Re: RPGIII compiler vs. Visual Basic

[Alan Campin <Alan.Campin@xxxxxxx>]

 >> If that is true you have to fault the software companies
>> also.   Maybe MS has it right - better to force your users to upgrade.

Oh, I do fault them but a big problem the software companies have had is they 
cannot find people who can or will do ILE RPG so they just stick with the RPG 
III and do new development outside the AS/400. I have heard that a lot from 
companies. Hard to find people who are willing to adapt to the changing world 
on the AS/400. A lot of them are, also, having problems moving out of the 
AS/400 world because their programmers cannot deal with real programming 
environments outside the AS/400. 

Hell of a problem. You want to stay on the AS/400 for it's rock solid 
dependability but where do you find the people willing to program in the new 
world? 

The AS/400 is incredibly forgiving of bad code and bad databases (Sometimes I 
am not sure that is virtue or not). The real world out there is not. Write bad 
code and create bad databases and it just doesn't work. A lot of AS/400 
companies have found that out the hard way. The stuff you could get away with 
on the AS/400, you just can't out there.   

According to stories I have read, IBM ran into the same problem when they were 
rewriting the SLIC for RISC. They tried get the existing people to write in C++ 
but they could not adapt so they ended up firing all the old developers and 
bringing in kids from college to write the SLIC kernel (The real operating 
system) in C++.