Re: EGL in WDSC 7 vs EGL in RDi

[Joe Pluta <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nick Arndt wrote:
> I have a quick question about EGL in WDSC vs RDi.  Can any one tell me what
> has changed/improved in RDi for EGL/web development?  Or could I get a link
> to where this information could be found?
>   

This is where it gets a little confusing.  EGL is not part of RDi.  EGL 
is only part of RDi-SOA, which is actually RDi plus the new standalone 
RBD offering.  Prior to the new offering, EGL was first included with 
WDSC V6, and then got "unbundled" but was available as an additional 
plug-in to WDSC V7 (this was RBDe, the Rational Business Developer 
extension).

As of version 7.1 of the Rational tools, there are really three distinct 
products that are "available" to the System i community (four if you 
count HATS).  RDi contains RSE and LPEX, the GUI versions of PDM and 
SEU.  RBD is the standalone tool for EGL development.  And RAD contains 
pretty much everything else that used to be in WDSC, especially things 
like Java and J2EE development.

So, with RDi there is no EGL.  But with RDi-SOA you get RBD 7.1 which is 
really a huge release compared to version 7.  I can't tell you what's in 
it, but the last public word I heard was that it's coming to GA at the 
end of March.  I can tell you that the EGL team has worked *very* hard 
to consider the System i community in its development phases.  There are 
still some rough edges, but it's clear that they understand the specific 
business proposition that the System i addresses.  Of course, that might 
be at least partly to my being on the beta team (and you can guess how 
fun *that* was for the EGL developers <grin>).

And as cool as EGL is today, it's getting better.  There is a technology 
preview coming with RBD 7.1 that's going to blow your socks off.

Joe