Re: alternative to WebFacing

I would firmly agree with your observation. I'm not a fan of
scrapers, emulators and such. My original question is because
IBM has added a function very appealing to the low end of the
user community, with an easy to swallow price (almost free
except the labor), but a processor requirement that cuts out
the ENTIRE low end of the community. I'm not looking for
a quick fix, but a reliable and reasonable method for low end
hardware (one that will be supported for years to come).
jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nathan M. Andelin" <nathanma@haaga.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2001 3:42 PM
Subject: Re: alternative to WebFacing


> There must be a market for products like Webfacing.  Seagull and Jacada
are
> pulling in millions from license and service revenues from similar
products.
> While those companies are in the business of helping people modernize
legacy
> applications, IBM's interest is much more subtle.  IBM sees Webfacing as a
> transition technology - something that will motivate people to buy new
> hardware and eventually adopt Websphere Advanced Edition.
>
> With IBM's release of Webfacing, I'd hate to be in the position of Jacada
or
> Seagull.  IBM has the advantage of controlling the Workstation Manager.  A
> switch in the Workstation Manager enables legacy applications to support
an
> HTML interface without a single change to the original program.  I think
IBM
> could control this market if they chose to.  Competitors may be hoping
that
> IBM's commitment is less than theirs.
>
> However, I personally question the value of transition technologies.  I've
> heard too many complaints from people who bought into that idea.  The
> biggest complaint seems to be that the GUI is still paired and locked with
> the  5250 data stream of the legacy application.  It leads to contrived
> restrictions in the GUI.    A transition technology is one that you
probably
> wouldn't use to design or build a new application.  But some people (not
> having deep pockets) find it hard to break away from a transition
> technology, after they've adopted one.
>
> Nathan M. Andelin
> www.relational-data.com
>
>
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