A brief trip down the rabbit hole of IBM mainframes: Oversimplifying, there are...
A brief trip down the rabbit hole of IBM mainframes:
Oversimplifying, there are only 2 ecosystems left standing in computing altogether
-- PC/Unix
-- IBM OS/360 descendents (Z/OS)
The cost of creating a new ecosystem is staggering. If I was IBM, I would figure out how to get Z/OS onto every watch, phone, laptop. But it is probably too late.
They didn't explore new niches, so when the old one shrinks, they'll have no where to go.
Self-replies
In 2024 terms, the OS/360 operating system is a operating system for microcontrollers, those 10 cent chips with 8mb of memory. Heck with some clever engineering, I bet they could put one in a credit card and have it run off of ambient RF.
These guesses are too fun to validate if I'm right.