RE: ok, I made a green screen with radio buttons -- MIDRANGE-L

How big is the staff doing this Don? Is there more than you and a part-time helper involved?

I'm asking in seriousness because what you've described (aside from the FDA and CFR stuff) is work for a mid-level RPG programmer for what? maybe 6 months?

Please respond to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com

Sent by: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com

To: "'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'" <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
cc:

Subject: RE: ok, I made a green screen with radio buttons

Sir --

We are currently deploying a three-tier client/server application.

This application will support 150 users.

The database is SQL Server 7.0. We are using MTS. We are using VB 6.0.

This is a VERY critical line-of-business application. The software must meet
government (FDA) standards and is validated. We are implementing CFR Part 11
Electronic Records/Electronic Signatures.

It's here. It's now. It's working.

HOW difficult is that? I don't get it. And my brother went to Goddard for a
year or two, so I KNOW you're smart.

-- Don

-----Original Message-----
From: boothm@earth.goddard.edu [mailto:boothm@earth.goddard.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 1999 8:05 PM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: ok, I made a green screen with radio buttons

John, your points are valid and I accept them for that. Getting excited
over radio buttons is difficult.

On the other hand I've spent two years getting myself up to speed on the
client/server solution amd the full GUI pallet that you lay out as the goal,
and my reaction is... GUI ain't ready for prime time yet. The client/server
paradigm is difficult to install, difficult to keep in synch, dreadfully
expensive to develop, more expensive to deploy, and not yet very
fault-tolerant. I've yet to see really good GUI applications devoted to the
businesss model, beyond typical office secretarial services.

Until GUI really is deployable then it looks to me like business will be
done on text-based screens. Even the e-business web applications I've seen
are essentially text-based at this point.

Please respond to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com

Sent by: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com

To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
cc:

Subject: Re: ok, I made a green screen with radio buttons

Booth,

Maybe some of us are having trouble getting too excited because a few clunky
radio buttons on a 80 or 132 column screen does not a GUI make. I'd be hard
pressed to believe that (as currently implemented) they make an application
any easier to use, and they certainly don't give a tired old terminal a sexy
new look. These things are an answer to a problem that doesn't exist. My
users aren't asking for radio buttons and menu bars on a terminal screen.
What are they asking for?

They are asking for a GUI - a complete GUI. One that provides the following
features:

1) Colour - Lots of it, used intelligently to draw attention to different
information.
2) More data for each screen. Eighty columns doesn't cut it. And just try to
effectively use 132 columns displays in a CA/400 emulation session - it
looks horrible.
3) Rich text fields that allow them to emphasize their text.

And on, and on, and on.... limited time prevents me from continuing. But
these few examples should serve to illustrate some of the elements of a GUI
that actually help the user in any significant way. Radio boxes, menu bars
etc., are nice touches, but they don't allow you to really do anything that
you can't already accomplish using existing techniques.

Solving any of these problems would require significant resources, and I
don't think that I would like to see IBM wasting any more time on it. I
think that they should continue to focus on the more modern tools instead.

Regards,

John Taylor

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