RE: COM/DCOM - Good or Bad as access strategy to iSeries

Whoa!  Hold on a second......

While I'm certainly not an expert on Microsoft development strategy, it's my
understanding that COM and DCOM are dead, Dead, DEAD!  Do NOT pursue
development in COM/DCOM, as it has been replaced by .NET......  

Steve Richter?  Care to comment?

Eric DeLong
Sally Beauty Company
MIS-Project Manager (BSG)
940-297-2863 or ext. 1863



-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Dave Odom
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 5:28 PM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: COM/DCOM - Good or Bad as access strategy to iSeries


Walden, Scott and any others that have experience with COM/DCOM/OBJECT
Theory and practical application AND application development AND 
SQL-based relational data base access.    This related to the iSeries.

Management here has been sold it is a general good to have a COM/DCOM
environment built for access to company critical application data on the
iSeries.   They not only believe that COM/DCOM is a "best way" to
provide access to iSeries for a Windows application currently in
development but can also provide a preferred access methodology for
future applications programmers to easily gain access to various
application's data without having to know anything about the data
structures, data relationships or how the data is manifest in the files
as put there by the various applications. 

I understand the overall concepts of the Object world and I understand
what it is SUPPOSED to do.  However, experience with large Object
application development projects in another life tells me putting the
theory into practice is no easy thing to accomplish and has often doomed
projects.   But my concern here is not only that.  I don't believe it
provides any real ROI/VALUE ADD in a non-software development intensive
environment.  

I understand that once all the projected data access, data
manipulation, trigger-like and stored procedure-like functions are done
in COM Objects, programmers and others will no longer need to worry
about "knowing" or understanding the data storage layer.  On the surface
that sounds like a good.   I understand the theory of the supposed gains
in productivity.    But... I'm wondering is there any real positive ROI
between COM and providing essentially the same thing via native stored
procedures, triggers, views, etc. along with some sort of data access
"dictionary" or catalog as to what is available.  It seems
administration of those entities vs. administration of the COM/DCOM
class library and XML catalog is about the same.

Also with COM/DCOM, as it is a Microsoft environment, there is a need
for a PC and that adds in another thing to administer and, to me, a no
value "pipe/gate" between the iSeries data and the application wherever
it resides.

I like to keep an open mind and keep moving to new methodologies and
technologies where it really moves things to a new more valuable level. 
I guess I really question the true VALUE ADD of COM/DCOM in most shops
that aren't into doing lots of application development.

I'd like your opinions, war stories, fairy tails [hopefully you all
know the difference between a war story and a fairy tale].

Thanks in advance,

Dave