AS/400 Web Browser Survey

["Simon Coulter" <shc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello All,

I asked David if I could use the list to ask a few product-related questions.  
I'd appreciate it 
if you could take a few minutes to answer the following questions.  Rather than 
cluttering the 
list with responses 

        PLEASE REPLY TO survey@flybynight.com.au

I think a 5250 web browser would be useful and I was playing with porting Lynx 
to the AS/400 but 
its text rendering engine is a bit primitive so the choices are:

1/ Live with poor rendering, no tables, frames, etc.  OR ...

2/ Create a native AS/400 5250 Web Browser as a program product


Survey questions:
=================
1/ Do you see a need for a 5250 text-based web browser?
        Yes/No

2/ What protocols should it support?
        a/ HTTP: Yes
        b/ HTTPS: Yes/No
        c/ FTP: Yes/No
        d/ SOCKS: Yes/No
        e/ WAIS: Yes/No
        f/ GOPHER: Yes/No
        g/ FILE: Yes/No
        h/ NEWS: Yes/No
        i/ TELNET: Yes/No
        j/ MAILTO: Yes/No

        NOTE:- Think about the effort required to support the protocol (i.e., 
NEWS: requires a 
news group browser and associated coding, MAILTO: requires an AS/400 e-mail 
program, etc.) and 
whether you really need it.

3/ Should it support frames?
        Yes/No

4/ Should it support tables?
        Yes/No

5/ Should it support cookies?
        Yes/No

6/ Should it support JavaScript? (Or at least as much as possible in a 
text-only browser)
        Yes/No

7/ Would you or your company pay for such a browser?
        I would/My company would/Not a chance

8/ If you would pay, how much would you pay ($US)?
        a/ $50
        b/ $100
        c/ $250
        d/ $500

9/ Would you prefer a user-based or system-based license?
        User/System

10/ Would you prefer an open-source version?
        Yes/No

11/ Would you assist in a collaborative open-source version?
        Yes/No

        NOTE:- A collaborative open-source version would require C language 
skills and AS/400 C 
compiler since we would start with the code base from Lynx or Mozilla.  David 
would be happy to 
host a list to coordinate the development effort.

12/ Your constructive comments:



=====================================================================================
I shall allow a week for responses to arrive and I'll post the collated 
results.  Thanks for 
your help.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.

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