What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Ya da man!

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

This thread is rather hard to follow, but are you indicating that IBM saying 'No, we don't plan to do this thing' would cause you to give up loyalty to the product? I personally feel that some of the previously mentioned things (like converting the system to ASCII)would be a major step backward as most systems (including the AS/400) are going more and more into Unicode/UCS2. To move from an EBCDIC base to an ASCII base that fundamentally has most of the same problems as EBCDIC does not strike me (personally) as a wise investment choice or the correct long term solution. I can imagine other situations where users may want an investment in some technology that also may not be wise given other investment decisions.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

I like the fact that the as/400 supports multiple ccsids. I can already (and do) store data in UNICODE in standard as/400 physical files.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

You say that you store information in unicode in physical file. How do you do this? does this solve the problem of file exchange between different contry where the CCSID differ? How does it affect sort sequence? Can you point me to a book that could respond to those kind of question? thank you

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Denis, Storing data in unicode in your physical files is a good way to speed up your Java code. If you have an existing physical file and IBM's interactive sql, you can go through and change each char field to unicode simply something like: ALTER TABLE MYLIB/MYFILE ALTER COLUMN MYCOLUMN SET DATA TYPE GRAPHIC (8) CCSID 13488 NOT NULL WITH DEFAULT If the syntax from the example above is new to you, type 'ALTER' in the interactive sql command line and press F4. The prompt will walk you through everything. BTW: The '(8)' above is the size of the char field in characters, not bytes. The MYCOLUMN field would take up 16 bytes since unicode uses 2 bytes per character. If you are working from a new physical file, you can specify the ccsid in the dds as follows (lifted shamelessly from the IBM DDS ref manual): |...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5 ....+.... 00010A CCSID(285) 00020A R RECORD1 00030A FIELD1 75G CCSID(13488) 00040A FIELD2 150A In the above example FIELD1 is a graphic data type stored in unicode. FIELD2 is a char data type in ccsid 285 (just for fun). As for ref manuals, the IBM DDS ref manual has a whole big section on multiple ccsid considerations. Alex Garrison

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

A good starting point for using Unicode/UCS2 is the International Application Development manual and the chapter Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS). Several UCS2 sort sequence tables are provided with OS/400 and additional sort sequence tables can be created with CRTTBL TBLTYPE(*UCSSRTSEQ). Additional information can be found in various manuals like the ILE RPG Reference (scan on UCS-2 for instance), SQL, etc.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Ted, Any news/update on a Top Ten List of enhancements for the Iseries?? I'll throw out my favorites: 1) A browser like GUI for the Iseries. (EVERYTHING) 2) Make ILE & VA-RPG one product that can access all mainstream databases, and the Web. 3) Foster E-Ventures to establish more examples of how the Iseries can serve up web pages. 4) Lower the entry-level price and change the pricing structure to lend itself to comparative pricing against other choices. 5) Head to Head Marketing in NON AS400 sources/publications. Please everyone jump in. Once we come up with a list and vote, this will be a great tool to stay focused until IBM understands, or conveys to us why they refuse to do the things everyone who uses the box clearly understands. PS - Great Article Ralph D. (IMHO) Later..

[R.Daugherty]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

KCM2 wrote: "PS - Great Article Ralph D. (IMHO)" Thanks a lot, KCM2. My hat is off to Midrange Computing for getting the visual interface ideas into print and into focus. BTW, my contributions to the top 10 list were posted a couple of days ago. Some are a little too radical to make anybody's short list but I think they're exactly what's needed to capture the mid size market again. Cheers, Ralph ralph@ee.net

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Ted, What an excellent question!! Why do AS/400 enthusiasts remain so loyal? Other platforms and operating systems have come and gone. No one has time to list or read the many examples of systems or programming languages that have had a time of relevance and then have faded into obscurity. Yet the people who spend most of their day on the AS/400 plead for its continuation, why? The gentlemen across the hall from me has worked on so many versions of Unix on so many different platforms he has lost track of them all. He was shocked when I told him how many years the AS/400 community has been the backbone of my IT career. So what makes the AS/400 so special? Why is it that no matter where you go in IT there are overly zealous AS/400 developers who have given the propagation of the platform an almost cult like atmosphere? It?s the uniqueness of the design I believe. Most operating systems seem to be take offs of the general ideas that ran the IBM 360. They are improvements or variances of the same model. The AS/400 community recognizes the uniqueness of OS/400, the genius of SLIC and object based management. Unique ideas in IT and out, often garner cult like followings. The AS/400 design must be a great idea, Microsoft is rolling out and implementing HAL to make Windows 2000 hardware independent, there will be a layer of drivers between Windows and hardware, sound familiar? It should?.. I believe great ideas like this don?t die; the idea will find it?s way to other platforms like HAL for Microsoft. Maybe other people reading the forums can find even other AS/400 ideas in competing companies platforms that I haven?t seen yet. Something tells me that I will be seeing images of AS/400 based ideas long after the AS/400, or iSeries, or whatever it?s going to be called stops rolling off the line in Rochester. Yet I agree with you Ted, eventually there will be small boxes and larger boxes, all running something so similar it won?t matter to developers. Processing itself will be reinvented in the next few years and OS?s as we know them will be of little or no importance. RDB?s and DASD farms will be what drives IT development, vast pools of meaningless data stored on huge complexes of SAN?s that my blender can access when I plug it into the power outlet.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Alex wrote: Interesting. So now that they have heard of PIE, are these two dept heads interested in an as/400 program? Seems like the feedback I have gotten is that the universities arent interested even if free. The two community colleges in Memphis I talked to a year ago were shutting down their as/400 RPG classes not due to price of equipment (the as/400s were old and long since paid for), but that class enrollment was down too low. That is similar to what I've found here. I just go into the programming field 3 years ago. I had gone to college in the early 80's for computer science, dropped out and worked in construction for 12 years. A few years back I got back into programming by taking a crash course on the AS/400 in a 7 month/16 hours per week course. When I told my "windows programming" buddies I was going to learn the 400 and RPG they either had never heard of it or told me it was a dead language and technology. They couldn't have been more wrong, but this is something we've all run into I'm sure. Don't belive the hype!

