PH manuals, PH Web and PH for VMS (was colon and pattern matc hing)

[Robert J.M. Edis]

G'day Chris

I like the manuals on CD (other than the fact I DON'T like Acrobat Reader
much).  As a consultant I move around a lot and a CD is lot easier to carry
than a set of manuals.  Most clients I have been to can't find their manuals
or their IT dept. has them locked away somewhere remote!  I have used the CD
to install the 'books' on my laptop so I read them directly from the HDD.
Why not request your boss provide you with a laptop?

I was told at the CIUG conference in Orlando last Sept. that the VMS
specific syntax would be replaced in PH 8.30 sans the interactive dictionary
though.  It was indicated the 8.3 might be released later this year.  

Bob: If we can't have the old interactive PHD can we at least get Cognos to
modify BI Architect to 'understand' and create/update PDL files?  Having a
nice GUI PDL editor with full syntax checking would be a compromise although
I for one don't like having to recompile the pdc file, kick all users off,
unload the old one from memory, and then install the new PHD as I have to
under HP/UX. :(

I know of several PH sites that got the PH web eval without the bagage and
therefore the cost.  I understand that the per seat cost on an NT box is not
unreasonable compared with similar enterprise products, at least in the USA.

Regards,

Blue



-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Sharman
To: Bob.Deskin@Cognos.COM
Cc: Chris.Sharman@ccagroup.co.uk; powerh-l@lists.swau.edu
Sent: 3/1/00 7:59 AM
Subject: RE: colon and pattern matching


>1) The manuals are available on paper for the cost of printing. Putting
the
>manuals on CD with a proper search was a majority request by our
customers.

I don't have any objection to CD manuals with a 'proper' search,
whatever that
is: like I say, they're of dubious readability on VMS.

What I object to is CD *instead* of a proper paper manual: printing my
own copy
will, for most of us, typically result in a large pile of unbound,
unindexed,
un-duplexed A4/letter paper, which is not very easy to handle or refer
to.
I've got 6 manuals at present, of 5-700 pages each.

>The vast majority that I have heard from are happy with what we've
done.

Who's happy (at the dropping of paper, rather than the addition of CD) ?
Does it save us money ? No-one's reduced my support contract price.

>2) We are fully aware that PH version 8 does not have all of the
OpenVMS
>specific features available in 7.10. We have explained why that
happened.
>Whether any of us agree with the decisions or not is moot - it's a done
>deal. Looking forward, we plan to put the OpenVMS specific features
back in.
>We are well aware that our customers can't move to the series 8 level
until
>that's done as well as ensuring a smooth upgrade path.

So what's the timescale ? This is quite an old issue, and I'm still
unaware of
any timescales. I get the impression (old cynic that I am) that Cognos
hopes
we'll eventually give up complaining and allow them to forget about it
altogether.

>3) We can debate the pricing of PH Web until the cows come home. This
is
>something for you and your local office. However, I don't understand
why an
>evaluation version was not available. I will be checking into this.

They "prefer to put together a pilot project with consultancy" etc etc.
They
appear to want to make around 10k uk pounds from our evaluation, never
mind the
actual licence. There's a lot of other products which I can (& will)
evaluate
for far less, so I'll obviously only be back to Cognos if they're all
unserviceable. Is this what you want ?

Chris
_______________________________________________________________________
Chris.Sharman@CCAgroup.co.uk		http://www.ccastat.demon.co.uk/
CCA Stationery Ltd, Eastway, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9WS.
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