June 24, 1996
The way things work (or sometimes don't)
By Bob O'Donnell
It wasn't supposed to happen like this.
When we originally planned the new registration system introduced last week here on
InfoWorld Electric, and set a date for its completion, we knew we were cutting things a
little close, but all seemed in order. As the deadline loomed closer, and materials were
created announcing the new system, there were assurances that we would make it on time,
and when we ran through test runs last week on our staging server, indeed, everything
worked.
But something happened when the system was connected to our main server and it just
didn't work. The result, as many of you know, is that you couldn't register for two days.
We felt particularly bad about this because we already knew that many of you weren't happy
with our difficult, but necessary decision to require re-registration. Then, after we got
the system back online, we ran into another problem. Dedicated Electric users who
understandably wanted to use their existing username and password with the new
registration system were denied the opportunity because the system reported the username
was already in use. Ouch.
We've received numerous e-mails from many of you commenting on the problems and I want
to assure you that we're working through the kinks as we speak, and will soon have a
system that matches all the capabilities we originally promised. In particular, you will
be able to use your existing username and you will be able to change your username on your
own. We hope to have both available this week, but having learned a hard lesson regarding
deadlines and this project, I won't promise a specific date.
Of course, as IS professionals, most of you have been through difficult beginnings with
in-house projects. Unfortunately, ours played itself out on a slightly more public stage.
Our apologies to those who experienced problems and our thanks for your understanding.
On a brighter note, last week also marked the official launch of InfoWorld
Electric-timed to match the PC Expo trade show in New York-and the response we received at
the show was quite positive. Thanks to those of you who came by the booth and chatted with
us. We're looking forward to having a regular presence at major industry trade shows
(COMDEX, Networld+Interop, etc.) from here on out, so stop by and say hello at the next
big show you attend.
Comments or questions about the site or our registration system are welcome.
©
Copyright 1996, by InfoWorld Publishing Corp., a
subsidiary of IDG Communications, Inc. Reprinted from InfoWorld,
155 Bovet Road, San Mateo, CA 94402. Further reproduction is prohibited.
