SPARTA News March 2002

March 2002

SPARTA Chapter President’s Corner

- by Brad Carson

Our February meeting brought us another visit from Jerry Paterson of Computer Associates. He spoke to us this time about CA’s strategy for LINUX and corporate enterprise. CA is making a strong commitment to supporting LINUX on z900 and z800 series systems from IBM. Their support will use software that runs under LINUX or on z/OS and z/VM. It looks like a LINUX future out there for us.
In LabCorp’s continuing saga of software migration, we have the BMC to IBM DB2 utilities to talk about this month. We’ve been having a lot of fun with this (actually Wink has been having the fun). We have ended up putting some beta code from IBM on our system in order to get some of the DB2 utilities to function properly. Hopefully we can be off the BMC utilities by the time you read this. On another front we are almost complete in converting from Endevor to SCLM. This has been another big project with headaches.
Some work has been done on the moving of our QA/AD LPAR from RTP to Burlington. We now have an STK silo built at that site (it fit with 10 inches to spare on height), and have reconfigured the 9672 there for a local parallel sysplex system. I’ll keep you all informed on how this is coming.
This month we will have a presentation on C/C++ compilers by Dave Rivers of Dignus System. I look forward to seeing you all on on Tuesday, March 26th at LabCorp. BarBQ, drinks, and dessert will be provided.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Mar. 26 C & C++ on the S/390 by Dave Rivers and Ron Pimblett of Dignus Software
Apr. 30 TBA by Dan Foss or Bryan Westerholt of Compuware Inc.
May 28 TBA by next SPARTA VP

We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations don’t have to be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can start an interesting interaction. Contact John Bryant by phone or e-mail as noted below.

2001-2002 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
LabCorp 919-572-7504
1912 Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 Brad_Carson@labcorp.com

John Bryant - Vice President
GlaxoSmithKline 919-483-9548
5 Moore Drive; D.111
RTP, NC 27709 JEB33378@gsk.com

Mike Lockey - Secretary
Guilford Co. Information Services 336-412-6235
201 N. Eugene St. 336-227-2021 (Home)
Greensboro, NC 27401 MLOCKEY@netpath.net

Duane Reaugh - Treasurer
DTS Software 919-833-8426
2913 Wake Forest Road
Raleigh, NC 27609-7841 Duane@DTSsoftware.com

Ed Webb - Communications Director
SAS Institute 919-531-4162
SAS Campus Drive 919-362-0232 (Home)
Cary, NC 27513 EDWISTUO@aol.com

Meetings

Meetings are scheduled for the last Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in December), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.

These monthly meetings are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Brad Carson. Brad will escort you to the conference room.

Call for Articles

If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.

Newsletter Mailings

The SPARTA chapter policy is to mail a copy of the monthly chapter newsletter to each SPARTA member, NaSPA national, each advertiser, persons who have requested a copy, and to other chapters who send us a copy of their newsletter. The newsletter is mailed about the 20th of each month so you can prepare for the meeting. The mailing list is maintained by Mike Lockey at (336) 412-6235; if you have corrections or problems receiving your newsletter, call Mike.

Mar2002 CBT Tape Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V443 (dated March 12, 2002) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need a complete tape, contact Brad Carson at LabCorp or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the February 26th, 2002 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.

•Fifteen (15) people were present; thirteen (13) were members.

•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job function.

•The minutes of January 2002 meeting were accepted as published in the February 2002 newsletter.

•Duane Reaugh, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer’s report. As of February 26, 2002, the balance is $670.00.

OLD BUSINESS

•Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don’t really need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you would like to share with the membership.

•The SPARTA Web page is now available. To access the SPARTA Web page, point your Web browser to this site: www.netpath.net/~mlockey/sparta.html. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey (mlockey@netpath.net). Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

•Duane Reaugh heads the nomination committee for the 2002-2003 SPARTA Board of Directors. He reported these nominations:
President Brad Carson
Vice President Duane Reaugh
Treasurer Tommy Thomas
Secretary Mike Lockey
Communications Ed Webb.

