Re: Green-screen versus browser

Hi Tom-

Greetings from Three Tree Point, Burien!  My hypothesis is that many
CxO's assume the iSeries is old because (1) it hasn't had a name
change in the last three years and (2) a perception that green-screen
is bad.  When you combine both of those beliefs, the result can be an
executive perception that the iSeries is old and bad.

With a little research, you can find good reports on iSeries Java and
Linux.  LPAR ("visualization") is very advanced, TCO issues are
generally favorable, and reliability is legendary.  It's possible to
refute the "oldness" argument and present a fact-based argument that
the iSeries is a wicked good box.

That leaves the text vs. graphics battle, and it's much more
subjective; even a CxO can have an *opinion* on the subject.  There's
no question 5250 is "more efficient" in almost every way, but there's
also no question an application can provide more value when the
programmer has and properly uses dynamic control over fonts, colors,
and screen design.

If we leave out bandwidth and security issues (i.e. the "public"
internet), the green-screen advantage decreases markedly but far from
completely.

My applications develop and maintain large iSeries databases.  I
communicate with a couple of PC-based applications via sockets; I
currently have no need to deal directly with Windows-based
applications.

My report is industry-specific and designed to pull the rug out from
competitors crowing about the catatonic state of the iSeries.  As S.
Klement pointed out, it's important to make your applications look as
good as they work, and I've spent a lot of time working on that
component of my application.

Personally, I'd rather look at a well-designed browser screen than a
well-designed green screen.  I suppose that's one of the reasons I'm
cranky about the state of iSeries AD tooling: I've been spoiled by the
ease of developing in the green-screen environment.

What we need is a "rich" character-based format with client caching. 
5250 was great when having a 9600 BPS line was a big deal but now
there's bandwidth to spare.

-reeve

On 4/25/05, qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx <qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Reeve:
> 
> I had to re-read your original post after reading all the responses. It seems 
> that you are contrasting GUI/browser access to iSeries data/applications with 
> green-screen access to the same data/applications.
> 
> If so, then there is no need to discuss many issues that are clearly tied to 
> accessing similar data/applications that might reside on Windows or other 
> servers?
> 
> Is that a good interpretation of what you're after?
> 
> Tom Liotta
> 
> midrange-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> 
> >   1. Green-screen versus browser (Reeve)
> >
> >date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 20:02:25 -0700
> >I'm writing a management paper for a customer (in support of the
> >iSeries but trashing the WebSphere "solution" and the lack of native
> >browser support) and working on a concise description of the
> >green-screen vs. browser question.  The context is to explain why the
> >iSeries, in spite of all its greatness (performance, low TCO,
> >reliability), isn't known to and/or accepted by a large portion of the
> >IT community.  One factor is IBM's previous marketing failures (no
> >other word for it, sorry; well, maybe "absence"); another reason is
> >the preponderance of the green-screen UI, my current topic.
> >
> >Here's what I have so far:
> >
> >"The problem with green-screen is that the programmer is limited to a
> >fixed font size, a limited color palette, essentially no support for
> >graphics, only 132 columns (across), only 27 lines (down), and the
> >requirement to use a non-standard, usually non-free terminal emulation
> >program (Client Access, etc.), which means you can't talk directly to
> >many new communications devices like PDA's.
> >
> >"There is nothing innately good about browsers; except for Firefox,
> >they're bloated with generally useless features, each has its own
> >unique characteristics (meaning it doesn't work exactly the same as
> >other browsers), and many continue to be a gateway ("Gates way"?) for
> >viruses and spyware.
> >
> >"The benefit of browsers is that the programmer has much greater
> >control over what the user sees and how the screen works...but it
> >takes a lot more programming effort to deliver a browser-based
> >application.  The basic tradeoff is balancing time-to-deliver (low for
> >green-screen, high for browser), function (low for green screen, high
> >for browser), and performance (relatively high for green-screen,
> >relatively low for browser).
> >
> >Am I missing any points meaningful to senior management?
> 
> --
> Tom Liotta
> The PowerTech Group, Inc.
> 19426 68th Avenue South
> Kent, WA 98032
> Phone  253-872-7788 x313
> Fax    253-872-7904
> http://www.powertech.com
> 
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