THANK YOU ALL for taking the time to provide your input. The management decision is to keep it simple and put out a vanilla WTO that will be distinct and easy to automate.
Let me do one e-mail in response to your many, many helpful details: > IMHO the best way is a WTO that is easy to catch in the customer's automation > software. Thank you @Shmuel. I agree that is the approach. > Wouldn't it be nice if there were a multi-ISV convention for format of > expiration alerts? Vendor collaboration on anything license-related alarms the anti-trust lawyers. > Or even for messages requiring human attention? I think one person's "needs human attention" is another person's "ho-hum." > The customer has a responsibility to manage their own system. > The fact that many do not (completely) is not really something you can solve. Agreed. But I still keep trying. :-( There is no software feature that substitutes for management. I keep forgetting that. > I don't know why the sales team can't keep track of what they've sold Neither do I, but I'm a programmer, not a psychologist or a VP of Sales. In my experience they at least DO not, not reliably. > And to be totally crazy maybe the salesperson could actually visit the > customer. That train has largely left the station. That is a HUGE, HUGE cost that would have to be passed on to you-know-who. And customers do not want to take the time to have someone in their offices. I miss the days when -- as the technical, non-sales CEO of my old company -- I could call someone up and say "hey, I'm going to be in Pittsburgh next month, can I take you to lunch?" and they would be delighted. Nowadays they would not pick up the phone. I really miss those days. > From my experience over the past few decades on the customer side there is no > full proof means to inform the customer of an expiring license. Sadly, I fear you are right. > My software emails the customer a notice once a day, I like it, but not going to go there at this time. Will keep that in mind. > You're assuming that the target machine has the technical connectivity to > "call home," > or, that if it doesn't, the operators and managers of the target machine > would agree to > such connectivity and configure it. I don't think you can make those > assumptions. Agreed. In spades. > So if I can tell the software - when you hit 30 days, then produce > a message to syslog and set the RC to 08 - but only if this tool is run. I like it. I want to keep this in mind. > The WTO would go to someone to low in the pecking order to make this > worthwhile. Agreed. Charles ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
