No one single theme this week - instead a range from industry news to a request for help.
First, the news.
Our good friend, and regular speaker at the RPG & DB2 Summit, Scott Klement announced last week that he was leaving his current job as IT Manager with Klement Sausage and taking up a position with application modernization vendor Profound Logic. Our first thought was that this was terrific news for both Scott and Profound. Our second was that all over the IBM i world there had to be countless ISVs kicking themselves in the backside over having missed out on the chance to hire Scott. We've always been impressed by Profound's offerings - now that Scott is on board we can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Talking of Summit, we'll be opening registration shortly for the Minneapolis event in October (23rd to 25th). We're really, really looking forward to this one as we're back at the Sofitel hotel and that has absolutely the best food we've ever had at a conference location. It also gives us the opportunity to visit Rochester while we're in the area and to catch up with some friends. We'll let you know when the updated website is open for business.
Just in case you aren't subscribed to IBM i EXTRA, we thought we'd mention that EXTRA recently published the first part of our newly revised "RSE Quick Start Guide" last week. As our followers know, we're RSE (aka, RDP) users and fans. We are often asked "how do I get started with RSE?" and the Guide is our attempt to answer that question. The full Guide isn't ready yet. We'll let you know when it is (hopefully in the next couple of weeks). Until then, take a look at part 1.
A Plea for Help
We were discussing modernization options with a client the other day and were surprised to find that they were unaware of many of the current tools and options. Rather than try to build them a list of tools to review we hit the Web to try and find a single source that covered all** of the current tools and where they fit in the marketplace. We couldn't find one. In fact, the one we kept finding was our own series "From Green to Dream," which appeared back in 2003 and 2004.
We wrote two of the articles in that series. The first part was an overview of the considerations involved in choosing an application modernization approach. The second (Part 4 - Developing New Applications) dealt with the tools available in the marketplace to develop new applications.
It's hard to believe that it was nearly nine years ago that we wrote those articles, and of course a lot has changed in the intervening period. JavaScript libraries have simplify the job of building sophisticated Web interfaces. Open Access (and in particular its availability free-of-charge with the compiler) has spawned new tools and approaches. Refacing tools have become more and more sophisticated. Mobile apps have emerged as THE hot topic and show no sign of slowing down. And on and on.
So - we've decided it is time to revisit the topic and bring it up-to-date. And that is where you come in. If you work for an ISV that has a tool in this arena, or if you are a satisfied customer of such a vendor, then please let us know. Email us at [email protected] and give us the details of what you have to offer. Please note that we are fundamentally looking for tools for 5250 modernization, not office integration, etc. We may cover such tools in the future, but right now if it can't replace a 5250 we aren't interested in it.
** "All" - we know we'll miss some - it's inevitable. We had some really "grumpy" letters about tools that we had "missed" in those previous articles but we're going to try to make it as comprehensive approach as we can. Many of the best tools originate outside of North America and so it is harder for us to hear of them. Hopefully more overseas readers will see this and help us out in this regard.
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