Personally, I think that some mainframes are going to stay around for quite a while yet, just because of the cost of migration.

Just like COBOL is still very much around, so are mainframes. For an organisation to switch to a new platform can be very expensive depending on the complexity of the application being run on the mainframe.

When you see the trouble you can already have going from HP-UX 9 to HP-UX 10 because of different directory structures and the like, imagine totally changing platform.

That's why there are companies specializing in the resale of obsolete parts and the repair of computers no longer supported by their manufacturer.

Cheers,

BrainStop