Re: Switching to RDI from SEU

[Joe Pluta <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom Liotta wrote:
> Thank you, Brian, for volunteering to be the straight-man for my 
> "lighthearted" diatribe.
>
> So, the feature in the product for updating the product is only to 
> be used for updating parts that aren't part of the product. Did I 
> get that right? (And, yes, I'm still not somberly serious. If I was, 
> I'd include a description of the latest run of Installation Manager! 
> (And don't ask how my unrelated iSeries Access V6R1 service pack 
> update went.))
>
> Once again the question boils down to "This is the 'LITE' version?"
>
> IMO, the update is a wonderful example of how SEU/PDM has been made 
> easy for developers.
>   
WDSC is not the lite version of anything.  WDSC was the version of 
software that didn't take advantage of the advanced packaging 
capabilities of Installation Manager.  RDi truly is the i-specific 
version of WDSC, and it's quite petite, all things considered.

As to using Installation Manager rather than Eclipse update, while 
Eclipse has a pretty powerful update component (Europa is way cool), 
it's much more focused on discovering and installing new components and 
updating them and really not geared towards packaging and processing 
commercial applications.  Installation Manager, on the other hand, rocks 
for that particular task.

I've got four different installations of RDi, RBD and WDSC on my 
machine, ranging from WDSC 7 to RDi 7.1 to RBD 7.1 to RDi-SOA 7.5.1.  
All four exist simultaneously on my machine and I can update each 
individually, although I don't use the 7.1 versions anymore so I haven't 
tried to update them in some time.

I haven't run into any issues updating any of them.

One last note: as to the menus being complex, I don't find it so.  I 
guess I'm used to PC software.  I'm typing in this email and it's got 60 
or 70 menu options - FOR AN EMAIL.  Menus on desktop applications are 
garbage dumps.  What I like about RDi and RDi-SOA is that I really don't 
use the menus.  I can go an entire day doing nothing but pointing and 
clicking and using the context-sensitive menus that come with right-clicks.

Joe