<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN">As promised yesterday here is an update on where the Cognos PowerHouse family of Application Development Tools is today...and where it is headed tomorrow.
Year 2000 Compliant & Friendly
Today we have certified Year 2000 compliant releases of PowerHouse 4GL, containing the new Year 2000 "friendly" features, currently available on MPE/iX, OpenVMS, UNIX, Windows NT Server and OS/400. These include 8.19C on MPE/iX, 7.10G and 8.10C on OpenVMS (for both Alpha and VAX), 8.13D on UNIX, 8.11C on Windows NT Server, and 6.07F on OS/400. Of these, only the Compaq Tru64 UNIX (or Digital UNIX if you prefer) version of 8.13D has yet to ship.
Additionally a certified Year 2000 compliant release of Axiant 4GL, our visual PowerHouse development environment, is also available – version 2.03. This version of Axiant 4GL also includes the Year 2000 "friendly" enhancements found in the PowerHouse 4GL 8.1x releases.
Versions of PowerHouse Architect compatible with these PowerHouse 4GL releases are in the works – with the MPE/iX 8.19 version having just been released and due to ship back to supported customers soon. Architect 7.10G is due to be available for OpenVMS (Alpha and VAX) in the next week or so, and Architect 6.07F for OS/400 is scheduled for mid-April release. Again, supported customers will be shipped these releases as soon as they become available.
InQuizitive 7.10G for OpenVMS is scheduled to be available at the end of this month, with the 8.19C version for MPE/iX due to follow at the end of May. The 8.13D releases for our various UNIX platforms will be phased starting in June. Unfortunately I do not yet have a planned release date for InQuizitive 6.07F on OS/400.
Why 7.10G and 8.10C PowerHouse 4GL for OpenVMS?
We originally planned for 8.10C to be the recommended upgrade path for our OpenVMS users on 7.10F (and earlier) releases. It would contain the Year 2000 "friendly" features, would be certified Year 2000 compliant, and would begin to introduce to the common PowerHouse Series 8 code stream the most frequently used VMS-specific features currently only available in the 7.10 code stream.
For those of you who don't know, PowerHouse 4GL Series 8 is a single-source version of PowerHouse, based on the common-source 7.23/7.29 version shared by UNIX and MPE/iX and subsequently merged with the Axiant Server 1.2 product. As it originated in the UNIX/MPE world it did not contain any support for OpenVMS-specific features or data types.
However, due to numerous requests from our many OpenVMS customers for the Year 2000 "friendly" features as quickly as possible, a decision was made to put those features into the PowerHouse 7.10 code stream, rather than delaying the 8.10C release until we had put in sufficient OpenVMS-specific features to make that release a viable upgrade path for the 7.10 customers. We also decided to continue with a generic 8.10C version on OpenVMS, for those customers seeking Oracle or Sybase support, or wanting to develop and deploy Axiant 4GL applications against an OpenVMS server.
So, to confirm, PowerHouse 4GL 7.10G is the currently recommended upgrade path for our OpenVMS users on 7.10F or earlier that are looking for Year 2000 compliance and the new Year 2000 features. PowerHouse 4GL 8.10C is recommended for customers needing Oracle or Sybase support on OpenVMS, or who want to develop and deploy Axiant 4GL client/server applications against an OpenVMS server – but who are willing (for now) to go without the tight integration with the OpenVMS environment which PowerHouse 4GL 7.10G currently provides.
PowerHouse 4GL 8.2xC & PowerHouse Web 2.2x
Looking to the near future, PowerHouse 4GL 8.2 will be the next major version to be released. It will support development of an HTML interface to QUICK screens, and deployment of applications developed or modified in this way by using the new PowerHouse Web run-time environment.
We plan to release PowerHouse 4GL 8.2 in two phases. The initial phase will consist of 8.29C for MPE/iX, 8.20C for OpenVMS, 8.23C for UNIX and 8.21C for Windows NT Server. All of these releases will provide the development enhancements needed in QDESIGN to create the HTML interface for Web deployment. Additionally the MPE/iX version will provide support for creation of IMAGE jumbo datasets through QUTIL, and the Windows NT version will also provide a true ISAM file system as an alternative to using Xbase files or a relational database. The UNIX, OpenVMS and Windows NT versions are also likely to include the IBASE database type for InterBase support, in addition to the IBSQL interface to this type of database already provided in PowerHouse Series 8.
