RE: *CURRENT library? was RE: (no subject)

Phil, thanks for your comments.

Not that I'm cynical or cranky (I'm cranky and cynical), but I think the
feeling of the people with "direction" questions look at the big move to
OS/2 and wonder if Eclipse is another flash in the pan.  While it may be an
unfair analogy (I don't think you don't have control over IBM's strategy),
the concern is that we'll have to face another transition.

>From a customer/user perspective and overlooking some functional issues, SEU
and SDA have provided outstanding, if not astonishing, value.  These tools
are extremely stable and they've gotten the job done for 20 years.  When you
consider the training costs (minimal) and their useful life, the "old" AD
tools are remarkable, not unlike the SR-71A spy plane (no bad guys ever shot
one of these bad boys, designed in the 50's, down; when somebody fired a
missile at a Blackbird, the pilot just headed to Mach 3.2 and outran it).

Maybe the real problem is we're not good at handling change; I suppose the
real world of 21st century development is much uglier than many of us would
like to think.  Like Jeff, I have a job to do and work that needs to get
done.  I don't drive the road to Eclipse for enjoyment; I drive that road to
get to work.  When the road is bumpy, tempers and schedules get bruised.
And when the road is so bad that we have to take a detour, we wonder if the
detour is temporary or permanent, or if we need a new car, or if we need a
new career.

Needless to say, we're all looking forward to the next WDSc
release...especially if we can get it as a service pack!

Regards,
Reeve

-----Original Message-----
From: code400-l-admin@midrange.com [mailto:code400-l-admin@midrange.com]On
Behalf Of coulthar@ca.ibm.com
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2002 12:15 PM
To: CODE400-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: *CURRENT library? was RE: (no subject)

Jeff, I understand and fully appreciate your frustration. Clearly, we have
room to improve
something here if you are feeling that way... that is precisely the
opposite of our goal :-).
I will say this move is a one-time deal, and part of a migration strategy
for every AD product
IBM sells, to move to an eclipse base. The last time we did something
anywhere near this big
was 1997 when we ported to OS/2.  Let me clarify my comment on the next
release... it will
contain a lot of new enhancements, but still will be a superset of what is
there today. It is
another typical release, not a cause for major re-education, nor concern.
The heavy lifting
of the initial re-design and port was done for 4.0, and now we are in
iteration phase, much as
we were for 5 years on OS/2, and the last 5 years on windows. The point of
my comment was
to assure Vern we are working hard at delivering the functionality he
states is the base line for
the new tools (parity with CODE).

Meanwhile, I think you are saying that you are left in a position where you
want to use the
new stuff one day, but need to use the classic stuff today, and that
classic stuff needs something
changed... namely the 10-year old design requiring a current library per
user.  IBM saying the
new generation tools will solve it doesn't help you right now. Is this a
correct assessment?  I
don't pretend to have an answer, but the first step to that is a clear
definition of the problem.

Thanks Jeff... and hang in there!

Phil Coulthard, iSeries Software Architect,  IBM Canada Ltd.
coulthar@ca.ibm.com. 905-413-4076, t/l 969-4076

Jeff writes...

This is a complaint of mine with WDT in all it's reincarnations and
whatever it's called this quarter (and I mean this quarter).  If I was
to upgrade to this brand new one with the RSE, I would have to learn a
whole new way of using the product.  And your post indicates the next
release will change it all over again ("move that ball forward a
considerable degree").

So I'm going to spend most of my time figuring out how to use the
product this quarter, only to have the next release cause me to spend
most of my time figuring out how to use the product that release, only
to have the following release cause me to spend most of my time figuring
out how to use the product that release, only to have the . . .  you get
the idea.

I have a job to do and work to get done.  And if I stay on this release
(the WDT last one) because I _can_ get work done with it, when I ask
questions in 6 months about how to do something, I will be told to get
current, we aren't supporting that 'old stuff' much anymore.  So what
should I do?  Is there an actual destination for all this?  Or are we
going to be on-the-road forever?

Sorry to be cynical, but that's how I feel.
- Jeff