Re: What is an IBM Power Server really?

On Wed, Jun 13, 2018 at 4:27 PM, Rob Berendt <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

And since Windows still ships with the DOS command prompt then it doesn't
have a GUI either.

I can't tell if you're joking or trolling or serious.

I am guessing you are serious, and that you are trying to say that
Mark's comments about the i are as absurd as your comments about
Windows.

I suppose the "IBM i GUI" you are referring to is what Larry describes
when he says this:

Some say IBM i has no native GUI but it does have
navigator for i which is installed and operates automatically
and provides a complete interface to manage the system
through a web browser. This of course means it works on
your device whether that is a Mac, Linux, Windows, Mobile etc.

It's really straining to call Navigator a GUI in the same sense as the
GUI that comes with a Mac or Windows PC.

Remember, even before Windows, there were graphical programs that ran
on DOS-based PCs. There were games, productivity software, CAD
programs, etc. These weren't just done in "ASCII-art" but were drawn
in pixels by a graphics card.

In some ways Navigator for i is like those programs. In those cases,
the "GUI" isn't tightly integrated to the operating system at all, and
is specific to a one-off program. Just because this particular program
"provides a complete interface to manage the system" doesn't make it a
GUI in the same sense as Mac or Windows. If you took Norton Commander
for PC and re-rendered its user interface with pixels instead of
colored ASCII, that wouldn't make it a "GUI for PC". Well, Navigator
for i is pretty much Norton Commander for i, but rendered with the
browser.

On Mac and Windows, there is a graphical *layer* that other programs
can share and build on. Anyone can write a graphical program that runs
in/on Mac's GUI, or in/on Windows's GUI. Navigator for i doesn't
provide that kind of a layer.

So, I'll agree that IBM i doesn't get enough credit when it comes to
supporting interfaces other than green-screen 5250. But it's still a
far cry from a real GUI. If someone were to port the X Window System
to i, or build something analogous to it for i, *then* I would say IBM
i has a credible GUI.

John Y.