Stan wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> HP WORLD 99 is coming up fast ... I'd like to encourage people to
> ask HP *WHEN* they'll have a decent search engine for HP ESC.

There's a problem with the search engine, and there's also a paroblem of
content (or lack of) with the ESC knowledge base. I'll detail that later.

> The current one sucks, even though it's slightly better than the
> previous one.

Oh, well, as far as I'm concerned, I could live (not for too long, OK...)
with this search engine if the content were up to my expectations.

>     All documents in HP ESC's Knowledge Data Base (KDB) should
>     be accessible via a publically-accessible web server, so that
>     external search engines could access/index them.

If HP's concern really is to give its competitors an unfair advantage by
being too open, then I can understand this pretty well. I do not have a
problem with the fact that accessing the Knowledge DataBase is limited to
individuals with a valid contract.

>     Against the expected claim of "we're exposing problems to our
>     competitors" we more than balance:  (a) we're helping our
>     users (the HP Way, remember?), and (b) it's a competitive
>     *advantage* to be able to say "HP has nothing to hide" ...
>     indeed, it's a tool to be used to sell HP computers!
>     (Of course, I often forget: HP isn't really trying to sell
>     computers any more, are they?)

Once again, I can understand HP's first argument (undue advantage to
competitors) pretty well. And let me say that I do not buy argument (b) at
all, and here's why. HP boxes are supposed to be sold by CERTIFIED (i.e.
acknowledged by HP) partners. One advantage of being a certified VAR or
Systems Integrator is that HP knows you and helps you, in the form of
discounts on demo systems, pre-sales assistance and many more. To my
knowledge, most HP resellers (whatever their agreement with HP) also have a
demo system (we are in the process of buying a demo HP9000 and a demo
HP3000), and therefore have a valid software contract, and hence are
authorized to access the Knowledge DataBase. OK, I'm more talking about
probabilities than certainties here. But I'm pretty sure I'm talking about
*HIGH* probalilities.

> The good answer:
>
>      We'll buy/borrow a real search engine, one which lets you:
>
>         - say "this word *MUST* be in the hit".  e.g.:  +showme
>         - say "this word *MAY NOT* be in the hits"  e.g.:  -spooler
>         - specify OR/AND/NOT and parenthesis
>         - do simple pattern matching.  e.g., : spool*

As for the suggested enhancements, I'm 100 % with that. Sure it will help !
Providing there's anything to find, of course.

In terms of content, I would very much appreciate to get A LOT MORE
technical details, especially where some research is involved, or where
some MPE internal knowledge is needed. I'm thinking about dumpreading,
debugging system code, some performance issues, etc. It always breaks my
heart -and makes me lose a lot of time- to have to go thru front-line
support, which in most cases merely acts like a rubberstamp chamber, i.e.
passes along to background each time the issue gets marginally difficult,
without adding any value. What would help me most would be the ability to
do qualification myself, and then pass along to the HP Support Center,
directly to background. But this requires two things : (a) the ability to
log calls directly to background and (b) detailed technical information, to
ensure a more than decent qualification before submitting anything to HP.
Argument (b) is the reason why I would very much welcome much more detailed
contents in the Knowledge DataBase.

This is NOT, I repeat NOT, ranting and frustration about the HP Support
Community as a whole, which I have belonged to for so many years, where I
have many friends, and which I can tell publicly is a VERY  VALUABLE,
highly competent and very helpful resource. This neither is a targeted
attack against anyone in person.It's more a criticism toward processes
which have substantially degraded over the years, at least in the
geographical area where I belong, France. My own perception is that
subcontracting HP France Software Support to outsiders did not help.

Disclaimer : I am only speaking for myself, not for my current or any of my
previous employers. The validity of my opinions is limited by, among other
things, geogaphy and does not pretend to universality.

OK, flame suit on now...

Christian Lheureux
Head of Systems and Networks Department
APPIC R.H.
HPConnect Systems Integrator
HP3000 Systems Expert