FORCESight column Jun 94
Comparing the IS Needs of Small Firms and Large Companies
By Steve Force
I’m in the fortunate position of working not only with large corporate information systems professionals, but also with small business professionals. Part of my activities involve assisting small businesses with their information systems needs. Regardless of what people may think, there are many simularities between the needs of small firms and large companies.
FORCESight Column – April 1993
TCP/IP Upgrade
By Stephen Force
Preparing for my “TCP/IP Reality Check” presentation, it struck me just how accepted Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) has become in the mainstream data processing world. When I first worked with VM TCP/IP at the University of Tuebingen (Germany) Medical Center in 1988, I found it quite interesting. TCP/IP was logical, but for someone trained in SNA it seemed somewhat quirky and peculiar.
FORCESight Column – Feb 1994
Strategic Skills for 1994:
A Technical Support Top 10 List
By Stephen Force
Nineteen ninety-three was a year of transition for the Information Systems community. Uncertainty of what the dat processing future would be like was painfully prevalent. It was hard to get a feeling for which operating system and network environment to “bank on.”
FORCESight column – Dec 1993
Music to my Ears
By Stephen Force
This month I thought I would write about a subject that I find very interesting and that applies to computer techies like us: electronic music. It is applicable because in the future, chances are we will be getting more heavily involved with multimedia and teleconferencing within the enterprise.
Some musicians are technical wizards. Especially those who use electronic devices such as synthesizers and sequencers. I have a modest music studio that consists of an Ensoniq KS-32 weighted action MIDI studio (a piano-like keyboard synth), a Peavey MIDI-Bass guitar (yes, even my bass is a computer [what a geek]) and a PC-based music sequencer called Cakewalk for Windows. Also, I have a small (six input) Tascam mixer board, power amplifiers, a Peavey subwoofer and Yamaha studio monitor loudspeakers. For those of us who don’t know what all this stuff means, I’ll briefly explain.
MIDI is an acronym for musical instrument digital interface. A sequencer is in essence a digital music recorder and editor. Until the “digital age,” 16-track recordings were considered “state-of-the-art.” With the advent of digital, MIDI and the sequencer, 256-track recordings are now the norm.
For the rest of the article, please click here.
FORCESight Column – Oct 1993
No more operating system allegiance- opening
your mind to the other possibilities
By Stephen Force
As I was writing this column, the thought struck me as to how much my personal computer systems have changed this past year…
CICS the best client/server solution
By Stephen Force
Is this “client/server” thing for real or is it just another fad? If you actively follow our industry, the client/server debate runs the gamut from being a vague concept to quickly overtaking “classical” data processing techniques.
CICS analysts and programmers must find this “debate” to be quite amusing, sisce CICS has inherently been able to support “client/server” implementations for several years.
MVS-to-LAN Printing over
Novell NetWare LANs
By Stephen Force
MVS-generated output printing has changed over the years, from computer center-based printers to remote printing (JES2 RJE or JES3 RJP) and now to desktop printers.
Until recently, it seemed enough to rely solely on VTAM-connected printers since VTAM handled the routing, ensured proper delivery, and for printers which support sharing, the locking mechanism to accomplish printer sharing. And since most personal computer users were connected in some fashion to MVS, it was sufficient for these users to print desired output via MVS-based products.
This is no longer the case..
FORCESight
By Stephen Force
NaSPA, like the rest of us, is changing. Some of these changes are exciting, some stressful, but all of them interesting.
My name is Steve force, and I have been a practicing systems professional for 15 years. While working in Europe in 1989, I learned about NaSPA through Candle Corporation and subsequently joined. At the time, I was working as an MVS systems consultant, primarily on MVS systems with the JES3 subsystem, and thought it would be interesting to write an article comparing JES2 with JES3. I soon discovered writing an article was work. However, with the patient help of Tom Sprague and Amy Birschbach, the editors at Technical Enterprises, Inc., I soon discovered even I could write (it is amazing how people trained in journalism can spin silk from binder twine.)
