Are the "Green Screens" Really Going Away?

Goodbye, old friend!?

We’ve been hearing it for years - “the green screens are going away!”

In some cases, the vendor of core business software has removed access to these old trusted “green friends” in favor of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). But here’s the little secret… they’re still there, you just can’t see them nor access them. 

You see, if you had access to dumb terminal or green screens then the computer platform is more than likely the same.  It is still a mainframe or mid-range computer (IBM, Unisys, Unix, etc.) and all they have done is “dress up” the User Interface with Graphics. 

Why would they do that?  Several reasons – some good, and some not so good. 

One good reason: Graphical front ends are generally easier to learn because you simply point and click instead of entering cryptic commands (e.q. CIMEAC for Merge Customer Information Accounts). 

A not-so-good reason: Keeping up with the Joneses.  In other words, the vendor is doing it to remain competitive – a move which really doesn’t give them a competitive advantage, but merely competitive parity.

Why do we care? 

We care because the dumb terminals – green screens - are much quicker and way better for “heads down” data entry.  They are proven by years of use and guaranteed to have all of the data elements available.

And there were scripting tools available in some terminal emulators (and separately like Foxtrot LE) that made it easy to automate mass updates, interfaces and conversions. 

I’m not going to try to explain why it was necessary to buy $2,000 PCs with software that emulated an inexpensive dumb terminal, but that’s what happened. We all bought the story hook, line and sinker. 

In short, those green screens are reliable and very fast friends.  So, if you still have access to these “old friends”, it is worth the fight to retain access to them.  They are very useful. 

The sad truth is that eventually they will be totally gone. And the technology that replaces them will not merely be “lipstick on a pig”.  It’ll be an elegant swan-like front end that talks to the original hardware platform through middle ware that really works well. 

So you might as well learn about “drop-downs”, “checkboxes” and web front ends (which are really just a little smarter than dumb).  The sooner the better because they are here to stay.

We believed it when the vendors said the green screens are going away and delivered our breakthrough Windows and Browser scripting technology two years ago.  We are having great success and a lot of fun with our new technology but oh, do we miss our “old friends” at times!

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