To access these applications via the HTML interface will require the initial release of PowerHouse Web – 2.29C for MPE/iX, 2.20C for OpenVMS, 2.23C for UNIX or 2.21C for Windows NT Server.
The PowerHouse Web solution provides for very flexible web application deployment. I would encourage you to review the information on the Cognos web site at http://www.cognos.com/phweb for further details.
PowerHouse 8.21 and PowerHouse Web 1.21 for Windows NT Server, together with the equivalent 8.23/1.23 combination for HP-UX, are currently in second round beta testing. (Note that the beta versions of PowerHouse Web are numbered 1.2x, but the release versions will be 2.2x.) These platforms will be joined in beta next week by the 8.20/1.20 combination on OpenVMS. The MPE/iX beta, using 8.29/1.29, is likely to start in mid-April.
We currently estimate that PowerHouse 4GL 8.21C and PowerHouse Web 2.21C for Windows NT Server, together with PowerHouse 4GL 8.23C and PowerHouse Web 2.23C for HP-UX, will be released in late April. PowerHouse 8.20C and PowerHouse Web 2.20C for OpenVMS should follow just a few weeks later in mid-May. While on MPE/iX the PowerHouse 4GL 8.29C and PowerHouse Web 2.29C production releases should be available in June. Following the HP-UX release in April our other UNIX platforms, including Solaris, AIX, Compaq Tru64 UNIX, DG/UX and SCO OpenServer, will be release in parallel with the OpenVMS and MPE/iX versions in an order determined by customer demand.
Each of the PowerHouse 4GL 8.2 releases will automatically be shipped, as they become available, to our supported customers who have PowerHouse full development licenses, or as soon the PowerHouse Web Evaluator's Guide has been completed, whichever occurs later. Why wait for the guide? Simply because we'd like to ship the corresponding version of PowerHouse Web 2.2 along with PowerHouse 4GL and give you the opportunity to try PowerHouse Web for yourself...initially with an application that we will supply on the PowerHouse Web media, but then with your own data using your existing data definitions. And why only to full development customers? Simply because there are no enhancements in these 8.2C releases that benefit our run-time only or run-time with reporting customers. The 8.2C releases will be available on-request to other supported customers, as they may contain bug-fixes that those customers will benefit from.
Remember, the certified Year 2000 compliant PowerHouse 4GL releases mentioned above (6.07F, 7.10G, 8.10C, 8.11C, 8.13D and 8.19C) will be receiving full development (i.e. bug-fix) support until at least the end of June 2000...and so there is no pressing need to upgrade to a later PowerHouse 4GL release unless you want the new functionality which these releases bring. And of course you can always continue to use the certified Year 2000 compliant release as your production version of PowerHouse, while installing a newer release to become familiar with the new features, and perhaps to start developing new or replacement applications for implementation sometime in 2000.
PowerHouse 4GL 8.2xD
The second phase of the PowerHouse 8.2 roll-out will include 8.29D for MPE/iX and 8.20D for OpenVMS. The 8.29D release for MPE/iX is to introduce support for Btree in IMAGE databases, while 8.20D for OpenVMS will begin to introduce the most commonly used VMS-specific features and data types (e.g. VMSDATE) from PowerHouse 7.10.
Where possible we are looking to implement these VMS-specific features in a generic manner. So, for example, we are looking at ways to implement the VMS Mailbox functionality across all of the PowerHouse Series 8 platforms. The methods chosen to implement such a feature will obviously be platform-specific, but the syntax to access that functionality from within PowerHouse will be kept generic (as far as possible).
Ultimately we would like all of our OpenVMS customers to upgrade to PowerHouse Series 8. The advantages of a single source code product cannot be underestimated. This will enable us to provide wider database support, faster turnaround of bug-fixes, as well as faster and more consistent implementation of new features across all of the supported PowerHouse platforms.
Bearing in mind our desire not to create any upgrade issues which might prevent our OpenVMS customers from adopting PowerHouse Series 8, and following the discussions seen recently on this list, and I can confirm that we are actively considering inclusion of the PHD-type dictionary in PowerHouse Series 8. This would be in addition to the existing PDC-type dictionary and would be available on all of those platforms capable of supporting its terminal interface – i.e. OpenVMS, MPE/iX and UNIX.
