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The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community

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  • #31
    The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community

    ** This thread discusses the article: The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community **
    It's not my opinion, it's the opinion prominently noted elsewhere in IT publications. I rarely care what IT pundits say. Even so, I don't know of a single IT publication that insists that the browser is a bad interface. Feel free to get those URLs out. Most of those folks lost their credibility as they parroted the ITAA as they told us there's a shortage of programmers in the US. Anyway, back to the question, which is pretty simple: what does 5250 do that HTML does not do? Since 5250 is arguably the most successful UI ever created, and still going strong, and it is the overwhelming interface for our market, it seems clear to me that the next generation UI needs in our market needs to be functionally equivalent to 5250, and thus the question arises: how is 5250 better than HTML? Both Swing and RCP are thick clients; RCP simply makes better use of native components, although at the price of being tied more tightly to the OS. But thick clients are almost useless in the era of Internet access, for any number of reasons (not the least of which is distribution). Someone may eventually come up with a zero-footprint thick client (and in fact there are a few projects like that in place). At that point we may have a thick client option, but until then the thick client is not a solution for my customers. According to my customers, zero-footprint browser access is absolutely necessary, and not one of them agrees with your assessment of HTML. What they do agree on is that there is a certain class of power user who requires host-centric applications to be tightly tied to desktop programs, and those particular users can use a thick client. But my users do not see replacing green screens with thick clients; they majority of green screens will be replaced by browsers. Joe

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    • #32
      The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community

      ** This thread discusses the article: The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community **
      After I read your post I returned to my desktop and other work, and I realized that all my other work is in Windows programs. This is because you drink the Windows koolaid. In the Unix world, there are a ton of web-based applications, for everything from email to system management. Why? Because you can run a browser almost anywhere. And the world of the midrange is much closer to the Unix world than the Windows world. The Unix world at least makes an attempt to run on sub-gigahertz processors without hundreds of megabytes of dedicated RAM, unlike that standard Windows machine which is now pretty much a gigabyte and 2.5GHz. Joe

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      • #33
        The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community

        ** This thread discusses the article: The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community **
        Well, there was a message from our customers that 5250 wasn't improving to compete with client server. 5250 needs to be improved as I and Dave describe in other posts rather than dumbed down to a browser. The dumbing down includes less information and functionality per screen. Just about every article I've seen on web page ERP rollouts has the customers screaming about taking five web pages to do what they used to on one screen. I saw this with conversion of complex screens to a Java interface in JWalk that I prototyped. The functionality of one green screen had to be broken down to several tabs when GUI'ized. And we all know that if there's a space on a green screen, our users want more info there. That's why our screens are complex, our customers wanted them that way. Again, if browsers were sufficient, then we would running software in browsers, but we don't. But we expect our customers to. It's called eating your own dog food, and we would choke if we had to. rd

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        • #34
          The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community

          ** This thread discusses the article: The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community **
          Ralph, So, you're saying that a 24 x 80 green screen "look and feel" couldn't be duplicated in a one page HTML document? That's a developer problem, not an HTML problem. One HTML web page can easily hold the equivalent data of one green screen. I'd say the exact opposite is true. Take most any web page out there and it wouldn't fit on one 24x80 green screen. Just look at the MCPressOnline home page. And I still don't understand what you mean by "dumbed down". And do please give us those web links that say 5250 is superior to HTML in reaching a wide audience (customers, end users). Like I've said, the UI doesn't really matter as long as your application architecture can support many UI's. You could give some users green screens and others HTML forms for the exact same business model. Regards, Chris

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          • #35
            The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community

            ** This thread discusses the article: The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community **
            Chris, I never referred to anyone comparing 5250 to HTML. No one outside this small world even knows what 5250 is. The comments are on using the browser as interface. The 5250 interface was deemed to be insufficient, sales stopped and programming work along with it, and an HTML replacement "look and feel" of an insufficient interface along with an interactive "tax" would probably explain why the AS400/iseries/i5 no longer sells. But I'll just focus on something else. Thanks for the comments, Chris. rd

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            • #36
              The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community

              ** This thread discusses the article: The Year Ahead: Predictions for the iSeries Community **
              RD: Thanks for your lengthy comments. I love to read it. Keep it up. PH

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