Welcome To The World-Wide Caucus

For

Ecumenical Social Services

 

www.ecumenical-social-services.org

and

www.ecuss.org,

 

Associated with the World-Wide Caucus for Libertarian Social Democracy:

 

www.libt-social-dem.org,

 

and the World-Wide Caucus to Save the Planet:

 

www.levin-richardson-2004.com

www.levin-richardson-2008.com

 

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

 

 5.         www.ecuss.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.

 

www.web-club-88.com 

 

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.)

 

*****