one year of
English -- AND -- who have already taken the business courses in Spanish.
Look at the benefit (the broad social benefit) of English speaking Americans
learning Spanish. There is great potential for economic growth in Spanish
America, and Anglos who speak Spanish can become valuable workers -- with
corresponding salaries.
How could we adapt this for elementary school children? I think this kind of
program might be very beneficial to young Spanish speakers -- and to young
English speakers! -- in Arizona.
Sincerely,
Mike Egger
AA-8362
Bogotá,
Colombia, South America
Tel. +57-1-281-1855
Fax = Tel., Talk
first
57=Colombia,
1=Bogotá
(Notice the different spelling from
the
District of Columbia.)
*****