Re: The Perpetual Myth of iSeries Obsolescence

["Tom Jedrzejewicz" <tomjedrz@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 4/28/06, Ingvaldson, Scott <SIngvaldson@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> No one complains about Linux or Unix admins who do their heavy lifting
> using character based interfaces.

It is not about the tools / interfaces we use to manage the systems. 
It is about the applications used by the user community.  The problem
is that the applications are still green screen, in many cases because
the RPG developers refuse to move toward graphical interfaces.

This makes perfect sense to me.  Why would management trust the
judgment about modernization to people who refuse to modernize the
very core of their working environment?

> The i5/Series is really the ultimate consolidation platform; almost
> nothing is incompatible with it, almost anything will run on it in some
> shape or form.  What other box can say that?

Certainly, but those capabilities are totally unused in the VAST
majority of shops, so all the executives see is the green screen.  We
need to demonstrate what the system can do with "edge" projects, so
that the real capabilities are known.

For instance, my company uses an old version of BPCS, which is green
screen.  But we have a few well placed web (CGI) programs, so that the
execs know that the system can support it.  It has been made clear to
the decision makers that while the application we choose to use is old
and limited, the underlying technology isn't.

Consequently, when I proposed an iSeries upgrade last fall I did not
get opposition related to the "oldness" of the system.  And as we
consider new things, I can propose putting them on the iSeries without
eyes rolling.

--
Tom Jedrzejewicz
tomjedrz@xxxxxxxxx