Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms: CMS
CMS
- (Conversational Monitor System) the interactive part of IBM's VM/SP (VM/ESA) operating system for mainframe computers.
The key idea behind VM and CMS is that each user has a whole simulated mainframe computer all to himself. The simulated computer has a virtual disk (i.e., one large real disk file that simulates the function of a disk drive on which many small files can be stored). See also virtual machine; VM/ESA. - Content Management System, software allowing an organization to manage the creation, publication, and updating of a set of web pages and other documents that have multiple authors. The system should ensure consistency (so that the web version of a document has the same content as the paper version); it should make sure that changes are only made to the most recent version (so different authors aren't making changes to different versions of the document); and it must protect the documents against any changes made by unauthorized persons. Also, authors must use logical design when creating their documents so that the actual visual appearance can be determined at the time of publication.
