Start
1964
CP-40 introduced CP/CMS as an experimental time-sharing research project for the IBM System/360 and laid the groundwork for VM
1967
CP-67 remained a
research system and was
made available to key
time-sharing customers
as a supported product
1972
VM/370 was officially
announced by IBM
on August 2
1973
The VM Library was
started at University
of Waterloo
1976
VMSHARE
online community
and discussion
group was created
1980
VM/SP (System Product) was released on December 12, featuring XEDIT
1981
1982
VM/SP HPO (High
Performance Option)
released on March 27
1983
The teddy bear is
adopted as the
mascot of the VM
community
1983 - Teddy Bear Mascot
Influential software brands have often adopted a mascot to represent the product.
Linux has Tux the Penguin. Suse has Geeko the Gecko. z/OS had both a turkey and
an eagle. VM adopted the teddy bear at SHARE 60 in 1983. This adoption was not a
planned marketing campaign, but a matter of happenstance.
At the SHARE conference newcomers received yellow stickers to affix to their badge, and seasoned VM users received a blue sticker. The stickers were meant to help newcomers find someone that could help them answer any questions, and also served as a way to help the tenured VM'ers find the newbies and make them feel at home.
The problem was that people had a hard time remembering which color meant what, so a few days into the week Carol Jobusch bought several hundred teddy bear stickers for the old-timers. The teddy bear stickers made it more obvious that here is someone that is warm, cuddly, and approachaple. The stickers were a big hit, and in the span of a few hours VM had its mascot.
VM/SP R3 released,
featuring REXX
1983 - REXX
REXX (REstructured eXtended eXecutor) was developed in the late 1970s by Mike
Cowlishaw at IBM Hursley, UK. REXX is a versatile and easy to read programming
language that can be used as a scripting, macro, or an application development
language. In 1981, Mike Cowlishaw first presented REXX to the public at SHARE 56 in
Houston, TX. It was so well received, that IBM quickly worked to
incorporate it into VM/SP R3 in 1983.
VM Trivia: Originally titled "REX" (Reformed EXecutor) the second "X" was added by IBM legal to avoid issues with other registered trademarks.
Historical document:- The design of the REXX Language - IBM Systems Journal - 1984
1984
VM/XA
(eXtended Architecture)
Migration Aid released
on February 6
1985
VM/IS
(Integrated System)
released on
December 17
1988
VM/XA SP released
on February 15
1989
CMS Pipelines was made
available worldwide
1989 - CMS Pipelines
John Hartmann began development of CMS Pipelines in 1980.
The command PIPE was added to CMS that allowed programs and
commands to be linked together in order to pump data through.
By 1985, CMS Pipelines was marketed as a separate product in
Europe, and by 1989 IBM distributed the product worldwide.
The function was integrated into VM/ESA 1.1.1 in 1991.
1991
VM products converge to
single operating system -
VM/ESA released on
March 29
2000
Linux guest support
officially available for VM
2001
VM/ESA rebranded to z/VM
2003
Virtual Switch (VSWITCH)
support featured in z/VM 4.4
2011
Single System Image (SSI)
introduced with z/VM 6.2
SSI Cluster Diagram:
2018
z/VM 7.1 ushers in the
Continuous Delivery model
z/VM Council is founded
2022
SSI clusters expanding to
eight z/VM instances
with z/VM 7.3
VM's 50th anniversary
celebrated on August 2
