MAPICS Conference!

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Well since no else wants to broach the subject...... :)
I attended this year's conference in Orlando and was excited to
see some of the changes planned (or already in the works).
I like their MAPICS Essentials concept, perhaps this will help
companies running older version get up to speed more efficiently
and more importantly more affordable.  I'm sure MAPICS could
put dollars elsewhere if it weren't spread supporting so many
versions.  And yes, I'm acutely aware that we all have valid
reasons for being 'behind'.
But.. I must admit I found some of the re-branding confusing.  I had
one session on XA send me to MAPICS Theater to see Pointman?!?!
What was that all about, even MAPICS employees were getting confused!
As a company heavily pushing Integrator and the demise of green
screen I was excited to see a more uniform approach to their GUI
plans.  Just hope they commit to a publish date soon.
I also found several helpful sessions to attend.  I must say their EXECUTIVE
label was useful in knowing which sessions to avoid (I'm on the techy side
like you!)  Nonetheless the format made it a little bit confusing on
separating
Extended System from ISeries.  (Pointman from XA.... in English).
I feel much better about going to R7, possibly this Christmas, except CSM is
not ready.  Plus I'm still confused a wee bit about WebsFEAR (I mean
websphere)  Will I need to worry about it if I'm not using the Net/System
lynx stuff?  Some told me it was necessary for the underlying java, but I
don't buy it!  Websphere does not fit our game plan, and I don't want to
give up precious cycles if I don't need to.  We are fortunate to be running
an ISeries 820 - but that doesn't mean we have horsepower to burn.
But I do know that I must get to V5R1 soon.
I'm curious about the opinions of others.  But regardless of which, I'm sure
we'll all agree the facility was nice but $200/night is not your typical
MAPICS
site's budget!  I had 4 people attend; 3 X 4 X $200 = my a$% in a sling!
Thanks for letting me prattle, look forward to comments by others......james