RE: ALF Expense Analysis

Hi Dale,

Yeah, I think the ALF is pretty steep myself - it's easily the largest
single item in my budget.  But I think I still get decent value for it,
especially as I plan on upgrading to R7 as soon as they finish CSM.  We've
used Browser since 1999, and we are increasing our usage, and at least it's
a lot more stable than it used to be.  Of course, that could be because of
the newer versions of Winwoes being a little better than the old versions.

I was initally concerned about the mismash of languages, as Konrad
mentioned (I think he missed a couple, like PowerBuilder for those of us
running MDCC, and probably some others), but they seem to work fine.  I am,
however, very much looking forward to running in a full Java environment on
R7.x when we convert.

One thing to keep in mind is that our ALFs don't just fund existing
application enhancements.  They also fund e:Info and the folks at the
response line, which is worth a lot to some of us.  It's great to get a
speedy response via e-mail, and generally fast response via phone when I or
my people need to talk to a human bean on something weird that is
happening.  There is also continuing enhancement to some older modules,
like the Offline Shipping Enhancement, and such.  Also, it costs a lot to
fund R&D for the new hardware, modules, and languages (WebSphere and such).

On a tangent - Konrad, I noticed no one said they have loaded 5118 yet.  I
have it sitting in my drawer, waiting to see if it's OK.  Hasn't ANYONE put
it on?

Dale Gindlesperger
IT Manager/Special Projects Leader
Fleetwood Folding Trailers, Inc.
Somerset, PA