Re: 5250 to Web Interface / Application Modernization

Jon,

I feel a little badly that my last reply to you may have come across as
insensitive to your perspective. I was a little miffed about your assertion
regarding my (lack of) understanding of OA, how it is being used, and how
it might be used. Given the brevity of these email exchanges and the limits
of written word, there is really no way for anyone to accurately assess
what an individual might know or not know about OA. I think I know A LOT
more about it than you give me credit for.

On Wed, Apr 10, 2019 at 2:04 PM Jon Paris <jon.paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The simple fact of the matter is that OA enabled products have allowed
many customers to give new life to their 5250 apps - in some cases buying
them the time to re-do the apps "properly". It has enabled programmers with
no web skills to develop forward looking apps while still using many of
their existing skills. I know of many cases (as I'm sure do Profound,
Rocket, Freshe, and others) where the IBM i would probably not be a
presence in the shop any longer if it were not for their products. If a
shop has the time, skills, and budget to redevelop everything then of
course they can produce a better more efficient app. But that's not the
reality most shops face and to pretend otherwise is just silly.

On the flip side, a lot of organizations have invested a lot of time and
money into OA, and have been disappointed by a drop in end-user
productivity. OA offers hope. But if all you have is hope, that's not good
enough. IBM i apps must compete favorably against alternatives on other
platforms, and OA is not getting them to the needed level.

If developers don't have skills with browser interfaces (HTML, CSS,
JavaScript), they should be working on that. Until they get their skills to
an acceptable level, they should be paired with a co-developer who can work
with them. In my opinion.