First of all, excuse for my terrible english... I'll try my best...
I got time to learn some others tecnologies... and they blow my mind... specially ASP.NET MVC and started to think "How Powerbuilder should go web???".... I wish someone in SAP is going to read this.
1) Datawindow is awesome but it does not separate the concerns... the View from the model... everything is on the window and with some time and more people it's dificult to maintain... Now I understand the logic of MVC model (Model View Controller) and it's so great.
So Datawindow have to split in 2 parts...
1) Just the data ... (it's like working only with datastores... just handle data), makes some processes and return JSON data(data in text format wich travels trough the web). so PowerBuilder should be converted into a web server ( or maybe a plugin for IIS or Apache).
2) The View part (it is essentially a Graphical javascript library like "Datawindow.js" wich runs on the client browser and it handles the JSON data that travels beetwen the server and the client) Just imagine PB running on an Iphone or a Galaxy Android (without Appeon of course, just pure and understable javascript)
the part 2 is optional because the programmer can use some other tools already in the market like Telerik Controls, jQuery controls, etc.
So powerbuilder JUST handle data beetwen the server and the client.
The new part is How to render dynamic HTML. in ASP there is a new engine called Razor... with some similarities to PHP or Java, it's basically a HTML script editor in wich the programmer embed "dynamic parts" with the sign @ for example.
I don't see this too much complicated... Just keep it simple... just a text interface... nothing graphicall.
The last part I wanna mention in Microsoft ASP.net is the new and famous "Entity Framework". It simply retrieves data from the server and puts it into objects... if you change the data in the object and call Context.SaveChanges() the data is saved in the database.... so, well it is a no big deal... it is basically the core of the datawindow... because it can fetch data, you can handle it, change it, create it (internally PB keep a flag new!, newmodified!, modified!, notmodified! so as Entity Framework) and then save the changes... so in this Context PowerBuilder created this technology 20 years before microsoft.
But Now Powerbuilder is in limbo....
I really don't want powerbuilder to die... I want it to evolution... to transform... to live...
Please make PB open source... so it can reborn... and may compete with Ruby on rails, ASP.NET, Java, etc... like it used to be...