HOD still supports full local customization, with local storage of preferences in your selectable choice of any target directory. (The default is quite sensible, but you can override it.) You can copy preference files and carry them around on USB memory keys, for example. You can even run HOD outside a browser from a local installation. That's called -- yes, I know this arcane terminology in the HOD documentation will be confusing :-) -- the "locally installed client." The installation command for Windows is " hodinstallwin.exe -lc" if you want to get mildly technical. [No, IBM didn't make that command "cucumbersauce.exe -A6qRb12ladygaga -prettyplease" but talk to your friendly IBM representative if you'd prefer that command instead. :-)] You don't need to run any started task or daemon on the server (if you even have one) -- that's purely optional. You can even run classic HLLAPI/EHLLAPI client/server applications with HOD on your PC. And all of that has been true (and well documented) for many, many years. If you want to run and deploy HOD the way you do "fat client" emulators, go for it!
But administrators can choose not to use particular HOD functionalities, or to deploy HOD in other manners, and very selectively so. That's a good thing, because it means that emulation services can be securely extended way beyond their prior limits. For example, I know an entire U.S. state government that made that leap starting several years ago using HOD (and some HATS), with state and local government employees and contractors all getting rich function emulation and secure connections without needing anything more than a PC, Mac, or Linux desktop (or laptop) running Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc. with the standard Java plug-in most of them already have. Nor do any of them have to pay for client software much less figure out how to install it. It's all handled by the state in one place. (And really by just one person with a backup because it just works.) Very, very convenient! It's *not* IBM's or HOD's fault if your administrator(s) choose to disable functions you need! Let's just all be very clear about this: most IBM-MAIN readers are atypical in terms of host access requirements, proudly and *rightly* so. You want full control of everything, maximum function, and you certainly don't want an administrator somewhere shutting something off if you think you need it. And you couldn't possibly imagine how anybody would feel any differently. In that case, my best advice is to go get Personal Communications or Host On-Demand, install it locally (or on your own private Web server, preferably and hopefully also z/OS-based), and allow yourself and your similarly situated colleagues to do anything in terms of setting preferences. (Although I would turn on TLS/SSL encryption of host connections and not allow even the "power users" to deactivate that. Do you really want your user ID and password -- and everything else -- sent over the wire in the clear? I'd vote no.) That said, if you think most users (internal and external) are like you, well, look around. :-) The Web is not exactly new. If *your* mainframe is not Web-savvy, that's a problem. (*The* mainframe has been Web-savvy longer than anything else in Silicon Valley. Check the Web's history on that.) HOD and HATS are extremely well suited to not only keeping pace with the exceptional "power users" but also quickly and easily making your mainframe Web-savvy. (There are many other ways also.) That's why they exist, that's why they've been so successful, and that's why HOD (for example) is now on its 11th major version -- just like IMS! :-) Although maybe IMS isn't quite ready for prime time yet.... :-) :-) This whole thread reminds me of the debate 25+ years ago when certain people complained that the newfangled PCs didn't make great 3270 terminals. Actually they did (if you wanted/bothered, such as ordering the right keyboard with the real PF keys), but I think that debate has been well settled by now. :-) Speaking only for myself, as always. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go access the mainframe...with Safari.... - - - - - Timothy Sipples Resident Enterprise Architect STG Value Creation & Complex Deals Team IBM Growth Markets (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
