Re: VARPG (was Design Change Requests)

[Booth Martin <booth@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

While all of this makes sense I don't see it as any bigger a problem 
than keeping up to date with the many other Windows applications.

Apparently its a non-issue in Windows World?

Joe Pluta wrote:
> > From: rob@xxxxxxxxx
> >
> > I think it boils down to distribution.  Keeping people on current versions
> > of Notes, MS Office, etc is a PITA.  Now, compound that with a VARPG
> > version of your ERP.  I would think that sites with employees active on
> > these lists (like us) would have frequent changes to their application
> > suites.  Already it is a PITA to get people to sign out of a screen to put
> > out a new version of order entry, etc.  Now compound that with
> > distributing the new version to a few hundred PC's.  That's why terminal
> > emulation or browser based applications appeal to people.
>
>
> This is a huge point, Rob.  The idea of UI distribution is one of the big
> thorns in the side of thick-client interfaces, and always has been.  That's
> why some of the big screen-scraper vendors run into problems scaling up;
> picture a few hundred users signing on at 8:30 AM and all of them having to
> download tens or even hundreds of megabytes of new screens.  Even on a
> gigabit LAN, that's going to mean a REALLY congested network for a while.
> On a 100MB LAN, you may as well go get breakfast.
>
> A 5250 interface and a web browser interface share the same concept of a
> centralized UI.  There are some thick clients that are stretching in that
> direction, but none of the technologies are mature yet.  And the alternative
> of having the host do all the GUI rendering is not cost-beneficial given the
> relatively high cost of iSeries CPU cycles vs. workstation CPU cycles.
>
> So until something like XUL (XML UI Language) becomes standard, I don't
> think you'll be seeing broadly distributed thick-client applications;
> instead they'll be relegated to power users responsible for executive
> decision making who really need graphical representation of data.
>
> Joe