At the April SPARTA meeting, additional nominations will be accepted and voting for the Board of Directors will take place.

NEW BUSINESS

•Future Speakers and Topics:

March 2002 - Ron Pimblett and Dave Rivers of Dignus Software
April 2002 - Dan Fosc or Bryan Westerholt of Compuware
May 2002 - TBA
Other ideas:
- Conversion to RMM - Tommy Thomas
- TDMF - Ken Frump
- WLM Goal Mode - Jim Horne
- UNIX Services for OS/390
- IBM New Announcements
- CICS Web Bridge

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact John Bryant.

•Food for the March 2002 meeting will be BarBQ, sodas, and dessert.

•The March SPARTA meeting will be held at LabCorp in RTP.

•Thanks to Brad Carson of LabCorp for hosting the February meeting.

•Annual dues of $20 should be paid now.

•The business portion of the meeting ended about 7:35 PM.

•Jerry Paterson of Computer Associates presented CA’s vision and commitment for Linux on S/390 and zSeries. Jerry talked about the following:

Linux Trends and Challenges
Linux at CA Program Focus
CA’s Brand Support Strategy
CA’s Linux Solution Portfolios
CA’s Continuing Commitment
Customer Successes
Industry Recognition
Summary

•The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.

Treasurer’s Report for February 2002

contributed by Duane Reaugh

The balance in the account is $ 693.15 as of February 28, 2002.

Remember to renew your membership now! Dues are still only $20 for the year.

Items of Interest

Compuware Sues IBM

contributed by Ed Webb

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Software maker Compuware Corp. on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit accusing IBM of copying Compuware software code, in a case that promises to revive antitrust charges IBM fended off decades ago.

Compuware , one of the largest independent makers of IBM mainframe software programming tools, said it filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan accusing International Business Machines Corp. of using its monopoly power in mainframe computers to compete unfairly in the software tools market.

Echoing charges leveled in the 1970s, when IBM was the subject of U.S. Justice Department antitrust probe over its computer monopoly, Compuware’s suit alleged unlawful product tying by IBM in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

“IBM's wrongful conduct is depriving Compuware of goodwill, revenues, and profits from the sale of its tools,” according to the court filing made by Compuware on Tuesday.

In response, IBM declined to comment on the Compuware claims. ....

For more details, see the full story at http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020312/tc_nm/tech_compuware_ibm_dc_4

Humor

Rules of Life

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Sometimes we just need to remember WHAT the Rules of Life really are....
1. Never give yourself a haircut after three margaritas.
2. You need only two tools. WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn’t, use the tape.
3. The five most essential words for a healthy, vital relationship “I apologize” and “You are right.”

4. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
5. When you make a mistake, make amends immediately. It’s easier to eat crow
while it’s still warm.

6. The only really good advice that your mother ever gave you was, “Go! You
might meet somebody!”

7. If he/she says that you are too good for him/her, believe them.
8. Learn to pick your battles; ask yourself, ‘Will this matter one year from
now? How about one month? One week? One day?’
9. Never pass up an opportunity to pee.
10. If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance!
11. Living well really is the best revenge. Being miserable because of a bad
or former relationship just might mean that the other person was right about
you.

12. Work is good, but it’s not that important.
13. And finally... Be really nice to your friends. You never know when you are going to need them to empty your bedpan.

Are We Having Pun Yet?

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.

My wife really likes to make pottery, but to me it’s just kiln time.

Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.

I fired my masseuse today. She just rubbed me the wrong way.

A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.

Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.

I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.

I used to be a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe.

If electricity comes from electrons... does that mean that morality comes from morons?

Marriage is the mourning after the knot before.

A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

Banning the bra was a big flop.

I worked on a cargo ship, but was laid off because of a crew cut.

A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.

A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.

Without geometry, life is pointless.

When you dream in color, it’s a pigment of your imagination.

Condoms should be used on every conceivable occasion.

Reading whilst sunbathing makes you well-red.

A good pun is its own reword.