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  • Subject: Re: No 5250-based applications
  • From: "Nathan M. Andelin" <nathanma@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 16:43:58 -0600

While I somewhat agree with James and Scott (see their comments below), I
believe it's possible to reach a point where a reliable and full-featured
Web application can be deployed under OS/400 in the same amount of time as a
5250 application.  Actually, this has been a personal goal of mine.

When I reach that point, I want the HTML user interface to offer performance
and productivity comparable to it's 5250 counterpart.  I think that's
possible, but depends partly on IBM.  It takes more CPU, memory, and
bandwidth to generate an HTML data stream.

This may be the heart of the Interactive vs. Batch debate.  If I develop a
Web application that offers functionality comparable to it's 5250
counterpart, but requires hardware that's 20 times more expensive to support
the same number of users, then people will stick with the 5250 application.

Or will they?  Developers and end-users may simply migrate to hardware that
offers better price vs. performance for Web applications.  How many iSeries
shops that have favored Windows over OS/400 for Web development?  Would that
explain the reliability concerns and higher development cost?

If IBM drops the price of iSeries hardware to better support OS/400 based
Web applications, is IBM abandoning its traditional customer base?  In my
case, the answer is no!  I believe that HTML, etc. will offer a better user
interface than 5250 in the long term.  In my opinion, it's not just for
e-business.

The challenge is in getting there.

Nathan.


> From: "James W. Kilgore" <eMail@James-W-Kilgore.com>
>

> We have a small number of clients (45) and we are a small company.  We
> write what we can afford to write (5250) and our clients (also small
> $1M->$3M/mo) use it.
>
> Why? It's the lowest cost to produce and the lowest cost to purchase and
> IT WORKS!

> Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 01:52:23 -0500 (CDT)
> From: Scott Klement <klemscot@klements.com>
> Subject: Re: No 5250-based applications
>

> It's also a whole lot quicker and cheaper to develop a 5250 app.  And
> they tend to be significantly more stable.  (Especially if the 5250 is
> running on a terminal and not a MS-Windows-hunk-of-garbage-PC)
>
> Running 5250 saves us tens of thousands of dollars each year -- and we're
> a small company.
>


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