RE: GUI necessary?

I was going to leave this thread alone because I'm
a command line freak (OK, just plain freak!) and 
get very frustrated trying to set up an automated
system (say data transfer from Unix to W95) that
uses Explorer.  I can use a simple batch file and
the thing works every time.  When the end-user uses
Explorer to drag/drop, they drop into the wrong
folder, etc.

>I have polled users who we have added GUI functionality 
>to AS/400 applications and they all say the GUI slows 
>them down. 

I agree with that, but the graphical bit wasn't added
to make life faster; it was added to make life
a) more consistent
b) easier to grasp

>There's no substitute to the field exit key.

Ummm Shift + End?

>You want multitasking?  Open two sessions. 

Here we're going to get interesting.  Roger's right
in that having a GUI gave *PCs* multitasking ability, 
and he's also right that a user will have a worse time
doing multiple sessions on a 3196 than on a PC.

>You want pull-down menus?  They can be done on 
>green screens.  You want select boxes?  Adding 
>prompting subroutines is not a problem. 

Yes, but Brad's select box routine will *look* and
*feel* different from mine, whereas people who use
WinXX get the same look and feel no matter who wrote
it.  This is what makes the GUI attractive to end-users.

>Also, the switch from DOS to a Windows system on a PC 
>can't compare to the AS/400.  Ones an interactive machine, 
>and the other has both interactive and batch (multi-
>tasking) capabilities.

That's true, up to a point.  For what ever reason,
people always compare NT to AS/400.  NT has an
integrated GUI, AS/400 has an integrated database,
security, etc.  Guess which the end-user sees?

The GUI seems to be an advantage for novice users
because of it's consistency.  The green screen
has the advantage of speed, but you can hardly
argue that the majority of green screen programs
look and feel the same.

Buck Calabro
CommSoft, Albany, NY
mailto:mcalabro@commsoft.net




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