A New Edition of What On Earth is a Mainframe

Seventeen years ago, Longpela Expertise released an easy-to-read book explaining IBM mainframes to beginners: What On Earth is a Mainframe (WOEIAM for short).

Over the years, this book has been a quiet success, selling thousands of copies worlwide. After a few attempts, we have finall released a new edition of the book. And that's what we're celebrating in this edition. In our first management article, we look at WOEIAM: what it is, and why we've released a new one. In our second, we take a deeper look at the new edtiion: what's new, and what's changed in seventeen years. Finally, we review some of the other resources mainframe beginners have to understand our favourite computing platform.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

management: A New Edition of What On Earth is a Mainfram

In 2008, Longpela Expertise released the book What On Earth is a Mainframe (WOEIAM).

At the time, there were no resources explaining IBM zSeries (now IBM Z) mainframes in simple, easy-to-read English. We often saw people working with mainframes that just didn’t understand it: from managers and sales staff to lawyers and trainers. Even technical staff often didn’t understand the platform and operating system they were working on.

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management: The New What On Earth is a Mainframe: Whats Changed?

Over the past 17 years, WOEIAM has become THE book for beginners wanting to learn about the mainframe. Thousands have been sold worldwide, and reviews on sites like Amazon are glowing.

Seventeen years seems like a long time between editions, and it is. In fact, one Amazon review of the first edition says it all: "Good basic info, but in serious need for an update." Well, the update is now here.

But what's changed?

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management: What Mainframe Resources Are There for a Beginner in 2025?

Longpela Expertise have released a second edition of our mainframe for beginners book "What On Earth is a Mainframe" (WOEIAM for short). When the book was first released, there wasn't much information for the beginner about mainframes. So, is it any different 17 years later?

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