Open source z/OS: project OS/3

Project summary: fork z/OS into an upstream that is released as open source under the name OS/3. 

Why?: To bring the mainframe to the home.

Big Picture: There is another project that started as weird niche enterprise software that computer science enthusiasts managed to hack onto their home computers and that was Linux. Just as people wanted to bring the security and reliability of Linux home, I think it is time we bring the mainframe to the home. 

Who needs this?: In theory, anyone who could get use from an Open Source OS and wants the rock solid reliability of Z/OS. Aspiring Mainframers could have a “closed system” to learn in, and more experienced learners could have a place to experiment and build things without any fear of accidentally breaking anything. Outside of current mainframe users, it would depend on level of interest outside of the mainframe community. If it could be bootable on x86, the sky is honestly the limit. USS makes porting Linux software to run natively pretty simply, and a lot of this effort is actually already being done. From there, you have the virtualization capabilities of Z/OS and the sky is the limit, honestly. 

Immediate challenges: the biggest immediate challenge to this concept is booting on consumer hardware. This is why making OS/3 open source is essential. Enterprise has no need to add consumer hardware as a Z/OS capability….but the whole project doesn’t make a ton a sense if users can’t boot the system. This is a non-trivial but solvable challenge and all it needs is a community with space to make it possible.