Advancing the i5

One of the reasons the i5 isn't actively taught the the university
level is due to the Hobson's choice of interactive support options
we're faced with.

Green screen is simple, stable, and fast but limiting for a
moderately-sophisticated application.  WebSphere is IBM's full
employment program for its services and hardware groups.  CGIDEV2 is
the loyal opposition to the party line.  VisualAge RPG appears to be a
stepchild.  WebFacing is training wheels for Websphere.  And then
there are the 3rd party tools (screen-scrapers, etc.) that require
vendor run-time support.  If you're a non-i5 vendor looking to move
into this environment, what path do you take?  And what path do
smallers ISV's take to move away from 5250?

The hardware, operating system, database, and programming languages
are robust.  What we're missing is WORKSTN-style support for the
browser environment and the development tools to make it go.  It seems
as though that black hole is dragging many applications and young
programmers with it.

-reeve