Generic spooled file concept

I'm not looking for serious technical info on this since I can do most of the stuff on i that I want to do. What I'm looking for is some illumination. Just trying to understand mind-sets.

I regularly see requests about how to move or copy or display (or whatever) "our AS/400 reports" on Windows PCs. I'm pretty sure most of us have seen related requests.

How often do requests happen like "How can I move (or copy or display or whatever) my Windows spooled files on another PC (or wherever)?"

I don't think I've personally ever seen a request for anything like what I see for spooled files from AS/400s.

Sure, everybody wants PDFs from everything; but, for those, it doesn't really matter what system is involved. I'm interested in hearing about requests for the actual spooled files themselves.

Does anybody see those kinds of requests for other platforms? Are there solutions that are anything like either CPYSPLF or the spooled file APIs to help with those requests? (If there are, can anybody supply some links?)

If not, why does the request show up for AS/400s?

Every rare once in a while, I've supplied an answer like "Do it just like you'd do it under Windows except use your AS/400 APIs instead of the Windows APIs." Most often, the response is something like "Windows spools printed output? Windows has print queues? Huh??"

So, why the apparent expectation that it's supposed to be easy on AS/400s?

Just curious...

Tom Liotta