Talk:IBM OfficeVision

OfficeVision/MVS
I've worked in places where Office Vision ran under MVS. Perhaps this article needs an update? -- Commking 22:55, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

OfficeVision screenshot
I don't have any "real" IBM OfficeVision screen captures since I never used the program, but I have seen a book that feature the PROFS main menu. Is it OK to recreate a likeness using a word processor, or is that a copyright infringement type of deal? Would IBM get upset at something like:

I got this from a screenshot of the 3270 Workstation Program from Jim Hoskins IBM Personal System/2: A Business Perspective.

I think there's more to the menu than what I can see there... there was a photocopy I made of a book about 3270 emulation, but I can't remember where it is right now.

--Jimj wpg 03:42, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Character set use not clear
The article notes the system started on VM, so was it EBCDIC? Then on OS/2, a system based on ASCII. Then Japanese and Chinese, UNICODE? Not clear 143.232.116.173 (talk) 18:16, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

"PROFSPROFS"?
I noticed a possible vandalism or typo in one of the paragraphs in the article:

"PROFSPROFS[12] and its e-mail component, known colloquially as PROFS Notes, featured prominently in the investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal. Oliver North believed he had deleted his correspondence, but the system archived it anyway. Congress subsequently examined the e-mail archives."

I have never seen reference to a PROFSPROFS before, just PROFS. Does this need to be corrected? Jimj wpg (talk) 02:10, 25 June 2019 (UTC)


 * Good catch, Jimj wpg. I suspect PROFSPROFS was a cut and paste error. It does not appear in the cited source, just PROFS. I corrected it in the article. Cheers, -- 02:45, 25 June 2019 (UTC)

Proposed merge with IBM DISOSS
I believe that IBM DISOSS is just a former name for IBM OfficeVision/MVS. SJK (talk) 02:43, 22 September 2019 (UTC)
 * My understanding is that OfficeVision is more closely related to PROFS. I don't know much about DISOSS. Jimj wpg (talk) 07:01, 22 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I know that OV/VM was an "upgrade" of PROFS. The impression I get is that IBM's strategy was confused, and they were pressured to get a cross-platform product by SAA. However someone who knows more about DISOSS needs to chime in here. We used both PROFS and OV/VM, but never DISOSS on out MVS system. Peter Flass (talk) 21:09, 23 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, I have no first-hand knowledge or experience of any of these systems. But the article right now implies that OV/MVS is a successor to DISOSS just as OV/VM is a successor to PROFS, whether or not that is true. I believe this book ISBN 9780134478067 explains it all, if anyone has access to a copy (I don't.) (Nearest library to me having a copy is 700 km away.) SJK (talk) 12:18, 24 September 2019 (UTC)


 * First of all, the PROFs name was used by media in 1990, and had nothing to do with DISOSS, a separate product. Second, A May 1989 newsbrief item said:
 * "A similar fate awaits IBM’s Profs and DisOSS mainframe systems; post-September 1990, Profs will become OfficeVision/VM, and DisOSS OfficeVision/MVS, both similarly equipped with iconic interfaces – it is what is known as conversion by stealth."
 * It's saying that PROFS and DISOSS were separate products, but that their destiny was somehow linked. Although neither article has much detail, I see this like the matter of Software fault tolerance and Fault tolerance ... both more refs. I'm tempted to work on one or both of them, since a portion of MVS needs to Wikilink to one of them, but at least for now I'm not proposing a merge. My opinion holds for both FAULT and PROFs/OV/DIS - leave separate for now, at least until each is individually improved. Pi314m (talk) 17:31, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

OPPOSE: Not that familiar with DISOSS. OV/MVS was (is?) similar to OV/VM (PROFS). The impression I get is thst DISOSS is a backend document repository for various disparate systems. Maybe IBM bundled DISOSS and OV/MVS. "IBM office systems that may be connected through DISOSS to OfficeVision/MVS series, are OV/VM, OV/400, PS/CICS, PS/TSO, PS/PC, PROFS, and other Mail Systems Supporting SNADS and DIA. Only a single copy of DISOSS needs to be installed somewhere in the network to accomplish the connection." Peter Flass (talk) 20:54, 4 May 2020 (UTC)