Re: IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café

Not sure that new site is ready for prime-time yet.

Looking at Barbara Moriss' profile, it says she's been a member since
November 11, 2008 but the last time she logged in was on December 31, 1969.

Oh...wait...I get it...it's a time travel paradox blog! Cool!



-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of elehti@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 1:40 PM
To: web400@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [WEB400] IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café



http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs121608-story05.html


Last month, IBM gave developers of the RPG persuasion their very own
electronic hideout with the launch of the RPG Café. What's more, Big Blue
even threw in a "hub" (sort of a mini café) for Rational Team Concert for i
(RTCi), the new change management utility launched in November.

Rational Cafes are "connecting communities," according to IBM's homepage for
Rational Cafes. Currently, there are three full-fledged cafes: One for EGL,
one for RPG, and one for C and C++, but there could be more in the works.

The cafes fulfill several functions, including hosting online discussion
forums where people can ask questions or provide answers; hosting various
blogs of the IBM development teams that create the products; and providing
free downloads of code samples, whitepapers, training manuals, videos, and
other documents.

Another purpose of the cafes is hosting hubs. Hubs are places for people
with similar development interests or questions about a specific product to
post to a list and participate in online meetings. The RPG Café currently
has three hubs: for the RTCi, RDi, and RDi SOA products. The EGL Café has
four hubs: EGL Rich UI, EGL for IBM i, VAGen Migration, and EGL Café Street
Japan. The C/C++ Café does not list any hubs, but it does have discussion
forums dedicated to the C and C++ capabilities in the WebSphere Developer
Studio for IBM i product.

The new RPG Café, which can be accessed at
www-949.ibm.com/software/rational/cafe/community/rpg, appears to be getting
a lot of looky-loos in its first month of operation, but not a lot of actual
participation.

People who want to participate in the RPG Café, or any of IBM's café's for
that matter, need a valid IBM ID number and password. Without an IBM ID, you
cannot register with the cafes or participate with the café societies.