The quest for linux-oracle-instantclient-sqlplus

[Martin McCormick]

I have run across a couple of other ports that required the
acceptance of a software agreement and the process was
relatively painless, but this one makes up for all that and then
some.

	For hours today, I have been wading through the Oracle
web site trying to connect the URL 
 http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/oci/instantclient/index.html 

with the agreement I must accept and the ultimate purpose of
this so-far futile quest, the download of the zip file
has yet to happen because of the utter triumph of form over
function which is the state of the art of what passes for web
design these days.

	I am limited to lynx or safari. Nothing else is an
option right now. On the Mac, safari is the only browser that
truly works with the screen reader known as VoiceOver. The lynx
browser while it works perfectly with text-based standard input
and output falls flat when confronted with scripting languages
like javascript.

	Oddly enough, both lynx and safari work about the same
way on this site. One uses the url that make tells you to use
and then things just kind of go to pot in a confused jungle of
marketing verbiage and links that are mostly inappropriate to the
task at hand.

	Once, I actually saw the agreement, screen after screen
of legalese and then discovered there was no button to click and
no way out except to back up to the previous screen.

I certainly hope that if I ever get this installed, it is worth
wasting literally half a work day due to the IT equivalent of a
dialog with an utter idiot. In this case, the idiot is the web
site, not a specific person.

	I figured at this same time a couple of days ago, we'd
have it installed and be testing to see if it meets our needs.

	The interesting thing about all this is that there has
been a thread on this list about open source software. One
comment I can make is that there is simply not these kinds of
hassles. Commercial sites are too busy looking goo-oo-ood! to be
useful much of the time.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Telecommunications Services Group