Re: Merlin

[dr2@xxxxxxxx]

Historically,  most anytime IBM has referred to a product as "strategic"
you can figure it's doomed.. 

DR2

On 2025-03-26 16:40, Jim Oberholtzer wrote:

> Well, they have not made that statement.  That said, when creating Merlin, IBM spent a good deal of money getting the VSCode  extensions ready and integrating into Merlin.  So why do that if RDI is the direction?   When you hear IBM call a program  strategic ,as I've heard about RDI, that usually means it's close to end of development. Maybe not true in RDIs case since they've outsourced it to Fortra but ya gotta wonder.  
>
> Also, VSCode runs about anywhere without issues, VS. the drama that accompanies any Windows update.  Again, coincidence?   I think not.  
>
> Ask IBM and you'll get a great non-answer. 
>
> Jim Oberholtzer
> Agile Technology Architects
>
> On Mar 26, 2025, at 2:35 PM, O'Sullivan, James <josulli4@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi Justin,
> Can you point to where IBM have made a statement about VS Code being the future?
>
> Regards
>
> James O'Sullivan
> DXC Technology
>
> T +44 3301 058211 | M +44 7827 843323
> josulli4@xxxxxxx
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: MIDRANGE-L <midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Justin Taylor
> Sent: 24 March 2025 20:03
> To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: Merlin
>
> IBM has made it clear that VS Code is the future (their RPG copilot will be released for VS Code and they haven't even committed to RDi integration).
> That being said, I'm sticking with RDi for now.  I love the idea of VS Code code4i, and I check it out a couple of times a year.  For me, it's not feature-complete yet (biggest gap is equivalent to RDi Outline view).
>
> I know that some frustrated Mac users have abandoned RDi, but I've always used a company-supplied Windows PC so that doesn't apply to me.
>
> On Mon, Mar 24, 2025 at 1:10 PM Dan Bale <dan.bale@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> Last I looked, there was a high cost to entry with Merlin, both in
> terms of dollars and specific technical expertise.  Given that a lot
> of developers are still refusing to give up SEU, I honestly don't see
> a lot of shops making that investment.
>
> We have RDi licenses here, but just last week a developer trying to
> upgrade to 9.8 had a devil of a time with applying the permanent license.
> RDi kept returning extremely vague error messages and it wasn't until
> I discovered that the user's install somehow managed to have a
> floating license instead of the permanent license, even though our
> instructions for users to install RDi 9.8 are crystal clear and the
> user in this case is not one for PEBKAC errors.  After several days
> before we finally determined the issue and had to get IBM to tell us
> how to delete the floating license, he was ready to jump ship to VS Code for i.
>
> I've got both RDi and VS Code for i installed on my work laptop.  I
> primarily use RDi due to my several years of experience with it, but I
> am learning to use VS Code for i on my personal laptop for when I work
> on PUB400.  Does anyone who has used both have a good reason to
> recommend RDi over VS Code for i?
>
> - Dan Bale
>
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