Re: Costco still on IBM i?

I remember when Best Buy introduced the new GUI interface for the staff. On the surface, it was much better than the old green screen - except apparently when you knew what you were doing! According to the staff member I was working with it had clearly been designed after consultation with managers and not workers. He spent 15 minutes trying to find out if a particular item was available in a nearby store. After 15 minutes he said a rude word followed by "Thank goodness they still let us use the old app", He went to the green screen and had the answer in less than a minute. This was a tech-savvy guy - not an ancient Luddite,

My point? Most green screen apps have evolved over many years and the restricted real estate forces you to design for your user's needs and not cuteness. In too many cases the GUI designers haven't a clue and often appear to be trying to reuse code developed for customers.

Don't get me wrong - we need to update the interfaces we need, but all too often the results are less than adequate.


Jon Paris
Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On May 16, 2025, at 2:10 PM, Greg Wilburn <gwilburn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

With the tools available now, you should be able to stay on the platform while providing a UI that looks nothing like a "green screen".

Now, if I could just get my "mature users" to move over to the browser... They would rather press 3 Fn keys, field exit and F5 than click a button to release an order. 😊

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Jon Paris
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2025 12:30 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Costco still on IBM i?

Like many others Pete, Costco have been attempting to move off the platform to one degree or another for 12+ years. Like most others, it hasn't worked that well so far as I can tell.

I wonder if the interface you saw is mostly a skin? Certainly, in my local store, the green screen is front and center as always.


Jon Paris
Jon.Paris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Greg Wilburn
Director of IT
301.895.3792 ext. 1231
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