[Info-vax] new HP OpenVMS public forum now live

[Paul Sture]

In article <4e0f3315$0$19708$c3e8da3$c8b7d2e6 at news.astraweb.com>,
 JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> wrote:

> Steven Schweda wrote:
> 
> >    I passed the Can't-use-it-from-a-browser-on-VMS complaint
> > along to OpenVMS.Programs at hp, and got an "I am working on
> > this" response.  I wouldn't hold my breath, but many things
> > are possible, I suppose.
> 
> 
> The Ink company is a Microsoft shop. They test the web software on
> Microsoft browsers.  If the older browser on VMS doesn't work, how are
> they to know which feature of HTML/javascript/CSS isn't working ?

The most extreme example of this was a "Color contrast verification tool"
on the HP web site which was a Java applet.  When I first tried this it 
said something like "You are running this on a Mac. Please use a Windows 
system".  I assume someone complained, for this was later fixed.

Trying to run that tool today however, I get asked for a login, which 
mysteriously asks for yet another password:

"Password * (Not your HP Network or HP Passport credentials)" 

and when I go through the "I forgot my password" procedure it

a) claims I'm not in the database
b) falls over

This is in the "DIGITAL MARKETING & WEB STANDARDS" area of HP's web
site (which has its own set of weird and wonderful URLs).

> So one would have to be fairly specific and provide a workaround
> solution to make it easier for them to fix it.
> 
> What may make things harder is that forum software is often purchased or
> taken from open source and if the feature that is the problem isn't in a
> part that is easily customizable,  your hopes of seeing a fix would be
> small.

One problem with these solutions is that some sites will heavily 
customise them and then face a huge task reapplying those customisations 
to a later version.  To state the obvious, getting stuck on an old 
version has security implications.

-- 
Paul Sture