Re: 5250 for iPhone

Rob,

I think this email is where you start asking the right questions. Instead of
looking at the cool tool (in this case, 5250 for iPhone - which is cool,
btw), you are taking an approach that asks "what is the business problem?"

I spend a lot of time working with IT departments, and 2 common trends are
apparent. 1. Give the user what they asked for, regardless of whether it
solves their business problem. 2. Install something on a whim because it is
'cool'.

If a user asks for a spreadsheet, the business problem is that they need
information. So, we give them data into a spreadsheet and let them perform
the task of translating the data into information. Yet, WE are the
"information" specialists in the organization.

If a new tool comes out that looks cool, we work it in because of a whim. I
know one customer that has 5 different web development tools - all being
used.

So, if we don't think strategy, we end up swimming in circles. If we keep
this up, in 10 years we will be oohing and aahing at the 5250 emulator that
we can now access in our retina-implant.

Trevor



On 7/25/08 11:12 AM, "rob@xxxxxxxxx" <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Then I just wonder how much effort it would be to use iSeries Access for
Wireless, and vendor supplied interfaces for wireless devices. I do see
that paging companies have wireless interfaces.
I would be sorely tempted though to drop back into familiar territory.
Let's face it, when you get a message that a job is stuck in MSGW, it
would be quite easy with a nice messaging system to respond back to the
message with an answer. But, often you have to look at the joblog or
something to determine the best answer. And maybe iSeries Wireless may
work.

I have a nice Treo phone. I just haven't gotten around to playing with
iSeries Access for Wireless.
We recently implemented MessengerPlus. Perhaps I should play with what
they have for wireless.
I've set up email to my phone. But no text messaging yet. In fact the
only text message I ever received was:
"I have three <female dogs>. One does my cooking. One does my laundry.
One checks my email. How's it going <female dog>?"

Is that a start towards the attitude you're looking for?