Axiant 4GL also provides metadata maintenance capabilities through its Windows interface. Hence our customers would be able to choose the dictionary maintenance environment which best suits their needs. This might be PDL source code, maintained via a text editor and loaded into either a PDC or PHD dictionary. It might be an active PHD dictionary, maintained through the terminal-based PowerHouse POW application. Or it might be the object-based Axiant repository, maintained through the Windows-based Axiant 4GL developer’s workbench, which provides multi-level inheritance and reuse of element and structure definitions, together with generation and remote compilation of PDL on PowerHouse Series 8 server platforms directly from the Windows desktop.
The timeframe for delivery of the PowerHouse 4GL 8.2D releases is probably September/October of this year.
Axiant 4GL 3.x
The current Axiant 4GL bears no relationship to the original Axiant 1.x product, other than sharing the same name. With the release of Axiant 4GL 2.0C we started from the ground-up building a robust and scalable 32-bit visual development environment for PowerHouse applications. This environment also includes tools and advice to assist with the migration and re-deployment of PowerHouse applications to newer relational and client/server environments.
With Axiant 4GL 2.03 (our fourth release) now available, we have achieved great advances over previous releases in being able to deal with a legacy of almost 20 years of PowerHouse applications, as well as being able to handle some of the largest PowerHouse applications ever developed. However, the one thing that we still hear is that the run-time user interface is still not Windows-like.
Since the underlying PowerHouse processing model is not event-driven, Axiant can never be a true event-driven application environment. However, our Axiant 4GL 3.0 release will be the first in a series of releases aimed at improving the run-time user interface. To begin we will provide a point-and-click interface that maps user events to whatever PowerHouse actions are needed to achieve what the user of the application would expect in a Windows environment. If the default mapping provided isn’t sufficient the designer can take control, where necessary, and map other PowerHouse actions or sets of actions to those user events.
Axiant 4GL 3.0 will also include various styles of button bars (floating, docked, static, dynamic), together with on-going enhancements to the development environment (snap to grid, rulers, etc.) and support for the Web functionality being added to PowerHouse 4GL 8.2.
Axiant 4GL 3.1 will continue to build on the user interface work started in this release with features such as tool tips for any form object (the new toolbars will have them from the 3.0 release), and a very exciting feature called data tips.
Axiant 4GL 3.0 is currently scheduled for release in August/September of this year, with the 3.1 release following approximately four months later.
We hope to make Axiant 4GL the development environment of choice for all PowerHouse developers, whether they are developing terminal-based, Windows client/server (thin-client against a PowerHouse server or fat-client against a database server), mobile Windows or Web-based applications.
Into The Year 2000 And Beyond
I have only been able to share with you some of our product plans through to the end of this year. Don’t worry though, we have plenty of product enhancement requests to keep us going through many more releases of PowerHouse 4GL – and we already have an outline plan for version 8.3 and beyond. Axiant 4GL will continue to be enhanced as both the visual PowerHouse development environment and as the 32-bit Windows client environment for PowerHouse applications. And our latest addition to the PowerHouse family – PowerHouse Web – is already proving in beta testing that PowerHouse 4GL is simply the most productive environment in which to develop mission-critical data-driven Web applications.
Only the PowerHouse family enables developers to deliver applications to terminals, Windows clients and Web browsers with the productivity that organizations need to be able to seriously tackle the applications backlog that has continued to grow while IS have been preparing for the Year 2000.
The Cognos Application Development Tools group's mission is to ensure that you, our customers, are ready for the Year 2000 and beyond. We aim to do this by providing you with quality products, quality support and quality services. By providing you with paths to new technologies and environments that you can adopt at your own pace...while still protecting your existing investment in both applications and developer skills. And we will do this while providing you with world’s the most productive application development environment for mission-critical business applications on terminals, Windows clients and Web browsers.
Sorry that this has been such a long message...but I'm sure that you appreciate the information, and are now as excited about the future of the PowerHouse family as all of us here at Cognos are.Have a great weekend!!!
Best regards,
Conrad
Conrad Whittall
Marketing Manager, Application Development Tools
Cognos Incorporated, 3755 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 4K9, CanadaTel : + 1 (613) 738-1338 Ext.4804
Fax : + 1 (613) 228-3149E-mail : conrad.whittall@cognos.com