Re: 5250 rules

Al,

In a message dated 97-06-21 22:08:10 EDT, you write:

> In my opinion, you have a better chance at winning the Minnesota lottery
>  than getting IBM to enhance 5250.  Although many of us use 5250 daily, the
>  feeling in Rochester is that EVERYONE in the world wants to use PCs.  I
use
>  a PC for PC tasks, and never for emulation, and I use a 3489 workstation
>  for AS/400 tasks.  The differences in the keyboards key my brain into
>  knowing how the keys will work (e.g.:  destructive/non-destructive
>  backspace, insert/overtype mode).  I find the differences in keyboard
>  handling to be maddening.
>  
>  How about a new system value/user profile attribute/job attribute of
>  'keyboard action' (KBDACN), where you could specify *NORMAL for what we
>  have today, or *PC for the ways PCs work.  The default for the user
profile
>  attribute should be *SYSVAL, and the default for the job should be
*USRPRF.

Agreed in some ways, but disagreed in others.  I LIKE emulation.  I get
keyboard buffering, whether or not the ES/9K or S/36 supports it natively.  I
can re-map the keyboard so that <ENTER> is always <ENTER> rather than <FIELD
EXIT>.    I like your system value ideas, and this gives me a chance to once
again espouse my biggest gripe with IBM -- WHY are we still living with 3270
and 5250 emulation?

These decades-old protocols are obsolete and undeserving of further support,
yet 3477+ terminals have emulated 5250, rather than presenting an enhanced
protocol of their own.  Hence, we are "stuck" with similar offerings from
third-party PC emulation providers and IBM itself.  IBM wants to be "open",
so why stick us with these archaic access protocols without enhancing TELNET
or other offerings?

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@AOL.COM

"The saints are the sinners who keep on trying." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
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