As I begin to pack my bag for @SHARE in Anaheim #SHAREorg, I started thinking about the history of this organization. In many ways, its evolution is similar to that of the mainframe itself. SHARE is resilient, has reinvented itself, and remains relevant to a large group of users.
SHARE held its first meeting on Aug. 15, 1955. Here we are, 57 years later, and SHARE is still going strong. Oddly enough, SHARE is actually older than most of the people that will be there next week. (And much, much older than me. Are you sensing now that I have age issues??)
The formula though, is the reason for the success of SHARE all these years. SHARE is, at its heart, a user group. It is attended and presented by users of the products, with hefty support from IBM and other vendors.
We've come a long way from the days when tapes were shared, and a copy of the tape containing all the programs was $35, and yet we've maintained the best intentions of those original users...to SHARE, to help each other, to learn from one another. Along the way, we helped to set standards, provided requirements, and advised IBM.
A quote from Morton Bernstein, associate mathematician at Rand:
"SHARE turned out to be, by accident or design, the first standards-setting organization in the industry."
For me, going to SHARE is great sessions, great networking, great people. It just doesn’t get much better than that!
I leave you today with a great little link from Marist, to a collection of zTidbitz!
http://idcp.marist.edu/enterprisesystemseducation/ztidbitz.html
z/OSsyGirl