Re: Costco still on IBM i?

Daniel, once again: I wrote a ton of "display file - program" but nobody
will ever buy that model again.

Best regards
--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco


Il giorno sab 24 mag 2025 alle ore 18:32 Daniel Gross <daniel@xxxxxxxx> ha
scritto:

I really tried to write nothing this time … it didn’t work out ;-)

Am 24.05.2025 um 17:07 schrieb Patrik Schindler <poc@xxxxxxxxxx>:

Am 23.05.2025 um 18:20 schrieb Marco Facchinetti <

marco.facchinetti@xxxxxxxxx>:

I can't believe you people are still talking about 5250.

It's still in actual use. Why not discuss it?

I think that’s absolutely fair. I get a lot of questions about DDS and
green screen - so IMHO it’s absolutely OK to discuss technical questions.

Please, let it fade away.

Well - IBM tried that for at least 2 decades or more now - look how
successful they were.

And I tell you why the 5250 TUI interface is still in use:

- IBM i developers are mostly not „fast and early adopters“ - many tend
to stick to what works.

- many midrange companies do not have high flying IT budgets - often 1 or
2 guys are doing all the work, that it done by 20 and more people on other
platforms - and I even know of companies, where exactly those 2 guys are
also doing additional roles.

- many ISVs have abandoned their 5250/TUI applications and tried to force
the companies to their GUI or web apps - but those investments are often
out of reach - so those small IT teams keep the motor running

- it just works - display file - program - bam - works

- the "programming model“ of web applications is IMHO plain stupid -
connectionless protocols for transactional UI processes are nonsense -
always was and always will be. OK one-page-web-apps might be a thing - but
the technical effort (esp. the usage of frameworks) is insane.

- there is no middle ground - no kind of „smooth“ transition - yes, you
can buy tools for a lot of money - or you have to make the transition
yourself - painful one way or another - and it breaks down to „budget“ again

If the answer are clunky web-UIs resulting from immense programming

effort: No. Definitely not.

In defense of web UIs - not all of them are clunky - I know a lot of real
good interfaces, that work - but those are developed by big teams with big
budgets - not by small and medium sized companies. On the other side, I
know a lot of good 5250/TUI applications that work and aren’t „clumsy“.

What I want to see fade away is the frequent reappearance of this very

same discussion about if GUI or TUI is better. It's tiresome.

Yes - that would be great - but sadly „we“ always jump on that bandwagon
in the very moment someone sends a mail about the matter.

There will never be an agreement because everybody has its own view on

the topic. Partly factual, partly opinion based, partly kinda religious.

Jep - but don’t we all love a good „discussion“ … oh how I miss those
„nice“ C vs. Pascal flame wars on the use-net … those were more
(un-)civilized times back then ;-)

SIGNOFF
Daniel
--
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