Gui Cost Benefit

Has any one had the experience of porting a trusted character based DOS or Curses application to a graphical user interface, only to have the GuiDesign? costs skyrocket out of control?

The thing functioned fine in its original form. It just reached the end (or perceived end) of its platform's lifecycle.

The switch from character based UI to graphical UI became a trip to the candy shop.

Can we do this? Sure. And this? Sure. How about this? Sure.

Later... How come our 500K project is now going to cost 2.5 million?

Please. This is not about project management. This is about the ungodly cost of UI once the word "Design" enters the picture.

Food for thought.

If all that matters is functionality, then why not provide a Character based UI?

Think of the simplicity it brings? -- JimBrosnan