Re: The Linux Hole -- MIDRANGE-L

My comments for what they are worth:

OpsNav is just a front-end to a series of APIs invoked via the standard
Host Server interfaces.  Most of these APIs are published in the SPIR.
Some of them are not published but are not too hard to reverse-engineer
given a comms trace.  OpsNav does have additional PC only code to
support the various wizards which are an attempt to make it easy for PC
dickheads to manage an AS/400.

The OpsNav architecture is open and supports plug-ins written in C, (or
C++) and Java (not sure if it handles other PC languages like VB).
While many of the later additions to OpsNav are Java plug-ins, the core
components are C++ and are extremely Windoze centric.  If the OpsNav
team had a clue they would be replacing those core components with a
Java version.  Then the chances of it running on Linux, MacOS, or your
particular preferred OS would then be improved.

Providing a Java version would not shield them completely from platform
specific concerns but it would be a lot better than having to support
specific Windoze versions, specific Unix versions, etc.  It would also
add credence to IBMs push for platform independence via Java.  IBM
would also have to convince various vendors to write plug-ins in Java
rather than C++.  For example, I think most, if not all, of ASC's
OpsCentre plug-ins are written in C++ (and probably WinDOS specific C++
and thus harder to port to a Linux environment).  The typical vendor
view is that most AS/400 sites also run Winslop so why should they
write for any other platform -- it simply increases their effort and
costs.

My belief is that the OpsNav team have enough trouble supporting the
various dialects of Winslop (effectively separate OSes) without biting
off yet another OS (Linux) unless much noise is heard from customers
demanding an alternative to OpsNav for Windoze.

Using to any version of WinDOS to manage an AS/400 is ridiculous -- why
would I choose the world's least reliable OS to manage to world's most
reliable?  Duh!

If you really want Linux support then don't simply ask for that --
demand cross platform support, demand that all client management tools
for the AS/400 are written in Java, demand that those Java tools are
tested and supported on any platform which provides a compatible level
of Java support.  While you continue to accept WinDOS crap nothing is
going to change.

And while you're at it, demand client development tools that are
cross-platform too!  Eclipse-based tools are a step in the right
direction but everything for client-based AS/400 development requires
Winslop.

Regards,
Simon Coulter.
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   FlyByNight Software         AS/400 Technical Specialists

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