Impossible to even think about rewriting in RPG

I have been reading these emails until I can't keep it in. So, here's my
two cents worth on this subject and I'm sure there are dozens who will
disagree.



Having been on the S/36 and then the AS400 and now the iSeries, I have found
it is the companies rather than the people who are against change. As an
independent consultant who primarily works in RPG, I have seen many
companies that don't want to modernize. They have a "leave it alone, don't
break it" mentality. In addition, companies believe that you must switch
platforms and/or programs to progress.



I travel, out of the Kansas City area, across the majority of the US working
for various clients. The majority of my clients want to stay "relatively"
current but not on the "bleeding edge" of technology.



We have taken code that was written 20 years ago and brought it up to ILE
standards. We have interfaced on-line real time hand held devices with
little effort. Customers now send emails and faxes of documents with easy.
We have imaged documents stored and displayed from the AS400 without third
party software.



The platform and language are capable of doing so much as long as "WE" let
the company know that it can be done. There is no need to scrap years of
experience and the investment in hardware and software for the sake of
"modern up-to-date" programs. As programmers, designers and/or consultants
I feel we need to let the customer or our company know that the investment
can be leveraged. Each model of the AS400 has become more powerful while
getting smaller and more cost effective. User tiered pricing for the OS was
long overdue.



A single system capable of running RPG, Unix, Linux and Windows has huge
cost benefits, even for a small company. Let the fortune 500 companies
press IBM into making the platform more versatile and cost effective. We
all benefit from the increased capabilities and performance that each
upgrade brings to us.



I have spoken with several young people who are graduating college. The
majority are learning Java and other "current" programs. Most think that
RPG has died and been buried. They tell me of the hardware requirements to
effectively run a Java based application and the number of people required
to maintain the database, hardware, network and code. Talk about TCO going
through the roof.



So having ranted and carried on, I welcome a dialogue with anyone who feels
the AS400 and RPG is going the way of the Dodo bird. I will agree that
Microsoft has done one hill of a job brainwashing the youth of America.
Talk about a proprietary system, can a Windows server talk to a Mac? I have
several customers running Macs for desktops and the server is still an
AS400. The debate will rage on until I'm long gone. Somehow I don't see
IBM giving up on the AS400 or RPG in the near future. What I do see is
continued improvement in both the platform and language.