Re: Which GUI to frontend 7.1?

Spetc@aol.com wrote: > > We intend to move to a GUI based interface from 4GL. We will be using > Informix 7.1. > > We are not doing it because GUI is a buzzword, we want to take advantage of > the more user friendly interfaces GUI's provide. > > We want a GUI that is regarded by the market as the overall best one > available (and has definite future). > > Does anyone have any preferences, suggestions and why? It may be a bit premature to say this, but take a good look at Java. Java has many of the features we're all looking for, and has a great price to get started: $0.00 The only thing it doesn't have is the ODBC connectivity, but this is going to be coming out hopefully in the next month or so. I'm trying to investigate the in-line-C compile, with ODBC function calls, to see if ODBC can be used until JDBC, the ODBC for Java, is available. You can also experiment with Java, buying Symantec Cafe for about $100.00 US, or get the book "Hooked on Java", for about $30.00 US. A quick tour at the book store shows a healthy onslaught of Java books. The momemtum being generated by this wonderful new "4GL" shows that it probably is the right product to spend some time on. It's a whole lot easier to understand than C++, however my interest in C++ is now picked up because of Java. Java has actually helped me understand C++ better. I've also heard about some NewEra-to-Java activity, but quite frankly, New Era seems kind of pricy once you see the potential of Java. It might just get your creative energies moving. You may once again have to re-think your GUI strategies in light of Java. And Microsoft is committing to Java big time. Borland is coming out with the just-in- time C compiler, and probably by the end of the week something else will be out. Borland offers several potentially scalable products to allow a wide variety of business solutions, and now Microsoft is distributing SQL-Server 6.5 over the net with a 120-day eval. Maybe some other database company we know about will adopt this kind of marketing strategy. ( KNOWN AS TROJAN HORSE MARKETING ) The dynamics of rapid change are probably making what I'm saying already out-of-date. Another contender of late is Delphi. Maybe a combination of several interfaces will be the "correct" solution, depending on the application. Good luck to New Era, I hope it holds its' place in this rapidly changing business of business computing. I would use two rules of thumb: MAINSTREAM and UBIQUITOUS. If the product falls under these two categories, then it will probably be around long enough for you to invest some time in it. :-) -- \\\\|// (6 6) ==============================---o00--(_)--00o---======================Tim Schaefer tschaefe@shadow.net http://www.shadow.net/~tschaefe =======================================================================