| Title: | DECmcc user notes file. Does not replace IPMT. |
| Notice: | Use IPMT for problems. Newsletter location in note 6187 |
| Moderator: | TAEC::BEROUD |
| Created: | Mon Aug 21 1989 |
| Last Modified: | Wed Jun 04 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 6497 |
| Total number of notes: | 27359 |
Ease of use is an often mentioned area where DECmcc needs some shoring
up. This note may used as a repository for suggestions of what is needed.
My strongest suggestion are applications that help manage the manager.
Windowed applications first - worry about the VT100 user later. Examples
of 'vertical applications' are needed anyway by those that must manage
other objects.
How about windows of the logicals DECmcc uses - they would be settable
with widget scroll bars of choices. Icons to represent the logicals
would help the beginners know what they are used for.
An application to tell me what is being recorded and exported. Even
by domain would be good, but something to solve the problem of seeing
your diskspace usage growing and not knowing where it's coming from
(without looking at each subentity) would be useful.
An alarm management application! We all need help setting them,
enabling them, disabling them, knowing what's what, knowing the
possibilities of what can be done. Surely point and click technology
is up to this.
A memory/CPU/thread usage gauge would be nice too - so users can start
knowing when they are taxing their system. There are few good sizing
guides, so providing the tools would let that problem be solved by those
that use it. I spose the new 'real-time' graphic FM could provide the
output.
To repeat - manage the manger - and in the process, spark innovation
on how to use DECmcc.
bill
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1130.1 | my opinion... | TOOK::CALLANDER | Jill Callander DTN 226-5316 | Fri Jun 14 1991 13:54 | 19 |
Like you bill there are many things/areas where I believe ease of use could really use a boost, though I temper that with the belief that if it is easy to use but doesn't do enough we are back to peg one. Keeping that in mind I believe we need to make it easier for people to write their own xM's/specials that integrate with DECmss. Things like being able to plug in existing applications so that they can be used from DECmcc, or even building a new xM using DCL or shell scripts so that managers/support personnel can enhance their own environments. To this end we have seen quite a bit of xM work going on in house (even some announced in this conference like the stock AM and the ping AM), what better way to encourage xM development but to make some of these things available through the DECUS library? Keep in mind this is my opinion.... Ease of use starts with ease of development. The easier it is for me to add in the functions I am really looking for, then the more apt I am to feel that it meets my needs. jill | |||||
| 1130.2 | beg to differ | NAC::ENGLAND | Mon Jun 17 1991 20:27 | 22 | |
re: .-1:
Jill,
Ease of use should not be confused with ease of development. I work in
DECnet-ULTRIX, UNIX is a very attractive development environment which
is devilishly hard to use, and with DNU NCL I have received many
compliments on ease of plugging in new entities to it but that in no
way improves the ease of use for customers, who were stunned by how
difficult EFT NCL was to understand, let alone use. Since then, several
features such as command line recall and better online help have been
put in place to try to improve ease of use, but none of these features
had anything to do with ease of development.
Ease of development is not even a necessary condition for ease of use.
It's possible to write a total hack program that is extremely easy to
use but is unextensible and non-maintainable, it's called a demo.
Sorry to have to disagree, but this is a very fundamental point.
ben
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