RE: Using % type functions/using RPG IV

Jon - Do you really think JDE is the "exception" who has switched to a "different paradigm"?  In my opinion, the only vendors still strong and enhancing their products are the ones who switched away from RPG and moved (years ago) to a multi-platform computing environment.

JDE switch to non-RPG development I think in the early 90's.  Lawson did it before that.  They both have case tools which output non-RPG code to run the same apps on the customer's choice of AS/400, NT, Unix, etc.

I know that our company didn't even consider an AS/400-only solution when they chose an ERP last year, and I doubt that any prospect would buy into an RPG app in this millenium, whehter it is RPG2, 3, 4, or 10!   It is just too limiting.   Businesses want the flexibility to move to another platform if they need to in the future.

Quote from Jon: "The exceptions are those like JDE who have switched to a different paradigm
(sorry couldn't think of another word).  Even these are reconsidering".

Come one Jon - are you actually thinking the big AS/400 ERP vendors are considering going backwards from platform independence to RPG?  Is that why JDE spent 5 years and hundreds of millions of $ moving from RPG to GUI C?  Are you saying SAP is considering moving to RPG?  Is BAAN switching to RPG development?

Can you name one major player that is considering switching to RPG that spent millions moving away from RPG?

The only vendors still coding in RPG appear to have either: no competition (a niche player) or are milking a maintenance revenue stream.  But the latter group is not signing on any new customers!

-----Original Message-----
From: Jon.Paris@halinfo.it [mailto:Jon.Paris@halinfo.it]
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2000 1:43 PM
To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
Subject: RE: Using % type functions/using RPG IV

  >> An exception to this would be MAPICS.

Many of the big and medium size vendors are switching their new versions to RPG
IV - although if they are all like the one that Susan saw last week at a
client's site it may not be such a good idea!  (Can you remember the early
"Native" apps on AS/400 <g>)

The exceptions are those like JDE who have switched to a different paradigm
(sorry couldn't think of another word).  Even these are reconsidering since many
of their users have demonstrated that they have no intention of switching to the
new versions.

As has also been pointed out here it is perfectly possible to do a straight
CVTRPGSRC on the vendor software and do your in-house mods on that.  If fixes
etc. come in, you convert them too before comparing and re-integrating.  In some
cases the vendor has announced that there will be no new releases of the
existing product.  When this happened I'd be headed for my RPG IV conversion
tools faster than ........

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