This was back when there were so many 5250 emulation vendors that NEWS/400 would publish an annual 5250 emulator multi-page buyers' guide, with product reviews. If you used, among others, Blue Lynx, Connectronix, DCA, Emerald, Netsoft (who doesn't remember Netsoft!), and Nlynx emulators back in the day you were using Joe's technologies. Joe's technologies became pervasive in the IBM midrange community. But make no mistake, his impact reverberates daily as users around the world fire up their PCs to do IBM i-centric work. He was a humble man who I'm sure today would try to marginalize his impact on the way we now use the IBM i.

Joe would later be known as the ' father of 5250 emulation. Over drinks in a hotel bar in Chicago he told me the amazing story of how he had the idea for PC-based emulation, how IBMers in Rochester thought he was nuts ('PCs are toys! They don't have anything to do with the S/38!'), and how he came to form his own company, Software Systems, Inc (later to become Synapse) to make his emulator idea a reality. I was lucky enough to spend an evening with Joe. Back in 1980, Joe Frank had an idea about how to connect to PCs to IBM midrange computers.

It's hard to believe that 5250 emulation has been with us for 35 years. The porcine persona of IBM i Access for Windows