RE: alternative to WebFacing

Nathan,

My opinions on your last two questions:  Probably...  And yes...

I just sent a post addressed to Joe, that I think applies to you as well.
It meanders a bit, but suggests that if this community did entertain the
idea of an OSS project, some minimal level of organization would go a long
way.

Would enjoy your thoughts on that post.

jt

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
[mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of Nathan M. Andelin
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 3:13 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: alternative to WebFacing


If this community were to entertain the idea of an open source project,
several questions come to mind.  It seems to me that Webfacing provides two
(2) primary functions.  First, it converts DDS into HTML and various Java
components.  It is in essence a code generator.  Second, it provides a
runtime environment for mapping stream data between the old and the new
formats.  Do you want a tool that converts DDS to HTML files and possibly
RPG code?  Is minimal change to the existing 5250 program the other goal?

Nathan M. Andelin



> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 21:26:09 -0400
> From: "jt" <jt@ee.net>
> Subject: RE: alternative to WebFacing
>
> All who replied,
>
> Sorry I am so late getting back to you all.  (I'm afraid I thought I'd
> already sent a post, on another subject, where I said I was going to be
out
> of town over the weekend...  Sheesh.)
>
> I've read over the posts on this thread a few times, and they're **very
> interesting**.  Just wanted to make a few quick comments before I start
> analyzing the posts.
>
> I don't have a whole lot of in-depth knowledge of the various alternatives
> to WebFacing, like Seagull, Jacada, the new Cool:2E product, etc.  But
from
> what I recall from glancing at some of them 6 months ago, they all seem to
> have two things in common:  you need to learn new tools, and a hefty price
> tag.  These are good solutions, that obviously fill a need.  But I, like
> James Kilgore, would sure like to know some hard numbers for the costs of
> these solutions.
>
> I'm not suggesting that good, solid iSeries ISV's should get their markets
> taken away from them by OSS or the iNation.  (Nathan pointed out that IBM
> could do that, if they wanted to.)  I'm just suggesting that there is a
> market segment that these vendors can't service at the prices I've heard
of.
>
> It seems that Jim Franz identified this market segment in his original
post.
> The market for a cheap, effective, reliable solution that could run on
> cheap, effective, reliable hardware (i.e. a 400; with little to no
> interactive feature).
>
> Maybe in Jim's particular case a commercial solution would be a better
fit.
> In other cases, another solution would be a better fit.
>
> What I'm wondering is whether there's enough interest in the 400 Community
> to try to develop an Open Source solution to this problem?  It appears to
be
> techically feasible, but could it actually be completed?  If so, who would
> support it?  Would the iNation back this kind of OSS development, and
> provide on-going support?
>
> I did see, recently, an independent white paper on the Jacada product.
The
> first item on the evaluation checklist was "vendor prospectus".  How
healthy
> is the vendor who's going to have to support the development tool over the
> life of the product.  Personally, I don't see OSS flourishing in the 400
> Community until that same question can be answered satisfactorily.  I
still
> think the iNation could do that, but I'm not sure how to go about it.  The
> only person who's been identified on the Freedom Council is Neil, and Don
is
> the only other person I've heard of who's on it.  So I guess I'm asking
them
> what their opinion is, or if anyone knows of a better way to find out.
>
> Might have some more specific thoughts in a follow-up, tonight or
tomorrow.


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