RE: Lansa vs. Plex -- MIDRANGE-L

<snip> 
> I think the biggest misunderstanding in this thread is that we are all so
> familiar with green programming tools, that anything that takes us beyond
> that, into the web or multiple platforms can be a little difficult to
> understand from our singular iSeries perspective. There is a place for all
> of these tools. You can gain a huge advantage in developing new
applications
> from scratch with tools like Lansa/web. And there is a place for
> non-intrusive webfacing and extending tools like newlook and centric.
There
> is even a place for tools that allow you to remain solid in your green
> screen skill set forever.
> 
> The solution is harder to uncover in this forum, since most of us are
biased
> towards our own technology knowledge, and the business reasons for moving
> forward are often ignored here.
> 
> Trevor
</snip>

Trevor, you've made a number of good points.  But the biggest problem is
economics: "There is a place for all these tools" is true, but we're not
often in that place.  We're usually somewhere else, and getting to the right
place is time-consuming and costly even if it is the "right" place to be.
If you watch this list, you see a litany of complaints regarding technical
managers disallowing the use of newfangled technology and executives
unwilling to invest in education or reasonably current hardware/OS's.  Maybe
Cassius was right! 

I looked at one heavily-hyped product hyped tossing phrases like "Developing
browser applications without retraining is now a reality".  Yeah, right: I
tossed my cookies after I saw what it was: an expensive RPG toolkit
requiring nuts-and-bolds knowledge of RPG and HTML (actually it requires
"nuts and Boldt's" knowledge of RPG), which a large number of customers
don't have.  Reading their hysterical e-mail'ed spam-vertisements makes you
think you've stumbled onto the solution for whorled peas.

I don't think the problem is our bias towards our own technical knowledge;
it's a prejudice against what we don't know, what we can't control (when the
application is down, the decision-makers aren't reviewing the business case
to go with the cheapest solution or with the best-looking vendor: they're
lighting up employees' cell phones in every time zone) and the
one-size-fits-all solution offered by so many vendors.

Although I'll regret announcing this publicly, I'm looking for an extending
tool.  Maybe I should be looking for a new development tool, but I'm not
losing business to GUI-type systems (I'm winning business from them).
Unfortunately I haven't found a new development or extending tool without an
unacceptably-high number of compromises, and it's not practical to put a
couple of talented, hard-working, and expensive people off in a room for a
couple of years only to have one or more technologies change just as we pass
the period of peak investment in what had been the latest-and-greatest.  Of
course you can't always be current, and that's not an excuse to move ahead,
but when you make an investment you want a return from it.  And if Websphere
is IBM's direction, I'm looking elsewhere.  

Now it's likely some of what I perceive as a "compromise" is related to my
own prejudices for reliability, flexibility, and stability.  But my
prejudices are my requirements: cost is not an issue <big>if</big> the
product does the job.  IMHO, quality is *always* the best economy, for me
and for my customers.

-reeve