Re: CFINT/IBM's failure to provide AD tools

Well said Reeve


>From: "Reeve Fritchman" <reeve@ltl400.com>
>Reply-To: midrange-l@midrange.com
>To: <midrange-l@midrange.com>
>Subject: CFINT/IBM's failure to provide AD tools
>Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 20:09:23 -0500
>
>You offer interesting ideas.  However, as a software vendor, I'm not
>completely free to choose the "best" tools; our customers might not agree
>with our choices and usually are resistant to buying additional supporting
>applications.  So we stick with a meat-and-potatoes environment where
>green-screen is extremely effective and stable (lots of remote
>locations)...and we don't have the resources to support dabbling.  We're
>extremely focused on the business requirements of our application and find
>that challenging enough.
>
>Having working in the midrange environment since the days of the System/3,
>I'm used to having IBM provide a decent development environment.  After
>all,
>it is a source of revenue and it could help IBM focus customers on certain
>technologies, but IBM's green-screen world hasn't been a very interesting
>target for 3rd party AD tools developers.  With the iSeries becoming a
>server, a wide range of 3rd party tools becomes available for working in
>the
>server world.  We hear about the "integrated" nature of the iSeries; why
>are
>compilers and AD tools are developed by a non-Rochester-owned division?   I
>think IBM's missing a monster opportunity for revenue growth and customer
>management by failing to coordinate hardware, OS/400, and AD tools.
>WDT/400
>is "free"?  Who cares?  I'll pay thousands for the right tools; I just
>can't
>find them (after this post hits, I'll bet they find me).
>
>If IBM wants us into the server environment (okay, they do), they can lead
>(AD tools) or push (CFINT).  There are a number of vendors with report
>writers, AD tools, green-to-GUI utilities, etc., and it looks like there's
>plenty of room in the marketplace.  I remain disappointed that IBM lags so
>far behind; IBM should have had a complete suite of killer tools ready to
>go
>the day they announced the IFS.
>
>Sorry, this is a sore point for me...I'll get off my soapbox now.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: midrange-l-admin@midrange.com
>[mailto:midrange-l-admin@midrange.com]On
>Behalf Of Jim Damato
>Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 6:54 PM
>To: 'midrange-l@midrange.com'
>Subject: RE: Tiger Tools
>
> >  Reeve:
> >The whole CFINT thing comes back to IBM's failure to provide the
>Application
> >Development tools necessary to move out of the 5250 environment.
>
>I don't really understand this.  Moving out of the 5250 environment means
>moving out of the mini-computer or baby-mainframe terminal based
>environment
>and using the AS/400 as a server.  The architecture changes to
>client-server, n-tier or web-based design.  If I implement a Unix server
>with an Oracle database I'm not necessarily depending on my Unix provider
>or
>Oracle for Application Development tools.  Development is based more on my
>client, app server, or web platform of choice, and many of those
>development
>solutions are third-party.  Right now we're dabbling in developing apps
>against Oracle on HP/UX using Microsoft VB, IIS, Crystal Reports, and Toad
>for database scripting.  If we were developing these apps against the
>AS/400
>server I might be looking at similar tools for the front end, replacing the
>SQL Net client with OLE-DB or some home grown data interface modules.
>
>CFINT is, to me, distasteful because it overprices the 5250 environment or
>underprices the server environment, and because IBM has been deliberately
>deceptive about the nature of Interactive Feature.  It would be
>interesting,
>however, to see if iSeries servers without Interactive Feature were
>profitable on their own.  Some of IBM's own statements suggest that legacy
>customers are carrying iSeries server customers.  It's like they're saying
>that their statement of direction is to push the iSeries toward eventually
>losing money on every sale.
>
>Still, I don't think you should be looking to IBM to produce the tools for
>your application development.
>
>-Jim
>
>James P. Damato
>Manager - Technical Administration
>Dollar General Corporation
><mailto:jdamato@dollargeneral.com>
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