RE: Future of AS/400 ??????????????:(:

     Great!!! My favorite rant is back, and I didn't even need to bring 
     ut up, this time. 
     
     Agreed, Richard and Gail, training of inhouse staff should be 
     considered more of business requirement rather than a "perk". 
     Around here, they hand out training like its a bone for the dog. 
     Since PC is "in" here, and AS400 is "out", I'm just a hungry puppy. 
     In four years here, after repeated requests (and Common San Antonio 
     right down the road, Dallas right up the other way) I have yet to 
     see ANY training, classes, books, magazines (a few pre-1997 rags on 
     the shelf), seminars, tutorials, etc. I've had to use up my own 
     vacation time and savings to fund training for myself that has 
     never been reimbursed to me, even though this company saw the 
     benefit. How loyal and happy with my employer do you think I am? 
     Could you use a new programmer?
     
     Thank God for Midrange.com
     
     Regards,
     Eric DeLong


______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: RE: Future of AS/400 ??????????????:(:
Author:  "gcrane@johansonmfg.com" <SMTP:gcrane@johansonmfg.com> at EXCHANGE
Date:    1/14/01 9:02 AM


I don't feel you were abrupt.  You said it like it really is.  Thank you.  I

also agree that EVERY IS Manager owes and has the responsibility of
providing 
the best training for their people as possible and then allow them to use
what 
they have learned.    What it all boils down to is MONEY and TIME.
Definitely 
business is changing and WEB development is going into the next 
stage......getting to backend data.  That is where the RPG is going to come
into
play.   Data integrity gets into a higher level now that we are visible from
the
outside world.  That puts more heat on our programmers to MAKE SURE it
updates 
correctly and does not give you divide by zero errors, testing more
important, 
etc.  The outside world would think your company is nuts if stuff is not top

notch.   In our company, the focus is in building WEB interfaces for
customers 
and reps, not developing new business applications in RPG.    We are only a
very
small shop  so if the internet applications is the focus for us, you know
for 
sure what it is for the big shops.  I don't believe RPG or the 400 is going
away
completely, it just won't be the Big Cheese any more but just another spoke
in 
the wheel.  That in itself is demoralizing.  Who ever thought email would be

more important than order entry & invoicing!  Times are changing and we all
will
change with it.
     
Off my soapbox now.
Gail Crane
     
     
     
     
     
"Richard Jackson" <richardjackson@richardjackson.net> on 01/13/2001 11:32:23
AM
     
Please respond to RPG400-L@midrange.com
     
To:   RPG400-L@midrange.com
cc:    (bcc: Gail L Crane/Johanson/JMC)
     
Subject:  RE: Future of AS/400 ??????????????:(:
     
     
     
Suppose that you have an AS/400 and that you wanted to sell your company's 
products on a web site.  There are lots of ways to to that but suppose that 
you want to use internal hardware and staff resources.  I believe that you 
might have difficulty finding RPG programmers that know how to get a web
site 
working on an AS/400.  You will either employ contractors or hire new people

who know how to do this.  Neither of these choices meets the original 
requirement for internal staff.  When they can get the site up, RPG is not 
the language of choice for creating web pages or generating HTML - CGI,
Perl, 
and Java are much more common.  Most of the people who know how to create 
excellent web sites know those languages and know how to work in a Unix plus

Windows environment - Unix for the Apache web host and CGI environment and 
Windows for the browser.  Your RPG programmers are still providing data to 
the DHTML apps but they aren't in the web business at all. So, I think that 
you will get your site up but, due to the limitations of internet time, your

RPG people won't participate very much.  I think that you can figure out
what 
that will mean for your staff morale.
     
Of course you want us to stay current on everything.  Some of us want to do 
that too.  But programmers live with changing requirements, deadlines, and 
develop robust and enduring cynicism.  You have your role to play - INSIST 
that your people are trained and that they get to use the new stuff.  Those 
that do not keep up are out.  If you fail to do that, you will get what I 
described above.  If you keep your people trained, you will have the 
internal resources to do the job yourself.  It will cost you money but you 
will keep the best people and they will be very valuable to you.
     
I have reread this note a couple of times and it feels sort of abrupt and 
missing something important.  I regret the abruptness, I can't figure out 
how to remove it easily.  Perhaps I am lazy this morning.  If I knew what 
was missing I would add it.  Sorry.
     
Richard Jackson
     
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com [mailto:owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com]On 
Behalf Of gcrane@johansonmfg.com
Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2001 4:47 AM 
To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
Subject: Re: Future fo AS/400??????????????:(:
     
     
     
     
I am an IS Manager....not technically literate.  What I want to know is.....
     
What can you do with RPG that you can NOT do with other languages?
     
 What can you do with other language that RPG can NOT do?
     
When I speak to my technical people I am looking for business solutions and 
trying to make the best LONG TERM investment for my company.  If I have 
technical staff that is not understanding other competing technologies and 
which
is best for the job at hand, than I certainly do not feel confident that my 
long
term investment in that person (machine, language) is a good shot nor do I 
feel
secure in advising my boss (the President) of the best direction for the 
company.  Get my drift.  I need and look for people who are self-educating 
themselves continually on various technologies.  They don't have to be 
experts
but they have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each and what it

can
or can't do for our company.  They we try to put the best tool to the job.
     
I love the AS400 box and everything it has afforded for me and my company. 
NT
is being pushed by every vendor.  Besides NT and Java, CGI, etc. is also the

high push by internal people in my company for Lotus Notes solutions.  Is 
anyone
keeping current with Lotus script?   So, I as manager and other managers 
have to
make some hard decisions that impact you guys.  We NEED you to be literate 
in a
variety of things and give us you unbiased opinions.  That is the only way 
ALL
of us survive.
     
     
     
     
     
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