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New Release Is on the Way
Aloha! Having just returned from two weeks in Hawaii, I am refreshed and eager to sign our quality system’s closing paperwork to release FOCUS 7.3 into your hands. I expect that to happen right about the time you receive this newest edition of TABLE FILE CAR. The new XFOCUS Database and Multidimensional Index (MDI) are very exciting to me. Where else could I claim the illogical – that eight times the amount of data space than is currently available to you can take considerably less time to process? Read the article about XFOCUS and MDI. Try them out. See for yourself. One caveat, though: The code for them is in 7.3 but they won’t be activated for use until the first or second service pack; we want to test these vast features more thoroughly before giving them to you.
The other articles in this issue are not only interesting but also most timely. I know many of you are now delving into PDF file transfers from the mainframe, and using other special-format file types. Flexible thinking opens our eyes to alternate reporting methods that have been hiding under our noses for years. This quarter’s FOCUS 101 just scratches the surface of what Dialogue Manager can do for you, to whet the appetites of our FOCUS novices who may have dealt with only pure TABLE until today. Noreen (no need for a last name here) may save some of you a phone call with several timely topics and cautions, and the Date-Time data article concisely summarizes the very extensive new format released back in 7.1. There is also a nice summary of the 50-plus new 7.3 features, almost all of which are available in WebFOCUS 5.2.
We are already preparing the agendas for Summit 2004 in May. Our 25th annual user conference should be a real celebration! Compared to last year, we will have more labs, more innovative opportunities to try the products, and more venues for sharing ideas with our staff and your fellow customers; I just hope not more food than last year, for my sake. The FOCUS track will be stocked with new and timely presentations. And please come to my Sunday FOCUS Roundtable for a down-to-brass-tacks discussion of mainframe FOCUS and its future direction, featuring Peter Mittelman. I’m looking forward to seeing you there. In the meantime, enjoy this issue of TFC.
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