System iNetwork

"SQL is SQL is SQL". This is what I said when asked if I have used ASC Sequel. I wrote a simple line as follows:

DELETE SQL(from myfile where myfield like "A%")

Did not work. Called all Sequel champs and they found no problem. Went crazily thru examples to find an alternate and discovered that for ASC Sequel I needed "A*" and not "A%". Dang!

The problem with thinking we can stick with 5250 is that there are so many features not being implemented on the 5250 side of the world that are implemented in iSeries Navigator.

Not to mention the fact that 5250 steers people away from the iSeries like Vegans steer clear of meat.

My guess would be that the vast majority of iSeries work is still being done using 5250. It's very fast for inputting (significantly more so than most GUI interfaces), extremely simple and less prone to crashes.

GUI interfaces are nice, but if you just need to get the work done fast and accurately, 5250 can be better.

Is this changing? Yes - more GUI apps are being written and used. But I think of 5250 like RPG - every few years we're told that it's dying/dead/buried only to find that it's still here...

Well, I guess that most people don't care about what's going on behind the scene. The technical part is only for technical people although the real beauty is there only. Regular people just want to use something beautiful to see, and when they want to use it, they just want that it works (e.g. the apple iPod, very expensive, very beautiful). Another way to say that, is to say that when people turn on the light they just want to have some light they don't really care about the power plant the wires a.s.o. So, in the long run (20 to 30 years) green screen is dead because it is not beautiful. It will die when the last RPG programmers will be retired. Only a new generation of iSeries programmers, or programmers who really want to change that will create new application with what people want (don't forget that most CEO's is in the point of view of the iSeries guys a regular guys who knows nothing about iSeries and computers in general and this is also true for most members of a management team). These new application might not be as reliable as the green screen application, but they just have to be good enough and to be beautiful. If the iSeries community want to give a future to the iSeries, it's the way to go. The human nature as a trend to go toward something which is shinning and not the opposite. If that was not true you wouldn't have flowers, Ferrari's car, big and bright 4*4 trucks a.s.o.