Chapter 3. z/VSE overview 71
and online applications for thousands of interactive users at any given time. By
way of contrast, consider the operating system that might be used for a
single-user computer system. Such an operating system would need to execute
programs on behalf of one user only. In the case of a personal computer (PC),
for example, the entire resources of the machine are often at the disposal of one
user.
Many users running many separate programs means that z/VSE users need
large amounts of memory to ensure suitable system performance. Even small
and medium sized companies run sophisticated business applications that
access large databases and industry-strength middleware products. Such
applications require the operating system ...