bm8v@newton.acc.Virginia.EDU (Buddhadeb Mukherjee) (09/28/90)
Expires:
References:
Sender: Dev Mukherjee (bm8v@newton.acc.virginia.edu)
Followup-To: Dev Mukherjee (bm8v@newton.acc.virginia.edu)
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Virginia
Keywords: UNIX, management information systems
I am a graduate student in Management Information Systems at the University
of Virginia. The MS in MIS program at the McIntire School of Commerce, UVA,
is relatively new. This semester it offered a course in UNIX literacy and
Micro Focus COBOL, which will be followed-up next semester by a course in
ORACLE and INFORMIX.
I have heard, in more than one occasion, that UNIX operating system is being used more and
more every day in the developing Management Information Systems. I would
appreciate if someone could shed some more light on this matter. What I would like to know is how much of this "rumor" is really true?
Thanks in advance.
Dev Mukherjee
bm8v@newton.acc.virginia.edu
burd@hydra.unm.edu (Stephen Burd ASM) (09/29/90)
In article <1990Sep28.020409.16535@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> bm8v@newton.acc.Virginia.EDU (Buddhadeb Mukherjee) writes: > I have heard, in more than one occasion, that UNIX operating system is being used more and > more every day in the developing Management Information Systems. I would > appreciate if someone could shed some more light on this matter. What I would like to know is how much of this "rumor" is really true? It is true to a limited extent, but not in large data crunching applications such as credit card processing and other large scale transaction processing applications (and the MISs driven off of those databases). UNIX has made some inroads in applications requiring smaller hardware bases, primarily because of its wide availability for this class of hardware. Another factor is the extent to which networking support has become part of the UNIX operating system. As more and more information processing is decentralized and distributed, the advantages of UNIX over traditional IBM networking approaches become more pronounced. For distributed applications requiring the integration of a wide variety of hardware and software, UNIX has a clear advantage. This advantage is being challenged, however, by DEC (e.g., DECnet and VAX clustering) as well as IBM (e.g., token ring networks for PC and workstation connection to larger machines). The primary advantage of UNIX in any software development effort lies in its inherent flexibility for integrating various pieces of software. As an example, a decision support system developed here under UNIX utilized C-Prolog, C programs, FORTRAN programs, the S statistical analysis package, and INGRES for various portions of the system. Neither VMS nor any IBM operating system would have been capable of tying all of this software together to form an integrated on-line system. Offsetting this advantage is the lack of traditional MIS development tools in the UNIX environment (e.g., good COBOL compliers, large scale DBMSs, etc.) as well as the firmly entrenched utilization of IBM software and hardware for MIS. All of this is in flux, however. IBM has embraced UNIX to some extent (e.g., AIX on the AS hardware series and on the 3090) and more and more MIS oriented software is becoming available under UNIX (e.g., INFORMIX, FOCUS, etc.). It's not possible to say what will predominate in the future of MIS development. Probably an evolutionary extension of one approach that incorporates some of the best of the others, but my crystal ball is as cloudy as everyone else's. -- FROM: Stephen D. Burd AT&T: (505)-277-6418 USNAIL: Anderson School of Management University of New Mexico INTERNET: burd@hydra.unm.edu Albuquerque, NM 87131
sakkinen@tukki.jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen) (10/02/90)
In article <1990Sep28.171417.29070@ariel.unm.edu> burd@hydra.unm.edu (Stephen Burd ASM) writes: > ... >The primary advantage of UNIX in any software development effort lies >in its inherent flexibility for integrating various pieces of software. >As an example, a decision support system developed here under UNIX >utilized C-Prolog, C programs, FORTRAN programs, the S statistical >analysis package, and INGRES for various portions of the system. Neither >VMS nor any IBM operating system would have been capable of tying all >of this software together to form an integrated on-line system. > ... Sounds like a strongly exaggerated claim, at least concerning VAX/VMS (I don't know IBM operating systems). Any solid arguments for "would not have been capable"? Markku Sakkinen Department of Computer Science and Information Systems University of Jyvaskyla (a's with umlauts) Seminaarinkatu 15 SF-40100 Jyvaskyla (umlauts again) Finland SAKKINEN@FINJYU.bitnet (alternative network address)
burd@hydra.unm.edu (Stephen Burd ASM) (10/03/90)
In article <1990Oct2.092412.7363@tukki.jyu.fi> sakkinen@jytko.jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen) writes: >In article <1990Sep28.171417.29070@ariel.unm.edu> burd@hydra.unm.edu (Stephen Burd ASM) writes: >> ... >>The primary advantage of UNIX in any software development effort lies >>in its inherent flexibility for integrating various pieces of software. <... system description deleted ...> >>Neither VMS nor any IBM operating system would have been capable of tying all >>of this software together to form an integrated on-line system. >> ... > >Any solid arguments for "would not have been capable"? Detailed arguments have been emailed to the poster. Others that are interested are referred to the summary below, the references that follow, and/or invited to correspond with me directly. Unless there is substantial interest by comp.infosystems readers I'll restrict this discussion to email. To summarize, building a system that integrates many components in a transparent fashion (to the user) and that operates in an on-line/real-time environment requires extensive operating system support for multiple process execution and for communication between processes. These capabilities are an integral part of the UNIX operating system and access to them is provided through interfaces to the various programming languages (e.g., C and FORTRAN). Such capabilities are not nearly so robust or extensive in the VMS environment and are virtually nonexistent in IBM environments other than AIX (a UNIX variant). The problem is far less critical if the constraints of user transparency and on-line/real-time performance are relaxed. Perhaps "would not have been capable" was too strong a statement, but I doubt that it's far off the mark for the system to which I was referring. (1) Burd, Stephen D., and Suleiman K. Kassicieh, "Logic Based Decision Support for Computer Capacity Planning", Information & Management, volume 13 (October 1987), pp.125-133. (2) Burd, Stephen D., and Suleiman K. Kassicieh, "Decision Support for Supercomputer Acquisitions", to appear in Operations Research, early 1991. (3) Bullers, William I., Stephen D. Burd, and Suleiman K. Kassicieh, "Implementatilon Issues for Intelligent Decision Support Systems", Proceedings of the IEEE Workshop on Languages for Automation, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 7-9, 1984. -- FROM: Stephen D. Burd AT&T: (505)-277-6418 USNAIL: Anderson School of Management University of New Mexico INTERNET: burd@hydra.unm.edu Albuquerque, NM 87131