Re: Costco still on IBM i?

Hi Daniel I understand your point but I invite you to think a little wider.

The most important step we did leaving 5250 was not the GUI interface, is
the fact that now our RPG programs are designed to provide services not a
single page on a screen (Our application it's NOT stateles, we have a
single job connected to the browser session).

An example: when the user over (time triggered) the mouse on a field the
javascript client requests a tooltip (Call a service handled via IWS>RPG)
and that tooltip will be in the rigth context. So if I'm handling dangerous
things can be "Don't mix with other goods" or if fragile "Use the proper
package" and so on. And the tooltip itself can be: text, html text, pdf,
image, mp4 voice message and so on.

And the key (at least for us) is having a tool like IWS that shields
completely the complex world of web communications. I design the service in
RPG and publish in IWS and the Javascript client will use it. Performances
are stellar, subsecond and stateful, granted.

This is to say that I am not talking about something better or worse but
about the fact that the transition to the web opens up an almost infinite
series of new possibilities that do not exist with the 5250 model and that
programmers who remain anchored to that model often do not see or do not
consider because they are not part of their horizon.

Food for minds :-)

Best regards
--
Marco Facchinetti

Mr S.r.l.

Tel. 035 962885
Cel. 393 9620498

Skype: facchinettimarco


Il giorno dom 25 mag 2025 alle ore 06:22 Daniel Gross <daniel@xxxxxxxx> ha
scritto:

Hi Marco,

Am 25.05.2025 um 03:07 schrieb Marco Facchinetti <

marco.facchinetti@xxxxxxxxx>:

Daniel, once again: I wrote a ton of "display file - program" but

nobody will ever buy that model again.

That's true from your personal perspective as an ISV and consultant. In
fact, it would be very hard / impossible today, to sell a customer a new
application package with a 5250 user interface.

But this has nothing to do with an "superior programming model" - web UIs
are just shiny and new and have a lot of bling. And in some cases really
add value.

But the reality in small and medium businesses is, that they have invested
a lot into their code bases over time - and they don't just throw that
away, because someone say, it's "bad technology". Other than big
enterprises, the SMBs don't jump on every train.

The company I work for (logistics and transportation) has a core
application from the early 1990s - of course green screen. But that doesn't
hurt, because the average user, never sees it, as our web development team
created specific UIs for many user centric tasks that communicate with our
code modules.

But when it came to a new business process (processing incoming invoices
vs. internal pre-calculation) the stakeholders wanted us to create a new
5250 application. In fact the ladies who have to work with it, liked it
better - and asked for it. This wasn't my decision - is even was made,
before I entered the company - and maybe I wouldn't have made that decision
- but now it's like that.

So again - from the perspective of an ISV / consultant it's clear, that
you don't develop new software based on 5250. But from the perspective of
an internal developer or freelancer - not working for an ISV - it's not so
clear, as you have to deal with what is on hand.

Kind regards,
Daniel

P.S.: I've only seen the screenshots of "Galileo" at your website -
doesn't look mediocre - and I think Patrik didn't reference to you
application. But there are a lot of bad web GUIs out there - I have seen a
lot in the last 20 years - and I have seen a lot of good, bad and ugly 5250
screens too.
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