I not so sure about that.  I know that our clients, project staff and some
IT managers are more impressed when they see a GUI form pop up than when
they see a something that looks like a dumb terminal.  I personally think it
is a shame that this is how it is viewed but it is common.  It's one (of
many) reasons why Windows supplanted DOS and the WWW all but killed Gopher.


But this is a little off-topic.  I'm more interested in know what approaches
people are taking.

> ----------
> From:         Gary Sielaff[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:         Tuesday, August 15, 2000 9:46 AM
> To:   Porter, Allen H; [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re:      [HP3000-L] More Powerful and Prettier
>
> I disagree.. The only thing GUI does is slow things down and make
> the things that happen in the background, more complicated.  "Pretty"
> is not going to sell the 3k.
> JMO
> Gary
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Porter, Allen H <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 6:46 AM
> Subject: [HP3000-L] More Powerful and Prettier
>
>
> > I would like to start a discussion thread.  I'm curious about how you
> are
> > leveraging new technologies to update/rejuvenate the 3000 (Samba,
> Apache,
> > Java, Reflection scripting for user interfaces, Visual Basic links to
> the
> > 3000)?  What are you doing to give it a more "modern" feel and be more
> user
> > friendly (e.g. GUI interface)?  What have you done to make the 3000 more
> > powerful by providing information and access in new ways and, of course,
> we
> > have to make it prettier because that's what sells and makes people
> think
> it
> > is newer and better (sad but true).
> >
> > In my world, we do not use Image databases or standard forms.  We do,
> > however, have extensive menus built with HP script.  I have tested the
> use
> > of host based Reflection scripts to provide a GUI interface to these
> menus
> > but there are some challenges with doing this such as size limitations
> of
> > host initiated scripts. I would like to hear about the approaches people
> > have taken and the lessons learned.  This is a big topic, but I think it
> > could spark some ideas.
>