I Want, I Want, I Want: An AS/400 Wish List

by David G. Abramowitz

One of the hardest lessons to learn in life is that, if you don't ask for things, there is no other way to get them, short of coincidence or divine intervention. There is an equally valid truism that comes to us through the Rolling Stones, that you can't always get what you want, but if you try some time you get what you need. Mick Jagger is clearly not an AS/400 administrator or programmer.

The reality is that some of the things we need IBM to do, and have needed it to do for years, have still not been done. Many things that I have asked for on behalf of the OS/400 community have not happened. Almost four years ago, I wrote an article in one of the midrange magazines that laid out the things I wanted IBM to do to improve the OS/400 platform. Let's see how well IBM delivered.

• Client Access/400 works better than ever. There is always that one workstation, but what the heck.
• File transfer and ODBC work better than ever before, but there's always one more PTF to apply.
• OPNQRYF still does not allow me to retrieve the number of records queried. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, OS/400's most powerful CL command has not been enhanced in since, well, since a long time ago.
• Flexibility on menu bar placement--no way. Pull-downs are still not conditionable, like the manual says they are.
• Zero dates in date data types is downright heresy!
• There is less hard-copy documentation available now than the thin amount IBM once supplied. On the other hand, I've gotten used to downloading PDFs, and I don't mind the lack of paper documentation so much. This was IBM's plan all along.
• Subfields are still a no-no in DB2/400. You still can't define subfields or arrays in a physical file.
• Graphics are still only accessible in client applications.
• There is so much left to do to improve the 5250 protocol that I am not sure where to begin.
• RPG multidimensional arrays are now a definite possible maybe, but there is still no IBM tool to replace the awkward RLU.
• COBOL internal SORT informational messages still clog the QSYSOPR message queue.
• Drivers in front of me still don't signal, and shoppers in the express line still have too many items. Users are about as reasonable as they've ever been, and after all of that, I'm still working with the best computer hardware and software of all time.
• IBM has renamed the AS/400 but still doesn't push it!

Of course, the things I wanted in 1998 are only part of my growing list of things I desire for the OS/400 platform.

• OPNQRYF still won't tell me how many records were selected.
• TAATools is owned by a separate company, and IBM has lost interest.
• CISC boxes have been abandoned.
• Menu bars still exist only on the top line of a screen.
• The lady in front of me at the supermarket express line still has too many items and is paying by check.

This is enough to make you scream, if it were not true that greed is transient. You still want the stuff you didn't get, and then you can want more stuff. Greed is good that way. I now want more!

Let's start with CGI processing. In the last millennium, the System/32 used CRT files to process I/O requests. There were KEY and SET operation codes to allow the programmer to accept input and display output. It was simple, fast, and effective. Now, to do the same thing for SYSIN and SYSOUT, you have to call nearly undecipherable APIs. This level of complication has been simplified before, and it can be simplified again. I want IBM to turn CGI processing into a simple set of operation codes in RPG, and ACCEPT and DISPLAY verbs in COBOL.

I want IBM to remember who its customers are, and to respect them. IBM can start by supplying all the database enhancements it has made in the last two years to the native interface. I want IBM to remember what the AS/400 is, and not think that by calling the AS/400 by a new name, the system is just a Windows server in a different box, running an operating system used by people Big Blue doesn't know anymore.

I want OS/400 to recognize a network printer, as easily and as simply as setting up a twinax printer. I want all the drawers to work, and I want to print in color, on color printers.

I understand that a DVD-ROM may be in the works for the AS/400. In my experience, it has never been a business requirement to watch wide-screen movies. On the other hand, I have needed to transport AS/400 objects from place to place, using different media. I want a rewritable CD. I want to put objects on a CD for distribution, and I don't want to have to go to a PC and complete 28 steps to do it!

I want to lose some weight or gain some height. One or the other, I'm not picky.

There is still a plethora of System/36 programs in use. They are in use all over the place. The main reason why these programs have not been converted to native OS/400 mode is that there is no easy way to do it. RPG III programs convert to RPG IV by using the CVTRPGSRC command. For interactive S/36 programs, a great deal of analysis must be done, a lot of groundwork must be programmed, and a lot of the programs end up being rewritten from scratch. I want a CVTS36ENV command to instantly convert all S/36 objects to native mode in one fell swoop!

I want IBM to start placing AS/400s in colleges and universities. I want a curriculum that will attract students to the platform, and I want to be a part of that effort.

I want IBM to play to the strengths of the AS/400. I want it to advertise the strengths of the AS/400, and to make that advertising ubiquitous. I want to see that IBM sees future viability in the AS/400. I want IBM to change the name back to the AS/400. It's so confusing referring to the E-I-E-I-O/400 that I just call it the 400. I want IBM to admit that the hamburger ads were a really bad idea.

I want us to respect each other and to tolerate points of view that do not match our own. I want us have our own personal peace, even if we do always get what we want.

David G. Abramowitz is an independent consultant who respects all computing platforms but prefers the AS/400. He can be reached at 105445.2515@compuserve.com.

Editor's Note: We are curious to know what you think IBM could do to improve the OS/400 platform. Send your wish lists to Timothy Prickett Morgan at tpm@itjungle.com. We will send them to IBM, to see if we can get some sort of grassroots movement going.

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