On 3/6/2017 5:33 PM, John Yeung wrote:
On Mon, Mar 6, 2017 at 4:31 PM, Buck Calabro <kc2hiz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 3/4/2017 12:55 PM, Brian Parkins wrote:
I know scores of IBM i developers who would _love_ to have RDi on their
workstations. Sadly, the costs kill the argument. This in turn is doing the
IBM i platform no good at all.
Having lived through the WDSC 5 era, I'm more cynical than you are.
WDSC 5 was bundled with the compilers. In other, bitter, words we as a
large statistical cohort of IBM i developers literally wasted our
employers' money rather than use WDSC.
I don't disagree with the "wasted money" part of that, but I would
have framed it differently. You make it sound as though we
statistically *refused* to use it.
I can relate only my personal experience. In a development shop with
over 50 RPG programmers, exactly one (me) used WDSC 5. I assure you
that the rest absolutely knew about it. I would be... surprised to
discover that I somehow worked at the most unique RPG shop on the planet.
But I strongly suspect that a much larger portion of the midrange
community simply didn't know anything other than SEU existed.
And then there are the CDs. I have in my hands (as I desperately try to
type around them) a pair of CD-ROM packages. One reads IBM WebSphere
Development Studio Client for iSeries Version 5.0. For Windows NT,
Windows 2000, and Windows XP. It has yellow trim. It's still in the
wrapper. Never opened.
The other is my personal (yes, mine, all mine!) copy of WebSphere
Development Studio Client for iSeries, Version 6.0. For Windows 2000
and Windows XP. It has a purple-ish sort of trim. Inside, it says
this: 'WebSphere Development Studio Client product installation.
Integrated set of Windows-based development, testing, and deployment
tools for iSeries RPG, COBOL, CL, DDS, Java, and Web development.
Copyright 1992, 2005.
Is it possible that all those people who got all those CDs in those big
boxes of software just stuffed them in the Circular File? It sure is,
but I don't see how this is IBM's fault (as cost would be).
If I'm
right, it wouldn't be fair to call it a choice. I can hear the
choruses of "it's up to everyone to keep themselves abreast". Maybe
so. But I still think there is a qualitative difference between making
a deliberate choice versus not knowing there is a choice.
Wise words. The world is indeed a big place, and I should have been
clear about the statistical cohort of which I write. I'm speaking of
the RDi-wannabe types. Those who want to use it but cannot because the
cost is just too much.
I've done some rather informal data gathering over the past 20 or so
years, with... maybe 75 RPG developers. Face to face, not vague 'people
told me' stuff. I've condensed it down to these questions. Have you
(the generic dev who's tired of walking to my desk because I won't use
SEU at hers):
a) Loaded a trial. Ever.
b) Costed it out. Ever.
c) Taken a proposal to the boss. Ever.
Despite appearances, it's not my first day on the internet :-) Here are
some of the reasons I've heard:
a) IT has PC locked tight. Authorised software only (What, no waiver?)
b) Who can navigate IBM's pricing? (What, no BP?)
c) Scary boss is scary (What, no... oh well you have me there)
Anyway, there is a cohort who do know that RDi et al exist. I believe
that the number one reason these RPG developers use SEU is not cost, but
'SEU does everything I need'. And there's nothing wrong with that in my
eyes. But it /is/ a deliberate decision.
midrange.com
