SMH Home Home   >   Technology   >   Opinion   >   Perspectives
 >   Article    Calling a mainframe computer by any other name .
. .  By Graeme Philipson November 12 2002  Ten years ago I used
to be a bit of a mainframe guru. I wrote a column on the subject
and I spent a lot of time talking to all the mainframe suppliers
and users. But the mainframe scene became less important and I
moved on to other things.  Last week mainframes came up in
conversation and someone asked me whether they still existed.
"They most certainly do," I replied, a little taken aback. The
person who asked the question was neither unintelligent nor ill-
informed and it made me realise how invisible mainframes have
become in the 21st century.  Part of the problem, as is often
the case in the computer industry, is one of terminology. There
is not, and never has been, a standard definition of the term. I
have a dozen or more dictionaries and glossaries of computer
terms, and none of them agree.  A mainframe is a large computer
generally r