From: Steve Comstock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Until the up and coming folks get excited about what mainframes can do and the advantages they offer (and this has to include cost effectiveness), the trend in the number of companies using IBM mainframes can only be downward.
In my opinion, people will NEVER get excited about using mainframes as long as they have no option but to work with the default interface. Constantly swapping between screens and typing in data set names all day long is a complete and utter waste of time. The learning curve and lowered productivity costs companies billions of dollars a year. From a user perspective, working with the default mainframe interface is tedious, frustrating, time-consuming, and error prone. More than that, it contributes to anti-mainframe sentiment among people who would much rather use a mouse instead of a keyboard.
I'll be the first to admit I have a biased point of view, as I make a living developing an alternative interface. The reason I started developing the product is because I feel so strongly about the issue. In fact, I feel so strongly about it I'd much rather see companies use ANY product that improves the mainframe interface, instead of giving people the totally false and misleading impression that the default interface is the only interface available.
Some products cost money and some products are free. Some offer a quantum leap forward, comparable to using Windows versus DOS. It's unimaginable to me that any company would use DOS in their PC environment, when dramatically more productive alternatives are available. Yet for some strange reason, this same common-sense attitude just doesn't seem to exist when people consider (or more accurately DON'T consider) the various alternative interfaces available for the mainframe.
To me, improving productivity and user experience are two of the most fundamental steps towards seeing the mainframe survive and flourish well into the future. Both of these steps can be accomplished very easily by simply installing one of many different alternative interface products available on the market. For example:
ISPF Productivity Tool (formerly Spiffy) - by IBM Favorites - by ASG JumpList - a free product available on the CBT tapes Note: I'm not associated with any of the above products in any way. Dave Salt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