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

My main goal/message is to compile a list of needed changes that the majority agrees are the most important for the iSeries to prosper. If something is too radical, or a step backwards that will surface in the discussion and voting. My goal is to have DB2-400 become DB2-universal basically. What is crucial is to put your finger on the most the important issues and stay focused. Focusing by us helps us send a clear and concise message to IBM while working out the details never losing sight of the goal. IBM is a huge corporation and that is part of the problem. You have people who are insulated from the battles we fight and the comments we hear from users and other platform professionals. Also in a large corporation people are specialists and sometime lack the big picture. Even when the picture is clear getting different groups to agree within a large group is difficult due to politics. This being said change is sssssllllloooowww. So if we construct this list and always revert back to it this could mitigate the fighting within IBM. Even if fighting isn?t the problem on issues a cohesive concerted mission might be. Either way this vehicle (Top Ten List) could help change these problems or at the very least change the AS400 for the best.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Ralph, Then maybe it's time that IT-management grows up and stops being snowed under by marketing-people ! Any manager worth his/her salary should be concerned with scalability, especially now because of the rapid growth-requirements of most packages(JDE comes to mind, absolutely mindboggling, those requirements). Rob. >Rob wrote: "Why is this discussion 'only' about applications ? I thougt that >the AS/400 had a little bit more to offer than just the application >environment." > >>Ralph wrote :Because people don't buy computers and then look for software. >>Cross platform such as Java, Domino, Websphere on the AS/400? The OS is >>more important to people in cross platform, and Unix and NT people aren't >>going to buy an AS/400 to run cross platform software that runs on their >>computer. We have to have a unique application base such as we enjoyed for >>decades to continue to prosper. IBM is essentially saying, "we're going >>with cross platform solutions, may the best computer win". And everybody >>on a computer thinks their's is the best. I've rarely seen a willing >>convert.

[Guest.Visitor]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Ralph, Sorry for the ranting and raving but : It's one of two options. According to figures published here on the forum(forgot where sorry, it was quite recent), IBM now only makes 42 % of its turnover from the hardware-sales. So they HAVE to make their money somewhere else. If they do so by selling expensive software then that's the price we apparently pay for 'Hardware-Independence'. Hurray ! Here in the Netherlands we hear radio-commercials for the X-series daily, and because of a little financial gain they actually put that damned Intel-inside-tune in them ! This is IBM ! The exclusive hardware-vendor of the past... And they're actually endorsing Intel ! For a couple of bucks... So IMHO what they are basically heading towards now is : 1. Selling boxes without caring what's in them(the 'solutions-approach'). 2. Not caring about their 'good name' as hardware-inventors(selling Intel o.k., but advertising for it, need I say more ?). 3. Generally giving away the(perceived) technology-lead they still have in several areas of IT. When was the last time we heard about the latest discovery from IBM Zurich ? In the past there was talk about splitting up IBM and turning the AS/400-division into a separate company. If that would mean a focus on the strongpoints of the AS/400 it might still be worth it. They could finally hire marketingpersonnell who *care* about the AS/400 / I-series. Although there are few people in the Netherlands who are as crazy as me about the AS/400 / I-series, even I have had to start to look around to see what my next move should be in IT. As long as the platform is obsolete this is fine by me, but with a machine like the AS/400 it is a damn shame. So suggestion #1 : Start by training the IBM-marketing division so they actually *know* what they are selling. Rob. BTW : There is a book/radioplay/etc. called 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. In it there is a description of the marketingdivision of the 'Sirius Cybernetics Corporation', the publishers of said guide : 'A bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first when the revolution comes'. With a note to the effect that a timewarp sent back a future version of the same guide in which the definition had been changed to : 'A bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.....' ;-) Now I am not so insensitive that I can't see the difference from the IBM-marketing-division, but I tend to get these thoughts when they screw up again. Someone said in a previous post that this is a war. The competitors surely treat it that way. Why doesn't IBM ? Rob.

[R.Daugherty]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Hi Rob, I'm the one who said this is war, and I agree with your assessment that IBM has decided to become hardware-software neutral. To the degree that they have enhanced the AS/400 to run cross platform software this is fine. Complaining about IBM marketing is a total waste of time. That's a perpetual exercise as futile as IBM's marketing efforts, which makes sense since we're dealing with the same people. The war is fought and won at the application level. Anybody who thinks they can go sell a computer with an alleged superior operating system can jump into either the Linux or OS/400 camp and go for it. Only at least Linux has a visual interface to write apps to. Until the world sees that the King is wearing no clothes, that is, that the IT world cares only for themselves in ease of generation and deployment of visual interfaces when they declare the browser the universal interface, and when the Windows and Unix forms programmers of the world continue to pump out powerful application solutions that people buy, then finally the world will come to understand how self centered and arrogant IT had become in declaring that the user needed no more than a browser. Without a visual interface, we will live or die by Websphere and that bet on ease of use for IT instead of ease of use for the user. Call me a rat, but I'll be jumping off this ship unless we have a chance to win with a visual interface that is more powerful than a browser. Ralph ralph@ee.net

[T.Holt]

What the Iseries needs, what do you think?

Ralph said: Call me a rat, but I'll be jumping off this ship unless we have a chance to win with a visual interface that is more powerful than a browser. I don't think you're a rat, Ralph. I don't think most people want a browser either.