Re: Green Screen (Dumb Terminal) Email Client for System i

Walden,

I have to agree wholeheartedly with you. Being led by a customer to install
an application on a device that is no longer manufactured, let alone hardly
supported by anyone, is a business decision that IT should not be
responsible for offering. Especially when the application functionality
requirements far exceed the capability of the device.

The job of I.T. is to provide a service to a business, and this kind of
approach is akin to handing over an Excel spreadsheet just to get the user
out of your office - not a service at all, but a bandaid that keeps them
coming back for more. When there are SO many simple solutions that can
migrate them to the 21st century, it seems like offering green screen email
that attempts to emulate a rich experience is not very strategic, and hardly
a tactical solution, either.

I expect that ANY cost/benefit evaluation will prove the effectiveness of a
thin PC providing emulation and the required email functionality. Ruling
that out before you check the ROI does not seem a good place to start.

Keep speaking your mind while there is some sense on the planet.
Trevor


On 3/18/09 3:01 PM, "Walden H. Leverich" <WaldenL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Mr. Leverich, if you can't say something constructive, why say

anything?

I actually considered whether to push the send or not for precisely that
reason. My mother taught me well, really. :-)

But sometime you've just gotta face the facts -- a green-screen only
environment is questionable in the first place, but ok, I can see the
need (maybe). But add to that that the client wants all the nice
features of a rich client email app, which would be trivial if the
client had PCs on the desk (Windows, Linux, Mac, who cares) but still
wants to keep the old style tubes. Just doesn't make sense, and I felt
it had to be called out. I never thought I'd find an idea sillier than
having programmers that don't have access to the internet, but I think
the idea of trying to provide a modern email client on a non-modern dumb
terminal might just take the cake.

Yes, I'm being blunt, and yes, I'm not helping the OP, at least not by
directly answering his question. But perhaps if enough of us said what
we're feeling ("what a silly requirement") then Jeff would have some
ammunition to go back to the client and fix the real problem. Of course
if Jeff doesn't like the answer he can just hit delete.

-Walden