RE: Many RPG programmers would like to be able to port

["Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Jon Paris
>
> Anyway, as I said - let's not confuse fact with opinion.  Fact
> remains that
> very large numbers of people have asked for it over the years.

True enough Jon.  You're definitely in a position to know.  And heck, the
reason my old company went out of business was because they perceived a need
for a Unix based version of what was at the time the most successful AS/400
application ever developed.  So I should learn to shut up and listen to the
experts when it comes to this point.

You're absolutely right that my opinion is colored - it's tinged by the fact
that I personally believe that neither Unix nor Windows provides the same
level of support that OS/400 does.  I've worked extensively in all three
arenas, and so I'm entitled to my own opinion, no matter how cantankerous it
might be <grin>.

But I really believe that designing applications that can run on either Unix
or OS/400 is the wrong answer, and if anything will speed the demise of
OS/400.  Instead I believe that what we should be doing is designing true
n-tier systems using OS/400 as the central business logic server (and NOT as
an SQL server!).  We need to learn how to write UI independent business
logic, and then we can use whatever UI is required, be it HTML, XML, WML, or
whatever other ML may float down the road.

Instead, there's this move towards making the business logic portable, most
notably through replacing simple native I/O with SQL code.  Once done, the
Unix boxes will of course have a better price point than the iSeries, and
you can kiss the box goodbye.  I hope I never see that particular day.

Joe