Re: ARCAD vs Linoma RPG to /Free Conversion

I think the biggest mistake Linoma made was not to make their tool available as a plug-in for RDi. They link Surveyor in but didn't do it with the Toolbox. Even if all they did was submit to batch and do all the work on the IBM i it would be useful.

They had the field pretty much to themselves and they left the door open. Luckily for them Arcad's pricing level may let them recover that leadership position - we'll see.


On 2013-10-21, at 5:40 PM, Roger Harman <roger_harman@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Linoma converts subroutines to procedures if you specify it on the command.
Lots of options.....


Roger Harman
COMMON Certified Application Developer - ILE RPG on IBM i on Power





-----Original Message-----
From: rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:rpg400-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Sam_L
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2013 2:19 PM
To: RPG programming on the IBM i (AS/400 and iSeries)
Subject: Re: ARCAD vs Linoma RPG to /Free Conversion

I was a happy user of Linoma's Toolbox in a former job.

But two points:
1) The ARCAD publicity implies they will do a bit more than just conversion,
e.g., converting subroutines into procedures, which if it is true will be,
IMHO, quite remarkable.
2) If I read it right, Arcad is $5 a program, but the minimum investment is
$5,000. If some shops won't spend $700 for RDP for a developer, I wonder if
they will have sticker shock at the thought of $5,000.

Still, it depend on what Arcad's offering can do, how well they & IBM sell
it, and if there is enough interest in free form D & F specs. Yes, there
are a group who will love the new /free options, but there still seems to be
some (many?) who still haven't committed to or come up to speed on the
current /free.

One of our guys has signed up for an Arcad webinar, so maybe we'll be more
informed in a few weeks.

Sam

On 10/21/2013 12:40 PM, M. Lazarus wrote:

Sam,

My opinion is that since:
- There's a built in obsolescence (once the conversion is done there's
not much use for it anymore)
- There's no *mandatory* reason to move to newer (older code works
fine)
- There's already a free (albeit very basic) converter from RPG III to
RPG IV syntax, there will not be many takers at that price point. If
I had to put a dollar figure on it, $499-999, unlimited uses would
probably be a lot more realistic, since it could be another utility in
the toolbox.

What do you think?

-mark

ARCAD is teaming up with Rational to offer a conversion tool to move
legacy RPG to free form RPG.
(http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs101513-story01.html)

At $5,000 for 1,000 programs, will there be many takers?

Will there be enough of a demand for Linoma Software to soup up their
RPG Toolbox to be competitive and include the TR7 free form D & F specs?
(http://www.linomasoftware.com/products/rpgtoolbox)

Sam

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