Re: Advantages of Apache

At 15:20 10.09.2002 -0500, you wrote:

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Anton,

I too, liked it when IBM had an integrated solution.  And I realize that
none of the IBM products is a valid replacement for mail merge.  And if I
have to modify something for some third party product to work then I might
as well write my own.

However, IBM did quite a good job letting people know WELL in advance that
OV/400 is on it's way out.

Rob, yes, that's when developers were expected to jump in. But most of them
obviously thought (the same as IBM?): "Why write a text processor on the
iSeries when there's Microsoft's Word? Don't expect us to be so stupid!".

 Some people did others a disservice by saying 'yes, I know it's not
supported on release xyz but if you do this and that I heard a rumor that
you might get it working'.

Yes, but everything was quite clearly readable. There was a lot of
confusion, but magazines did quite a good job in clarification. (At least
the german common "info".)

Besides: I see that rumor in a completely different light than the thing i
forwarded...

What get's me is that people haven't been able to convert their documents
and programs in the YEARS they've had since the announcement of the demise
of OV/400 but then they snicker when they hear how long it takes to
implement an ERP package from a particular vendor.

There are some vendors around that promised a lot. So i can understand that
someone let them work and cared more about Y2K and the Euro currency. E.g.,
one vendor has a very interesting approach by storing the documents in XML
format and providing a 5250 text processor with almost the complete
functionality and all the merge processing with conditions and so on. But
there are still some show stopping issues with it that still make it
impossible to use in real life. So it's really exciting to see what comes
first - end of service for V4R5 or a release that brings the promised rest
of the functionality...

Or how long it takes IBM to add this or that feature, or how long it takes ...

That depends. When you happened to see the RPG ballot, one might also ask
"is it really taking IBM as provider of a integrated eserver _t_h_a_t_ long
to implement real *null support which the integrated database has already
for so long?" - Don't be afraid, i stop whining.

But i do see and appreciate the speed and effort IBM sets in putting the
iSeries in the web server business; but also with a bit of jealousy. How
much $ is RPG getting compared to that? 10%? I fear much less...

But that's the way it obviously has to be and we all can only try to have
the best vehicle for the roads coming and being able to offer customers a
comfortable seat, at least for a while... ;-)


best regards /  Mit freundlichen Grüssen

Anton Gombkötö
Avenum Technologie GmbH

http://www.avenum.com