Re: RPG IV Usage (was dds validi -- MIDRANGE-L

Jon,

With all due respect (and I mean that sincerely), this is an old argument that
really hasn't stood up very well.  Look at all the S/36s still out there.  I
guess that if you don't count the "stagnant" shops, you very well could come
up with a 70% figure, but you're eliminating 80% of the AS/400 community by
doing so.  Heck, Jon, if you don't count the so-called "stagnant" shops, you
could very well say that 100% of the AS/400 community is using RPG-IV.

A little dated, but this from Chuck Lundgren's Dec. 1999 Street Talk column:
   Iceberg ahead! I received quite a bit of e-mail to a short item
   in the October issue that asked why folks are still using OPM
   for new development. I mentioned that IBM Toronto had stated that
   50 percent of RPG programmers were now using RPG IV (ILE), but
   I ve since heard from two industry analysts who emphatically claim
   that 50 percent is way too high. They feel that a figure of between
   5 and 10 percent is more likely, as RPG IV just hasn t caught on in
   the bread-and- butter RPG shops.

   The data for ISVs, though, tells another story. In our Summer 1999
   issue, Paul Conte reported on survey results showing that 76 percent
   of those ISV shops using RPG III said they already use or will be
   using RPG IV for their applications.

   So why is the rest of the programming population reluctant to make
   the switch, sailing along fairly happily on the SS RPG/400? From the
   letters in this month s and past issues, it has to do with "real
   world" time pressures as well as an understandable inclination to
   stick with a known tool.

Chuck then went on to list the top ten reasons to move to RPG-IV & ILE, and
then concluded:

   For those still searching for solid reasons to make the switch to
   RPG IV, I recommend the above article.  However, I fear there s no
   convincing the people valiantly holding on to increasingly outdated
   technology.  For those folks, the SS RPG/400 is sailing toward an
   iceberg, and their replacements are flying overhead in RPG IV, Java,
   Visual Basic, and ASP jets.

Please note that I am NOT defending organizations stuck in an RPG-III
environment.  I am only contesting your statement that 70% of AS/400 shops are
using RPG-IV.

Also, I wondered if you would consider a shop as using RPG-IV if they have
only one RPG-IV application written in production?  Would that count?  I would
count a shop as being an RPG-IV shop only if all new applications were written
in RPG-IV instead of RPG-III.  In that case, we would not qualify, although I
feel I am beginning to make an impact here to get to that point.

Dan Bale
IT - AS/400
Handleman Company
248-362-4400  Ext. 4952

-------------------------- Original Message --------------------------
 >> Jeez, do you really think that 70% of the AS/400 universe is using
RPG/IV?

Well as you noted later I did say that it was about 70% of the attendees at
the seminars etc. that I speak at.  Yes there would, I suppose be a
tendency for those shops to be somewhat more forward looking than the
"stagnant" ones you refer to.  But then the stagnant shops can't really be
counted anyway - they are already well on their way to being replaced by an
NT "solution" it is only a matter of time!!  If you don't progress you die
- that simple.
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