Re: what could have been - include HTML in the 5250 data stream

The 5250 protocol is stateful, not stateless. (One might say _very_
stateful!)

but why? because of the design of the workstation controller, no? A 5250
data stream could be stateless in that all the information needed to
reestatblish state is contained in the data sent down to the device. The
response data could include whatever is needed for the server to
reestablish the connection to the interactive job that the response is
intended for.

What would be the advantage of turning PC5250 into a web browser
that works over a little-used stateful protocol?

I could make a case there is a need even now to expand the display and
interaction capabilities of what is displayed on a 5250 display screen. But
the focus of my questions are more on what happened 10-15 years ago when
IBM was still adding significant software capabilities to the system. Why
did they stop? If you had reworked the workstation controller couldn't an
interactive job have become more or less web like? Images would be able to
be displayed, direct links to other 5250 display programs, change the font,
start adding client side code.

-Steve