Martin Knapp writes:
>Eric Popish <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>... Can someone tell me how (if possible), to have the same
>>application print a Signature on the document.
>*** Plug alert ***
>
>Rather than go through all the horrible business of hacking Cobol
>programs, downloading printer macros by hand, etc, why not just get a
>piece of software to do the job? If you use Fantasia from Proactive...
Because "all the horrible business" takes about an hour, once you have the
signature file in hand -- and Fantasia probably doesn't come with the
signature the original poster wants (not that I've checked their signature
catalog recently :-). It's not really very complicated; call me or some of
the others who've replied to get the particulars.
*** Grump alert ***
It annoys me to no end when vendors try to sell someone ten plagues plus
the parting of the Red Sea when all they've asked for is to get the aphids
out of the garden. $20 at Kinkos plus about an hour's worth of programming
-- maybe less, thanks to Jim Wowchuk's quick utility from a couple of
months ago -- will solve the original poster's problem.
I'm particularly sensitive to overselling in the electronic forms area
because I've been in that market and seen a lot of it. One user group talk
I was at makes a good type specimen: it was entitled something like
"Creating and Using Electronic Forms" and the speaker was an electronic
forms vendor (not Martin's firm, by the way). After 45 minutes of showing
off electronic forms, the speaker asked for questions. The first question
was the obvious one: "Well, that's very pretty, but how do _I_ do that
stuff?" The predictable answer was "you need a software package; it's too
complex to do yourself." The questioner persisted: "Isn't there a manual
that describes all the laser printer commands, though?" And the speaker
replied "Yes, but it's hard to find and very difficult to use."
At this point, I interrupted the speaker and "offered" to "help him out." I
supplied the questioner with the part number of the manual and the
telephone number he needed to call to obtain it. There followed an amusing
pas de deux in which the speaker would take a question, say that his
software could do the job, and then I'd tell the questioner how to do the
job without the speaker's software.
There are a number of vendors in the HP3000 community who've become very
successful even though they share most of what they know, free of charge:
Ross Scroggs, Stan Sieler, Gavin Scott, practically everyone at Robelle
except the cats, several people at HP, some of the consultants on this
list, and the 38 people from whom I'm going to get email because their
names are buried in the neurons that my morning Mountain Dew hasn't yet
reached :-). They empower HP3000 users to do things they couldn't otherwise
do, extending the life of the platform and enhancing its reputation. Come
to think of it, maybe they're successful _because_ they share most of what
they know.
On the other hand, I've seen a lot of "shelfware" at HP3000 sites: stuff
that users have bought that turns out not to solve the problem at hand, or
that solved one tiny problem at a price far in excess of the value of the
solution. Those boxes on shelves represent a sale made today at the
possible cost of many sales made two or three years from now, when the
company with the shelfware dumps the HP3000 for what management perceives
as a more cost-efficent alternative.
When someone has a BIG problem, sell them your software. But when someone
has a small problem, tell them how to solve it and let them look like
miracle workers to their management. You'll sell more software in the end.
*** End grump ***
-- Bruce
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Toback Tel: (602) 996-8601| My candle burns at both ends;
OPT, Inc. (800) 858-4507| It will not last the night;
11801 N. Tatum Blvd. Ste. 142 | But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -
Phoenix AZ 85028 | It gives a lovely light.
[log in to unmask] | -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
|
