Hmm, there really is a fundamental lack of understanding going on here. Firstly we are not really talking about GUI in the old sense. A GUI interface on a green screen application is just putting lipstick on a pig. That really isn't what it is about.
We have an SB based application and in client GUI mode it is just a 'prettier' version of the character based version, so it arguably looks better but it works the same and it does the same thing as the character application. Is it an improvement? That's arguable and all those supporting the green screen world have a point when up against that sort of interface. But SB GUI is about 15 years old, it is the 'modern interface' of the 1990s not the interface of today. Today's interface is browser based, it is graphical and it does things differently to how they were done 20 years ago. In my world it has opened up a whole new range of opportunities for us to do things that we could not do in the old interfaces. Ways of presenting data and organising information that is genuinely more usable and productive than before plus opening up access to data for people who are remote. This one, in particular, makes a massive difference, running software from anywhere in the world on whatever device you have to hand. Sure, the back office people entering data in a traditional way still will be most productive on a traditional interface, and we still provide that. But organisations are changing, those people are reducing in number and importance, increasingly orders are placed by the customers online, data is updated by the customers online. The thing is that in the U2 world we are good at this, it is stuff we can do (and many of us are doing) really well. That's why U2 is growing. But it demands a shift in mindset from the traditional, it is only once you start working with people who do this stuff that you truly start to see what is possible. Marry good web skills with traditional database expertise and you have a winning combination. You will soon find that they can do things quickly and easily that we don't even dream of in a U2 programming environment, but they we can do things with data that they is way beyond anything they are used to. U2 has a strong future in this world but not amongst those who want to go on doing everything how it has been done before. By all means do that if you want, but your employers or customers will move on even if you do not. George Land APT Solutions Ltd U2 UK Distributor _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users
