Hello. I'm zBert, which you may choose to pronounce however you want. I'm a mainframer with some experience and attitude, and I'm going to be blogging about both.

I typed the word "hello". I didn't print it, and I didn't write it (though, once upon a time, I might have been able to say that I was typewriting it).

In fact, while I haven't forgotten how to write yet, it's a skill that is well on its way to atrophying with me. I type faster than I print or write, and my writing has never been that legible to begin with.

I don't think I'm alone here. I think computer users around the world are picking up the pen or pencil less and less often, even if they don't "touch type". Instead, we point and click and type.

Sure, we still occasionally write or print stuff, but I'll bet that fewer and fewer people are employing handwriting, which leads to it being used less often, and slowly becoming less legible.

As my first prediction in this blog, then, I'm going to predict that handwriting will disappear within a generation.

What has that got to do with the mainframe?

Easy: my second prediction in this blog is that using text-based 3270-style terminal interfaces will also disappear within a generation.

Don't misunderstand me: I don't think CA or IBM or other mainframe software vendors will stop supporting 3270 interfaces as long as anyone cares to use them.

I just think that a new generation won't care to use them. Eventually, they'll even have advanced interfaces that probably greatly exceed today's point-and-click GUI's. Maybe they'll be voice- or gesture-based, maybe they'll be descended from today's mouse.

Now, here's the thing. I'll always be comfortable with 3270 and other text interfaces. And I'm young for a mainframer (which isn't saying much). But I won't be here forever, and the next generation - have you seen how they use computers? I don't think they even use the command line (e.g. DOS prompt) on their PC's!

So, bye-bye handwriting, bye-bye text interfaces - just not while I'm still around.

But, hello ca.com/KnowHow!

Let's blog! (That means you too: what do you want discussed?)