Re: WDSC changing to RDi

Mike Cunningham wrote:

I just got another update on the switch from the 2 flavors of WDSC to the three flavors of RDi for iSeries developers. It looks like anyone using the "free" version of WDSC and currently doing Java development for deployment to the "free" WAS on iSeries is going to have to fork over $4,000+ to IBM to continue to develop Java applications for the web. RDi base version does only RPG/COBOL/SDA/SEU green-screen development and RDi SOA does RDi plus EGL but to get to the java toolset you have to get RAD. There is no planned upgrade path from WDSC to RAD, you can only buy a new license. That is how I interpret what I heard at a webinar yesterday. Can anyone confirm this for me?

A lot of the confusion has to do with terminology. There is a difference, for example, between "Java development" and "J2EE development". J2EE includes things like web design and testing which are not included in RDi. They were part of WDSC, no more. That is the real upshot of the whole WDSC thing.

If you were using WDSC for web application development (like I was), then you basically got a great IDE free for a couple of years, primarily because they didn't have a good way of separating out the System i specific bits from the rest of the RAD components. They have managed to do that now, and we're seeing the result: separate pricing for individual components.

If you want to continue doing J2EE development, you have several options. The $4000 a seat for RAD is the initial price, and then you pay maintenance (which I believe may be $800 a year, but don't quote me). The comparable price for, say, Red Hat Developer license is a flat $3500 a year. You can get JBoss Developer Studio for $100, but that's with no support. You can also get MyEclipse for $30 a year, $60 if you want a debugger and a GUI designer, or the WebSphere development version for $150 a year.

There has been talk about RDi-RAD. Whether that is going to be a separate offering or simply a co-installation of RDi and RAD, and what it will cost System i developers remains to be seen.

So the short answer is that if you want to use IBM tools, your only option right now is RAD at $4000 a seat, or switch to MyEclipse. Whatever the cost, I don't think System i developers should be paying the full $4000 a seat for RAD, but I don't have control over anything (ask my wife). Tell your rep and make them explain why you should spend the extra money for RAD. But then again, somebody explain to me why the Red Hat Developer's license is $3500 a year...

Joe