Re: Yahoo - Informix Revitalizes 4GL Application Development Tools
Ing. Melvin Perez Cedano wrote: > > Mark D. Stock wrote: > > > Ing. Melvin Perez Cedano wrote: > > > > > > I'm a little confuse, because according with the category assigned to > > > INFORMIX-4GL in the Products Life Cycle, it is a dead product in terms > > > of development new features. Is Informix blind-searching the way to > > > start up? > > > > I don't remember the 'dead product' level in the Product Life Cycle. > > > > Ok, there's no 'dead product' category in the Product Life Cycle, but > there's a category 2, which as you surely know doesn't include any > development of new features, only maintenance releases. Yes. > >From informix web site: > > Category Two: Full Maintenance > > 1. Maintenance-only releases, including defect fixes, are scheduled > within the next year. > Ok. > > 2. Customer feature requests will be considered for inclusion into this > product's > successor within the product family. > > What's the INFORMIX-4GL's successor? New-Era, right? What's the > INFORMIX-NewEra Category? the same of 4GL (2) > > any comments? I wouldn't call NewEra a direct successor to 4GL. NewEra is an OO GUI development tool whereas 4GL is a character based 3/4GL development tool. I've been using 4GL for 11 years now, and as far as I'm concerned all the features I ever wanted/requested are in. I can't think how this product can be improved/enhanced. Maybe I'm just biased. :-) As for NewEra, I haven't used it in anger. You should ask Billy whether NewEra should be in the same category. ;-) > 3. Product is for sale. > Ok > > 4. Standard support programs can be initiated. > Ok. > > If you don't think that this is a dead product, could you tell me any > feature included in 4GL since version 4.11? What new features are you looking for? I'd be interested to know. > > A product is not dead until Informix either sells it off (which means it > > gets a re-birth with another company) or stops supporting it. I don't > > believe either of these apply to 4GL. > > > > Ok. but I wrote 'in terms of development of new features' My mistake. > > > It's too late!!! > > > > For you maybe, but not for the thousands of 4GL users out there. > > Are you sure of this?How much Informix sold in the tools market for new > developments? Most new developments these days seem to be going the GUI route. Not a job for 4GL. > I think that Informix abandoned those thousands of 4GL users, including me, > because we have not received any enhancements, just same to continue > maintaining existing applications. What enhancements are you looking for? > Do you think that anyone could evaluate INFORMIX-4GL for new developments? Of course. Any character based development. > What 4GL offers for GUI, Client-Server, Intranet applications? For GUI? Nothing. It was never designed as a GUI product. For client-server? These days, not so much, because most clients are GUI based. But if you need no specific GUI features in the client, then no problem. For Intranet applications? I presume you are talking client-server again, only with a browser as the client. So yes, we have customers using 4GL on their web servers. > > > Informix, is now when you realize that there's a big market using > > > INFORMIX-4GL waiting for a real solution for migrating to new > > > environments (client/server, intranet)? > > > > I think the realisation that 4GL had a big market came a few years ago. > > IMHO, I don't think so!What Informix offers for migration of those millions > of line of 4GL code to new technology? Informix tried to move to the > client-server/GUI world two times, without success: INFORMIX-4GL for Windows > and INFORMIX-NewEra. There was a migration path from 4GL to NewEra, but that's only useful if you want to convert your character based application to GUI. Other than that, most tools vendors don't offer a migration path to the competition. Aren't you forgetting: 4GL for Toolbus Wingz Hyperscript Tools 4GL/GX ? > Have you used any of them? Yes, all of them, except 4GL for Toolbus. > INFORMIX realized that is a database company, not a tool one!! but, what > about those thousand of INFORMIX-4GL users? They are still out there, running 4GL applications, supported by Informix. I think it was a shame for Informix to concentrate on database technology, even though it's what they're good at. That's because I think they also produce very good development tools. But let's face it, Bob had to do something to consolidate the company. Your underlying theme here, and again I could be mis-reading this, is that you're pissed off because you can't convert all your 4GL applications to GUI at the press of a button. This seems to have nothing to do with the current status of 4GL itself. Cheers, -- Mark. +----------------------------------------------------------+-----------+ |Mark D. Stock - Informix SA http://www.informix.com |//////// /| |mailto:mdstock@informix.com FAQ http://www.iiug.org |///// / //| | +-----------------------------------+//// / ///| | Tel: +27 11 807 0313 |If it's slow, the users complain. |/// / ////| | Fax: +27 11 807 2594 |If it's fast, the users keep quiet.|// / /////| |Cell: +27 83 250 2325 |Therefore, "No news: travels fast"!|/ ////////| +----------------------+-----------------------------------+-----------+