RE: RSE confusion

Paul says:
"Maybe IBM should do a poll... and ask how many people
have even the slightest idea about what the different
tools like WDSc, WSSDa, WDT, ... do. I guess they would
be surprised by the answers, and it should make them
think."

--- actually, we don't need to do a poll to know mass confusion reigns :-).
It is our hope that this is a temporary situation as IBM software settles
on its
new branding and naming conventions, which happens to overlap with
some previously used names. But, we can't agree more with the confusion
it causes today. Rest assured, within the iSeries space, we have done
our best to add to that confusion with our own evolving naming strategy :
-).

Here is a brief history that might help at least those on this list:

Non-iSeries-specific
_________________
- in the beginning there was a bunch of VisualAge products, ending
   with VisualAge for Java,  arguably the most successful flavor.
-then came the WebSphere runtime and the term "WebSphere"
  became the new mantra. The tools for the runtime were "WebSphere
  Studio". Much of the world is writing J2EE applications, and WebSphere
  is an extremely successful/popular application server in that space.
-to solve the proliferation of tools from both IBM and BPs, a new effort
was
  started to invent a common, open-source IDE base technology (eclipse)
  and this year IBM started re-inventing all of its tools on top of
eclipse.
-the new tools are all plugins to eclipse, and products are collections of
 such plugins. Each product is now encouraged to be named
 "WebSphere Studio xxx Developer", and referred to as a "configuration"
 of "WebSphere Studio"... the latter being the new "franchise" name for
 IBM eclipse-based tool sets.

-today we have:

WSSDA
   - "WebSphere Studio Site Developer Advanced":
        - for Java, Web, WebServices, XML, some DBA
        -roughly the follow-on to the old pro versions of
           WebSphere Studio (classic) and VAJava
WSAD
   - "WebSphere Studio Application Developer"
        - adds tooling for J2EE including EJBs, more
           DBA tools, and profiling/performance tools
        -roughly the follow-on to the old Enterprise versions
           of WebSphere Studio (classic) and VAJava
WSAD-IE
   - "WSAD Integration Edition"
        -adds tooling for Java Connector Architecture
           (JCA) tooling, and workflows
WSED
   - coming soon: WS Enterprise Developer
        -adds support for mainframe development,
             STRUTS tooling, Rapid Application Development,
             and more

More info: www.ibm.com/software/websphere (click on Studio)

iSeries specific
_________________
In Oct 2000, we consolidate the client tools into WDT V4R5M1:
  - VAJava Pro, WebSphere Studio Pro, CODE, VARPG
In May 2001 we put out a new release of WDT, V5R1, upgrading
   the 4 tools and adding a new tool: WebFacing.  We also
   consolidated all the server compilers and tools into
   WDS V5R1 "WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries".
   WDS offered unlimited licenses of the client tools (WDT)
In June 2002 we put out a follow-on release of WDT, the first phase
 of collapsing all the tools around a single eclipse-based
 IDE. This client toolset was renamed to WDSC, or
 "WebSphere Development Studio Client". This was to
 better align the name with the server package WDS.
 With this release, the client toolset was also renumbered to
 be consistent with the rest of the IBM AD family and with
 WebSphere. Thus, it is WDSC 4.0 ... this makes more sense
 because that is the version of WebSphere the Web tools in it
 support. It also removes the misconception that these client
 tools only support a particular release of OS/400. As they run
 on the client, for the most part they support all currently serviced
 versions of OS/400.

WDSC is not based on the raw eclipse technology, but rather it
is based on WSSDA. That allows us to inherit all of WSSDA's
functionality, and add to it our iSeries-unique capabilities in the
form of eclipse plugins our team here author:
   - WebFacing
   - RPG and COBOL tools (RSE and iSeries projects)
   - iSeries extensions to the Web  and WebServiceTools
   - iSeries extensions to the Java Tools
Until we have fully rewritten them as eclipse plugins, we still
ship the "classic" tools CODE/400 and VARPG. But the classic
VAJava and WebSphere Studio tools are now gone, and
fully replaced by their new eclipse tool follow-ons.

So yes, WSSDA is not a well-known name in the iSeries space,
what with WDSC. However, we thought it best to surface the
WSSDA name within WDSC so you know what product we
are based on. You should feel good that you have unlimited
licenses to a big superset of a $2000 product. No other eServer
has anywhere near such a compelling and comprehensive
packaging for their application development offerings.

More info: www.ibm.com/software/ad/wds400
Try the links for More Information, Library, Education and
 Services.

I hope this helps clear things up... but I'm fully aware it might
just add to the confusion :-)

Did you notice that WDS and WDSC don't follow the new
guidelines of WSxxD? These names were chosen before the
new standard...

Regarding Paul's comment about Microsoft's studio... I won't
comment except to state you don't have a "half product" at all!
You have a fantastic set of rich tools for everything from RPG
to Web. While the built-in capabilities of the RPG/COBOL tools
is young, we did add actions to very easily launch the existing
CODE tools from within the RSE so you get the very best of
both worlds - this year, and right now.  Please take the time to
explore the product and read the documentation. We think you
will be pleasantly surprised by how rich/productive it is right
now, for RPG/COBOL development (not to mention all the other
iSeries stuff in there).


Phil Coulthard, iSeries Software Architect,  IBM Canada Ltd.
coulthar@ca.ibm.com.