RE: IBM getting rid of RPG

There are ways around the interactive tax.  In fact, I'll be doing a seminar
on exactly that topic at COMMON.  The basic idea is to modify your programs
to run in batch and talk to a data queue instead of a display file.  Once
you do that, you can pretty quickly attach a user interface, either thick
client or thin.  A thick client can be written in VB or Java, or you can use
a servlet engine such as WebSphere or Tomcat to run your applications via a
browser.  It's fast, powerful, flexible and relatively painless.

This way, your primary business logic is still written in RPG, which I
contend is the best language for defining business rules in the business,
primarily because of its tight integration with the database.  And, once
you've started separating your business logic from your presentation, you
can start looking at moving towards a true client/server architecture, which
is where I believe the iSeries will truly outpace any other platform.

Joe

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
> [mailto:owner-midrange-l@midrange.com]On Behalf Of William A Pack
> Sent: Saturday, July 28, 2001 11:09 AM
> To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
> Subject: IBM getting rid of RPG
>
>
>       I liked Mr. Rockwell's comments.  IBM is trying everything
> to get people to
> abandon current applications and migrate to something they want to sell,
> like Java or Domino.  They are good alternatives for new apps,
> but if I have
> a business running for 5-10 years on good software, why should I
> change just
> because IBM wants me to?  IBM is going to piss off quite a few customers,
> who will remember the favor that IBM did them by jacking up the cost of
> interactive workload.  If they have to change applications, my
> guess is they
> will be implemented on a cluster of Wintel boxes, just to return the favor
> to IBM.  I really want to now the technical reasons IBM has for costing on
> interactive features.  They claim it is harder to do 5250 now that 3 years
> ago.  Why?
>       The System 3/x family was sold as a programmerless systems.
>  The AS/400 was
> sold as a system that will maintain investment in applications
> and business
> practices.  Now, the only thing that sets the 400 apart from the sea of
> Intel based clones is the single manufacturer.   Looks like the future
> belongs to Wintel and C#.

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