It was like turkeys waiting for Christmas. The UKCMG, the bastion of mainframe computer users, has voted against the mainframe in a debate on platforms for e-commerce.
Attendees at the UKCMG conference in York this week voted by a majority of 10 to 3 against the motion, "E-commerce is the saviour of the mainframe," in a debate sponsored by Computer Weekly.
Barrie Heptonstall, from IBM, and Mark Van Reysen, from Unisys, spoke from the platform in favour of the motion. The opposing view was presented by Mike Johnston from, Compaq, and Ian Meakin, from Sun Microsystems.
Geoff Petherick, chief executive of UKCMG, said: "After 37 years in IT I'm gutted - I love the mainframe."
Some mainframe fans optimistically suggested that the result reflected the fact that the mainframe doesn't need saving.
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This was first published in May 2000
