RE: Help me Justify iSeries

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Says who it's stupid?  The interactive tax is one of the more confusing
concepts in iSeries technology.

Without going into a long history of the issue, the interactive tax is
the additional cost that IBM tacks onto an iSeries to provide 5250
connectivity.  Currently that cost can be as much as triple the cost of
a box without any 5250 connectivity.  Much to IBM's chagrin, this extra
cost was dubbed the interactive tax.  If memory serves, Don Denoncourt
came up with the name while he and I were discussing the architecture of
PSC/400.

In any case, there are two ways to get around this tax.  One is to use
one of the products out there that circumvents the interactive
measurement facility of the box; IBM frowns on this and in fact is in
the midst of ongoing legal battles arising from one of these products.
The second is to rewrite your applications to use a web interface rather
than the 5250.  This is what my PSC/400 product does.  This is actually
sanctioned by IBM, and my tool is part of both IBM's iSeries Developer
Roadmap and the iSeries Tools Initiative.

Joe

http://www.plutabrothers.com

 

> From: Douglas W. Palme
> 
> Joe,
> Here is my second stupid question of the day, I am somewhat lost on
what
> ya'll are referring to when you say "interactive tax".  Could you
> elaborate a bit on this for me please?