Ask HN：我家的家族企业还在用 1993 年的基于文本的用户界面 (TUI)。有其他人也这样吗？
10 分•作者: urnicus•7 个月前
还有人在用 TUI 应用程序做生意吗？
我家的公司是一家批发分销公司（附带轻量级制造），自 1993 年以来一直使用相同的 TUI 应用程序（在本地 Unix 盒子）。我们用它来管理客户、处理订单、开具发票、管理套件/构建工单、财务——所有事情都用它。我们已经从绿屏终端过渡到现代模拟器，但核心系统仍然存在。我花了许多个夏天的时间来跑串行电缆和以太网电缆。
我很多年前离开了公司，成为了一名全职软件工程师，但我最初是作为一名脚本小子起家的，用 Microsoft Access、VBA 和 SendKeys 为这个系统编写自动化程序，以实现数据录入的自动化。令人惊讶的是，他们仍然有一台 Windows XP 机器在运行着我在 2004 年编写的许多任务！虽然它很脆弱，但累计起来可能节省了多年的时间。那台 XP 机器可能在核冬天也能存活下来，哈哈。
最近我回去帮助我的父母，花了一天时间将许多旧脚本转换到一个更现代的系统（使用真正的错误处理，而不是战略性的 sleep() 和祈祷），使用了 Python 和 telnetlib3。我玩得很开心，仍然热爱这个应用程序。我可以在里面飞来飞去。培训新人一直是个难题，但对于那些掌握它的人来说——他们拥有超能力。
这让我想到了一个问题：还有其他公司在使用这种类型的界面来驱动他们的核心业务吗？我反思了一下，我的家人之所以还在使用这个系统，是否仅仅是因为我 20 多年前实施的效率提升技巧。如果没有这些技巧，他们是否会被迫切换到现代的云/GUI 系统？我不确定我是不是被怀旧情绪蒙蔽了双眼，或者这个应用程序真的像我记忆中那样出色。
我很想知道在现实世界中是否还有人在使用它们，以及是如何使用的。
附注：我们使用的系统最初由 ADP 销售，并有不同的名称（D2K，Prophet21）。我相信现在 Epicor 拥有它（之前是 Activant）。
再附注：有人正在将其旧的 TUI 自动化脚本迁移到更现代的框架中，或者创建新的脚本吗？我非常想比较一下笔记，看看其他人都在做什么。
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Is anybody still using TUI applications for business?<p>My family company is a wholesale distribution firm (with lightweight manufacturing) and has been using the same TUI application (on prem unix box) since 1993. We use it for customer management, ordering, invoicing, kit management/build tickets, financials - everything. We've transitioned from green screen terminals to modern emulators, but the core system remains. I spent many summers running serial and ethernet cables.<p>I left the business years ago to become a full time software engineer, but I got my start as a script kiddie writing automations for this system with Microsoft Access, VBA, and SendKeys to automate data entry. Amazingly, they still have a Windows XP machine running many of those tasks I wrote back in 2004! It's brittle, but cumulatively has probably saved years of time. That XP machine could survive a nuclear winter lol.<p>I recently stepped back in to help my parents and spent a day converting many of those old scripts to a more modern system (with actual error-handling instead of strategic sleep()s and prayers) using Python and telnetlib3. I had a blast and still love this application. I can fly around in it. Training new people was always a pain, but for those that got it—they had super powers.<p>This got me thinking: Are other companies still using this type of interface to drive their core operations? I’m reflecting on whether the only reason my family's business still uses this system is because of the efficiency hacks I put in place 20+ years ago. Without them, would they have been forced to switch to a modern cloud/GUI system? I’m not sure if I’m blinded by nostalgia or if this application is truly as wonderful as I remember it.<p>I’d love to hear if and how these are still being utilized in the real world.<p>P.S. The system we use was originally sold by ADP and has had different names (D2K, Prophet21). I believe Epicor owns it now (Activant before).<p>P.P.S. Is anybody migrating their old TUI automation scripts to a more modern framework or creating new ones? I’m super curious to compare notes and see what other people are doing.