RE: AS/400 vs. NT

["Draper, Dale" <dale.draper@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

        Snip1>  and the AS/400 itself is way to complicated for most shops
today. 

        Snip2(dean)The difference between the AS/400 and any LAN/WAN is that
any idiot can run an AS/400.  With an idiot running it, the AS/400 might not
be as fast as it could be, but it will still run without going down unless
there is a hardware problem.  With an idiot running NT, Novell, Banyan,
etc., uptime is a question mark.

I'm proof of that! Had a consultant set up the system, and had experts
available for the occasional call, and ran the 400 for 9 months without a
hitch. I am also nominally in charge of 2 NT servers as we own them but
outsource the administration. Having watched what it takes to administer an
NT server, and all the holes available in it's set up, etc. etc.. I would
take the 400 any day.


        Snip3(Dean)Talk to your users, and ask them what they want.  The
_REAL_ users, not the 
        one that's in charge of them and never touches a terminal.  I've
seen 
        "visual" work well when the application was developed in concert
with the 
        users (using touch screens), but I've more often seen it fail
because it 
        implemented what "management" wanted to see.  GUI is good, but GUI
for GUI's 
        sake is destined for failure...

Hear! Hear! Have seen 3 client server implementations, all three groups came
from 5250 interfaces. All three were chosen by top executives without "real"
user input. The end users for all three hated their new interface. And the
executives that chose them never use it of course.
One one these groups had to move from their new system, when asked what they
wanted in a new software system, they asked for green screen. Executives
were not directly involved in the decision, they got a green screen product.

Why can't we get a GUI interface that has green screen like input? While
keeping the reporting and inquiry strengths of the GUI interface?

Dale Draper
Sega Enterprises, Inc. (USA)
Dale.Draper@seu.sega.com


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