RE: Thats all folks! -- MIDRANGE-L

> From: Mark Phippard
>
> Maybe we should be picking on iSeries Developers--ourselves.

I can't agree with you more, Mark.  I've been fighting two separate battles
over the last couple of years: one against those in the non-AS/400 community
who would compare platforms unfairly, and one against the AS/400 community
to get them to start writing some code, darnit!

The former is the discussion I've been having the last couple of days: the
AS/400 is "a better Linux than Linux", to paraphrase the old OS/2 ads.  And
please, Linux devotees, don't beat me up.  I mean only that the AS/400 can
run Linux and OS/400 at the same time, is all.


> If the iSeries is as great as we all say, and I am just as big an iSeries
> bigot as anyone, where are all of the great applications to show for it?
> Where can a small business get an application as good as say Goldmine to
> manage their sales, and isn't that where a lot of businesses will start?
> After all, this thread started with a message that the iSeries is losing
> the small business battle.  I think it is losing because the applications
> are not there.  The operational characteristics of the iSeries fit the
> needs of a small business perfectly, but where is the software?  Please do
> not suggest a green screen application.
>
> What size company do you have to be before the iSeries starts to make
> sense?  A small business starting from scratch is not likely going to
> build their own applications, nor should they.  What is the likelihood
> that the applications that are appropriate for their business will involve
> an iSeries?

Absolutely.  Positively.  We need a new paradigm.  We need a new
architecture.  We need a tool that will allow us to write an application on
a desktop that we can test all the way through, then send the database
specifications up to the AS/400 and let it act as the business rules
processor.

We probably need two new languages, one to define business rules at a meta
level and one to define business UIs.  I hear the latter is being tossed
around already.

Screw the .NET and SQL and ODBC and VB crap.  Write applications that are
truly platform independent, and then plug in the right piece in the right
place.  You'll be able to configure the application to have a thick client
interface using SWT on Windows, but a web interface running on a FreeBSD
box.  Both will communicate with business logic running on the AS/400, which
will access mission critical data locally and large amounts of historical
data off of a Unix server farm.

Or you can take the exact same application and switch it all (except the
thick client interface) to run on a model 270.

Enough already.  I've ranted all day today, and I've got Christmas shopping
to do still <grin>.

Take care, y'all.

Joe