Where should PSC go next with UI?

Posted by Thomas Mercer-Hursh on 13-Aug-2010 15:48

I recently participated in a conversation in which the question was asked whether PSC should pursuing additional UI technologies in the form of developing tools, improved operability and the like to make it easier and better to use that UI technology with ABL.  There has certainly been interest in this idea, but PSC's position to date has been that the UI technology landscape is just too diverse with no clear indication at this point of which technologies were going to emerge as leaders.  Therefore, efforts to date have focused on ABL enhancements like WRITE-XML and WRITE-JSON which can be used with a significant number of different UI technologies.

My own feeling is that this is a correct decision.  While undoubtedly some current UI technologies will fade over time, it is also likely that additional new technologies will emerge, so it seems likely that the UI technology landscape will continue to be extremely fragmented for some time to come.  Consolidation may or may not happen, but even if it does eventually, there is no predicting where this will occur at this point.

Investing in one or more additional UI technologies would undoubtedly please some percentage of the user base, either those who had already chosen that direction or those who had not yet chosen a direction, but found the PSC-selected technology an acceptable choice.  But, this would only be a small percentage of the total development base and all the others would benefit more from those same development dollars being invested in technology of more general applicability.

So, what do you think?

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