Re: BPCS Version 4.05 CD

[DAsmussen@xxxxxxx]

Robert,

In a message dated 2/13/01 11:34:44 AM US Eastern Standard Time, 
bbenton@ssax.com writes:

> I would respectfully disagree with Mike.

As do I.

>  He cites the primary reason for migrating to 6.X is for support, but I 
think the
>  primary reason for migrating to 6.X is for additional business 
functionality
>  available in 6.X to support your business requirements that version 4.05 
CD 
>  does not have.   I'm sure that 6.X AS/SET poses some IT support 
challenges, but 
>  I think the additional functionality available in 6.X makes it worth the 
move.

Which brings up two really good points.  First and foremost, 6.1.01 
incorporates a ton (or tonne) of features that many of us have been grafting 
onto the lower releases for years.  It is head and shoulders above 4.05 in 
terms of functionality.

_BUT_, what is the status of the BPCS development tools and their 
availability?  I've been on my own for nearly seven years and have seen 
exactly _six_ major improvements in ADK -- keeping the generators from 
blowing up on redefined subfiles (a bug), allowing multiple environments on a 
single system (a BPCS addition), UIM help text (a BPCS addition), elimination 
of the "X" files if you properly define the data model (a BPCS addition), SQL 
optimization (a BPCS addition), and the Y2K fix for date built-in-functions 
(a bug as well) -- all the while hearing about ODW being the only tool to 
modify client programs.  Mr. Riz Shakir himself presented ODW at the last 
AS/Set user's group in the fall of 1995 (he was late) in Chicago that was 
supposed to be available by the middle of '96.  I have a preliminary copy of 
the documentation for ODW that got smuggled to me in 1999, yet I have yet to 
hear of a _SINGLE_ client that has ODW on site used by the client's staff.

Given that I worked for an AS/Set distributor for almost three years before I 
went out on my own, this makes it nearly a _decade_ since ADK has received a 
major improvement (DBCS support and IKS, or @ sign removal being the only 
improvements during my distributor time).  Ignoring the fact that ODO (a 
screen scraper) was used in most applications instead of ODW for GUI work, 
what is the future of ODW and AS/Set as far as BPCS is concerned?

>  For any users of 4.005 CD that would like an overview of the major 
changes, I
>  can send you a powerpoint presentation that highlights the differences.  
Please
>  respond to my e mail below.

Agreed 1,000%.  Please do not clog bpcs-l with dozens of "me too" messages.

Regards!

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"Justice is incidental to law and order." -- J. Edgar Hoover
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