Microsoft and the Enterprise, Clarification and Mainframe Web Services
Readers comment on past issues.
Microsoft and the Enterprise? A very thoughtful article [".NET: Microsoft's Enterprise Ticket?" April 2002]. Sun and Java served my career well for several years. Those days appear to be over with Microsoft and IBM getting together on standards and leaving Sun out in the cold—Sun's stock reflects this. I'm an information security architect and engineer, [and] the Microsoft model for intra-enterprise RPCs [Remote Procedure Calls] is problematic. Microsoft's track record is poor in the security area, and RPCs of any type are traditionally suspect in security circles.
Also of concern to me is [Microsoft's] on-the-fly object OS model. For a number of years, SGI was highly frowned upon in security circles, in no small part because the kernel loaded modules on the fly. This created problems when it came time to certify that the kernel was bulletproof.
—James Horne
Clearwater, Fla.
Clarification Please
In the June 2002 issue, you say: "The Gartner report sums up the options for legacy integration. Request a free copy at: www.jacada.com/legacy-to-web/. Choose ‘Application Development in Transition: From Legacy to the Internet.'" [Response Time, in response to a reader question on "Extending Legacy Technologies."] I'm unable to find the report with these directions. Can someone clarify?
—Rocky Childs
childs@fvtc.edu
Sorry about the confusion. I double-checked, and it looks like they removed the link to the original document discussed in my column. Instead, they have a more general market overview from Gartner Inc. entitled "Gartner Research on Presentation Integration Server Market."
- Go to www.jacada.com/legacy-to-web
- Complete the registration form with your name, company, etc.
- Right below the questionnaire is a section called "Whitepapers & Research." Check the box for "Gartner Research on Presentation Integration Server Market"
- Check it off, scroll down and press "submit"
- The company will e-mail you a URL with links to the document.
—Joe McKendrick
Mainframe Web Services
I just read Joe McKendrick's column on mainframe Web services ["Mainframe Shops Eye Web Services," June 2002.] Very interesting. We're doing a great deal with Web services here at my company using CICS Web Support. We're publishing WSDL for, and providing SOAP interfaces to, our COMMAREA and 3270 applications entirely in CWS.
I would be interested in talking to Joe about what he's learned from other companies.
—Jim Crew
Hopewell, N.J.
Article Archives
I was wondering about an article written by Joe McKendrick describing (apparently) "Strategies for Migrating Mission-Critical Legacy Applications to the World Wide Web ..." It was published before I was a subscriber. I was wondering if I could get a reprint of the issue or article? Is it available online anywhere?
—Chris Kuehnel
Cleveland, Wis.
cqnel@clevelandwi.net
The author of that study, which Joe mentions in his April column, is Dr. Howard Kanter of DePaul University (hkanter@depaul.edu). The full title is "An Empirical Analysis of Alternative Software Strategies for Migrating Mission Critical Legacy Applications to the World Wide Web."