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I agree, however, with his assessment regarding users, especially new users. Regardless of which is better/faster, kids right out of school (any school) turn their noses up at character-based screens when they first see them. CEO's that I have known like to brag about their bloated web sites, not that they can get an order processed in less than a second.
I have, also, spoken with college instructors at COMMON about this kind of thing. Nearly all of them say that, when a prospective student sees the iSeries sign-on panel, they either laugh or just walk away. They view it as "old school."
It (the perception) then is an image issue, not a reality issue. Jon was right, as were Larry and Paul.
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Don wrote:
Larry, Jon,I think there's been several major names stating in the IBM Tech Conf sessions, JAM's, NEIBMCONF's, etc., (and at COMMON) that 5250 (green screen) keyboard I/O IS MUCH FASTER than a GUI interface. And, it's easy to see why.Don in DC At 09:06 AM 1/4/2006 -0500, you wrote:Jon Jon Paris wrote:I'm not a fan of GUI for GUI's sake. I think there is still a role for a character based interface but end-users disagree.The end user PURCHASER disagrees, the end users themselves do NOT always disagree. My wife currently has the choice of entering data via the web or the 5250 interface. She uses the 5250 interface exclusively. In heads down entry you simply cannot predict with certainty where your cursor will go on the web and you must switch from your entry form to the screen over and over. In addition you must often switch from the keyboard to the rodent and back. Neither of these are effective for best performance. On the 5250 if they need to look something up they hit F4, locate the correct value and hit enter. On the web it's a pull down, scroll around a while then click. Sure you CAN do that with the keyboard but you can only use the first letters of entries in the list for positioning you can't 'search' the list.Ask any application or tool producer if they can sell a 5250 version of their product - or if they are still investing in green screen apps. I don't think you'll find any. End users decided long ago that they wanted a graphical interface.Graphical interfaces are fantastic for getting things OUT of the system. Query like logic, graphs, charts, pictures etc. are all wonderful on this side. It's not so bad for casual entry either especially when limited options exist as to what to do or limited fields to enter data in. But for those heavy data entry tasks the web still sucks more than my shop vac.Sure some existing customers still want 5250 apps, but they are in theminority and probably aren't upgrading hardware and still run S/36code. Soeven if they had threaded 5250 apps (which I really doubt the utility of anyway) they wouldn't buy/write them anyway.IF the application is S/36 and still work, great. Should lots of effort be put into maintaining those apps? Likely not. However in my Irish Took Box (it's a bucket-O-tools) I don't have just a hammer, I also have vice grips, screwdrivers, crescent wrenches, tape measure, a level, a punch, a tin snips, and likely several things I haven't seen in years. Each gets used where it fits best because not every problem is a nail. Simply abandoing the 5250 interface because it's not sexy does not make the application better. There is no harm in keeping that part of the application when it works better and is more efficient for the user (not to mention the machine.) And one other thing, Just who the *&%$ decided it was more efficient for me to enter MMMMM instead of MI when I'm entering my address on a web page? I have lived in MI since the doctor first smacked me on the backside. I can enter MI and don't need a list of 50 states to pick from. Too bad Minnesota and Missouri and Mississippi we got MI you got something hard to remember. :-) Our friends to the north have far fewer than 50 provinces and I bet they get saddled with a drop down too. This is an example of something 'cool' (the drop-down list) being used when it simply is NOT more efficient for the user OR bandwidth to the browser. This is 'normal' web design think. Hey, how about we just enter the ZIP code and let the machine pull City and State from there! We did this 20 years ago on the green screen!! - LarryJon Paris Partner400 www.Partner400.com www.RPGWorld.com-- Larry Bolhuis IBM eServer Certified Systems Expert: Vice President iSeries Technical Solutions V5R3 Arbor Solutions, Inc. iSeries LPAR Technical Solutions V5R3 1345 Monroe NW Suite 259 iSeries Linux Technical Solutions V5R3 Grand Rapids, MI 49505 iSeries Windows Integration Technical Solutions V5R3 IBM eServer Certified Systems Specialist (616) 451-2500 iSeries System Administrator for OS/400 V5R3 (616) 451-2571 - Fax AS/400 RPG IV Developer (616) 260-4746 - Cell iSeries System Command Operations V5R2 If you can read this, thank a teacher....and since it's in English, thank a soldier. -- This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options, visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
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