Re: HP Stimulus Package

From: Lukas Beeler
How many new ERP software packages were launched on the i
in the last few years?

The days where all business software was custom built are over.

Good question, and observation.

IBM i and RPG appeal to people looking for a stable platform. But Information Technology is always been in a state of flux, with big upheaval.

A lot of ERP vendor roots go back to our peers who developed custom code and infrastructure for employers, then realized that the same or similar code and infrastructure could be applied to other settings, and began offering it.

Today the ERP market is well established and consolidated into a relatively small number of vendors who use various languages, runtime environments, and infrastructure (much of it their own). SAP has their own language and runtime environment, for example.

So what do IT professionals do in an environment where vendor consolidation is juxtaposed against technology flux?
We join the fray ;-)

But we don't like it. Our roots go back to the appeal of a stable and growing platform. Many of us are individual developers and contractors squeezed out by bigger forces.

On one hand there's packaged software and vendor consolidation. On another hand there's technology flux. Add outsourcing to India, an economy in the tank, and people in the middle are pressured and displaced from all sides.

Some of our peers are jumping to MS .Net, Java, PHP, Silverlight, Adobe Flex/Flash, and a multitude of alternatives.

I'm sticking with RPG and IBM i. That may be no-man's land for a while. But while there, I'm cranking out new code as fast as I can. Hopefully when the dust settles, there will be a place for small companies that provide stable solutions.

It would really please me to see an ERP vendor adopt IBM i and ILE RPG as its primary platform and language. If not, I hope to be in a position to do that at some point.

Nathan.