Text-based UI...

[Julian Wolfe]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org 
> [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Jules Richardson
> Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 8:11 AM
> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
> Subject: Re: Text-based UI...
> 
> Bryan Pope wrote:
> > 
> > Since when is a text-based UI a bad thing?!!
> > 
> > http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/05/0025241
> 
> heh heh - I like the way almost every single reply advocates 
> the use of a different development app/language. I bet the 
> poor original poster is totally confused (which serves them 
> right for not realising that text-based interfaces have their 
> place too :-)
> 
> I remember doing work to put Java / Web-based front ends onto 
> AS/400 stuff back in the mid-90s (at the customer's request, 
> I hasten to add - they wanted to "embrace the web", along 
> with any other number of nauseating marketing-driven things). 
> It was, by and large, utter hell. Interfacing between an OO 
> language in a graphical, web-oriented client environment and 
> the AS/400 way of doing things was "interesting" to say the 
> least. (not that I'm knocking either - but the two just 
> didn't mix well!)
> 
>From what I've read, the need for AS/400 systems to be visible via the web
hasn't gone unnoticed by IBM.  OS/400 (as of at least V5R1) has a built in
web server (HTTP Server, but it's really just Apache) The great part of that
system is that you can use it alongside the text-based UI, and give the
customer side whichever interface they want.

Too bad it sounds like they just want to abandon their AS/400 setup, it
might be easier just to stick with it.