Chris Miller wrote a few days ago:

> I would be interested in hearing from companies that are using or are in
>  the business of developing front end internet applications to interface
>  back end IMAGE applications.

That's exactly what we're attempting to do with QCTerm. The bad news is that
it probably won't be ready for commercial use for another six months or so.
The good news is that you can actually see some of it now.

Because of the internet, it's now possible to for you to see much of what
some of the people on this list saw at HP World, with you conducting your own
self-guided tour. The instructions on how to do this are at:

        http://aics-research.com/qcterm/nextgen.html

A few days ago, very much apropos to the subject at hand, Bob Walker asked
all the right questions. I've repeated them here, almost in their entirety
because of their importance:

========================================

Perhaps there's something I don't understand about all this.

How is it possible to replace two HP3000's, probably supporting
hundreds of logged on users, with one box(doesn't really matter
what, in this case NT) that is only accessible via remote
connections?

That is, I presume users won't be telnetting to the box and
running applications, rather that, the box is a database server and
the new application is client/server. Are there other options?  (I'm
interested as we are hearing(again) the whiff of such developments
here)

Questions that come to mind(outside of database issues) are:
- what of the increased load on clients(ie PCs)? What's good for
telnetting isn't good enough for big C/S programs.
- what about all those jobs that ran on the server, is there an
application server hidden in the cost there somewhere?
- what of OLTP. It's really hard to get anything as fast as server
based programs

========================================

Bob's last question is the most important: What of OLTP? As he wrote, it is
really hard to get anything as fast as a server-based program. Everything
we're doing in QCTerm is designed to maximize the efficiency of a host-based
IMAGE application, while keeping the traffic between the server and the
QCTerm "universal client" as simple and as thin as possible. Doing this, we
can "punch" through the internet -- for a reason no more complex than simple
efficiency.

While everything we're doing in QCTerm will eventually be free to all users,
the most important thing, I believe, is that it has become surprisingly
simple to develop truly professional, good-looking screens in QCTerm with
minimal effort and yet keep internet traffic to an absolute minimum. Indeed,
the focus now changes. What I've been telling people privately is that they
should stop taking the MSCE and Novell certification classes, and instead
begin taking art classes :-).

Please remember that what you see in the self-guided tour is only a preview.
We still have miles to go and promises to keep before we sleep.

Wirt Atmar