Hello Justin,
Am 02.01.2025 um 14:43 schrieb Justin Taylor <jtaylor.0ab@xxxxxxxxx>:
Retrofitting a single program with a modern UI is one thing, but what about thousands? I see that as the biggest hurdle. You've got teams with the capacity to maintain and enhance the current program suite, but not enough to refactor everything.
Well, one could say, that is what one gets when one piles up technical debt over years. But it is also the natural (speak: monetary) way of things.
I'm completely with you here. Employees are not hired in advance for possible future tasks, but the existing people are ideally doing their daily job without neither amassing overtime nor browsing YouTube because they're bored. :-) Thousands of applications haven't been written in a year, and likewise they can't be replaced by what is essentially a new application in a fraction of that time. And, TBH, there's nothing more frustrating than doing the Sisyphus thing for years to come. That's why I am a friend of not doing it "when there's time", but do it properly as a one-time project. Ideally with proper planning. This is not limited to IBM i green screens vs. web-stuff. Many companies sooner or later face being stuck in a perceived dead end for some important, central computer application.
In the end, it's a boss-thing to decide: Leave it like it is, or (temporarily) hire more people to undertake a modernization effort. Again, TBH, leave it like it is, is not necessarily the worst option. From comments in the Midrange Groups I often perceive the arguments for modernization as end in itself. Or to appear hip and modern to (new) employees or other, probably unrelated people. "OMG hide that 5250 screen, there are children allowed in the premises!" ;-)
On the other hand, if *the* central application suite of a company must be — more or less — rewritten anyway, this might give way to discussions about getting rid of IBM i. From a boss/monetary point of view, this consideration appearing on the slate is somewhat natural.
I have read somewhere about the cost of not acting, and the results can be very surprising if thought through thoroughly.
For the record: I'm a keen proponent of TUI applications and my view is thus biased/spoiled.
:wq! PoC
midrange.com
