: Here' a challenge. I'm developing an application for the PC platform.
: It will be deployed in a non-technical environment - not a system
: adminstrator in sight! It's important to hold costs down - I'd like to
: make a profit!
:
: The application is a multimedia one so iI need a GUI tool. I'd like to
: use my old favourite Windows4GL but this seems a challenge given the
: platform and cost constraints.
:
: I need to be able to start this project single user and then migrate to
: multiuser when the the product is accepted by the customer..
:
: Unix is OUT - too technical for the customer and (s)he will inevitably
: want to run MS Appllications. Please don't tell me about DOS merge!
I don't see why you single out Unix in this way. In a non-technical
environment (in fact anywhere outside the programmer's stinking lair), the
operating system should be invisible to the user. That goes for Unix, for
VMS, and for OS/2 and the rest. People buy computers to do useful work, not
to run operating systems--if they can see it, we didn't do our job properly.
Unix is as easy to hide as any operating system. DOS and anything built
on it is just about impossible to hide; it's kind of like trying to hide
broken bottles in your mattress.
The * jagged edges of DOS poke through MS-Windows to the point where
I have to say it is the LAST operating system (using the term "operating
system" loosely) I'd want to deploy in the field if I wanted to make a profit.
OS/2 is quite a bit better given the need to run MS software, but best by far
is WindowsNT.
: Currently I am thinking in terms of w4gl running against a non-ingres
: database through ODBC on Windows or OS/2. Anyone have any advice/war
: stories?
:
: An alternative suggested to me is w4gl for MS-windows running against
: an IINGRES server on OS/2. Is this possible ?
Yes. But I really don't think you want to deploy W4GL on MS-Windows in the
the field. If you are on-site all the time, or if the users are sufficiently
computer-wise it's OK, but otherwise I'd be really slow to go that route.
It is just that MS-Windows is too fragile, and W4GL is a punishing load for it.
There are people who claim that W4GL on OS/2 can be used successfully, but
without intending to re-open any old flames, I have to say I was never one
of them. Maybe the latest rev is better. On the other hand, W4GL and the
INGRES server on WindowsNT is really very fine indeed.
My suggestion is to start out with the W4GL application and the INGRES server
running on a single NT box for your single user configuration, and then
add NT clients as you go multi-user. With no sysadmins on hand, NT makes
even more sense, because you can finally do central administration on the
PCs, and using the built-in replication server you can distribute software
updates totally transparently. The somewhat higher hardware costs will be
well worth it, if only because you won't see another GPF!
: Any recommendations for a database to run Windows4GL against using ODBC
: in a single-user environment?
:
: I'm used to Ingres on Unix or VMS. Stand-alone PCs are a challenge. Any
: suggestions for a report-writer or is Q+A 'the answer?
As of the moment, the native INGRES Report Writer is not available for NT.
It is for MS-Windows and for OS/2. I recently looked at SQR Workbench from
MITI and it looked good. ReportSmith is OK.
: All suggestions appreciated.
Or you could have NT clients and a Unix-based server.
BTW, all this NT boosting is very painful to me. I am no fan of Bill Gates
and nothing would please me more that to see him fall on his *, but
unfortunately that Cutler guy he hired knows his stuff and has handed Bill
a fine product. Remembering that it was Cutler and not Gates who is behind
it lets me sleep at night. :-)
--Roy Hann
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