RE: MySQL on System i

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: David Gibbs

> > Pluta: What is the benefit of turning i5/OS into a PHP/MySQL
> box?
>
> From my perspective, it would bring the robustness of DB2/400 (DB2/i5?)
> to PHP applications.

This would mean a situation where a PHP application is critical enough that
the robustness of the i5 outweighs the cost of entry.  And it seems to me
(and I might be wrong here) the primary reason people use PHP is because
it's free.

How many commercial PHP applications are making lots of money?  If there are
a lot, then that's one issue.  If not, then this is another instance of "run
free applications on your expensive server".


> > I suppose anything that brings users to the box is good, but do you want
> to
> > support business applications written in PHP and MySQL?
>
> There are a lot of applications that already exist, that will now be
> able to benefit from the robustness of the platform.

I'm not disagreeing.  I'm just worried about over-hyping this, the same way
that Java and WebSphere was over-hyped.  There are things i5/OS is good at
and things it is not.  My guess is that PHP, like Java, likes a dedicated
processor and so interaction with RPG will need to be carefully managed.

But two things to remember, I guess: one is that it is here so we have to
figure out what to do with it, and two anything that brings more people to
the box is probably a good thing.

Joe