We started using this in 1983 or 84. It was the latest and greatest tool, and I pushed to get involved in it and became a consultant with it, and have really enjoyed working with it over the years. In terms of alternative solutions, Microsoft is the classic one. I like .NET and I love CoolGen/CA Gen, but it is not a UI tool. So you wouldn't really want to use CA Gen to build a UI. On the other hand, I can build the backend data. (By the way, CoolGen is an older name, and CA Gen is the newer name for the same product.) I'd go back, but all of the backend stuff, the data management, the business rules and all the heavy stuff, can be done in CA Gen a lot faster than you can do it with a lot less code to maintain, and in a more stable maintenance environment. But again, you can't really do the UI. You need that gap filled with a clear direction of what to do with it as opposed to just guessing which is what happens.

We evaluated Telon.