Re: open source rpg compiler -- RPG400-L

Bob cozzi wrote:

True, but a bit further is still no where near what other platforms do. The reasons? How many AS/400 RPG developers have an RPG compiler at home so they can work on this stuff in the off-work/free time? What? Maybe 20 world-wide.

You're right. There are fundamental differences between the iSeries community and the Linux/PC/workstation community. In the latter, software and hardware are largely commodity items, with prices largely subject to market pressures. In the case of software, that pressure has driven prices down to zero. (Some argue that open-source software is "socialism", but that's not true. Normal free-market principles are sufficient to explain the rise of open-source software.)

In the iSeries world, it is still possible to charge money for software, and generally, programmers are quite happy to pay for useful bits of software if it saves their employer money. So while that market still exists, it's perfectly reasonable for software developers to charge what the market will bear.

Here's an example to contrast the two communities. Let's say you want to issue an HTTP GET or POST request programmatically. You can buy a service program that can be called from your RPG IV program for a couple hundred dollars, and many programmers would consider it money well spent. In the Linux/PC/workstation community, one could get the same functionality from a Perl or Python program for free. (In the case of Perl, you have to download and install about 5 packages. With Python, it's all there in the base class library.) In the Linux/PC/workstation world, competitive pressures have driven the cost of software down to the point of nothingness, as long as the consumer is willing to bear the costs of downloading and copying. Money can still be made (if desired), in the form of printed documentation, support, and training.

Ironically, even in the face of more competition, I don't see free market pressures driving the cost of iSeries software down to commodity levels any time soon. Take that HTTP request service program for example. If that current developer charges $239 for it, then another comes along and offers an equivalent service program for $99, will the former lower the price on his? Not necessarily. Consumers may well decide, even though the two products might be exactly the same, that the more expensive product is still better. We've all heard of cases where a company sells *more* of a software product after *raising* the price! (As an aside, a recent survey found that 44% of Americans believe that if they see more ads for a product that it is better!)

You're right about the cost of tools being a barrier. For years, I didn't do much hobby programming since the cost of the tools was always a few thousand dollars out of reach. And even when I had sufficient software, the hardware cost more than I was willing to spend (and vice versa). For me personally, that changed when I installed Linux on a home computer for the first time. At that time, not only was the hardware commodity priced, but the development tools were now extremely affordable too. Not having to justify a big capital expense up-front is another factor in the rise of open-source software.

Conclusion? Open-source in the Linux/PC/workstation community is primarily driven not by altruism but by free market principles. The same pressures are different in the iSeries community, where developers can still charge what the market will bear. It is still possible to justify open-source software in the iSeries community, but it's a much harder case to make.

Cheers! Hans