Re: 86 lines of code -- WDSCI-L

Lurker here with my first WDSC post --
I concur with Jim. We saw the same improvements when we went to two monitors with one exception: Shortly after that we had to purchase dual monitors for everyone in the organization :) Advice -- get the 22" wide-screen LCDs. Also, make sure the dual-port video card is supported by Windows 7 drivers.

About RDi: We noticed the "speed" complaints with RDi 7.5 from developers went away when we moved to Quad-core 9400 processors with 8GB of memory. The word from the developers now is "it's pretty snappy".

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Oberholtzer [mailto:jim.oberholtzer@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 9:31 AM
To: Rational Developer for IBM i / Websphere Development Studio Client for System i & iSeries
Subject: Re: [WDSCI-L] 86 lines of code

As a former CIO I have to report that when I funded dual monitors on the
desk (either with a docking station for a laptop or dual monitor for a
thin client) we saw development productivity go up in very measurable
ways. Quality improved, speed of development improved, Staff moral
improved, and the only real problem we ran into was jealousy from the
other departments about why did they not have dual monitors. I left
before the entire project was complete but we budgeted for every
developer and all of the media group to have this equipment. It was
cheap by comparison to the gains from the development process
improvements, especially for the folks doing user interface work.

Jim Oberholtzer
CEO/Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects -- LLC

On 3/16/2010 8:52 AM, Jon Paris wrote:

*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(r) Pro*

On Mar 16, 2010, at 9:38 AM, wdsci-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Is this just the american way of doing things bigger than everyone
else? How does one convince one's employer that 2 19" monitors are
economically viable? Are most people developping this way or are
they using one screen only?

I don't think it is the "American way" per se - but the cost may be a
factor. I can buy a good quality 19+ inch monitor for around $200. At
that price I know a number of programmers who bought their own
additional monitor and took it to work when the company would not
supply one. Another factor is that all new monitors are LCD and
therefore don't require the desktop real estate that they once did.

I also find that a number of my customers are now giving their
programmers laptops as their primary machine and a large LCD monitor
on the desk. Most choose to run in dual monitor mode utilizing both
the laptop and the LCD screen.

Given the price I don't think it is too hard to convince them that
there is payback.

Jon Paris

www.Partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com