I was seeking documentation on FlexLM usage by products from Mentor Graphics. Their support site was easy enough to find, but every time I clicked a link to a document that looked relevant, I was taken to a login page.
Usability annoyance tangent:
The link entitled Learn how to use SupportNet, opens a new browser window with a full window flash applet, and in my case a dialog box explaining "This tutorial was designed to work on screens of 1024x768 or greater, and therefore you may have trouble seeing the entire screen. Note: the tutorial control is located on the bottom of the window". I note that I was doing this from a laptop with a 1024x768 screen.
Not actually wanted an account on the support site, but seeing no other
option, I follow the link to Sign Up.
The first thing I see is a warning in red "Registration requests are processed within 24 hours of receiving email verification." Sigh, I was hoping to resolve this matter today. I fill out the form and moments later recieve an email asking me to verify my email address and reminding me that they are the only EDA vendor that has 5 STAR support. Who would have guessed that requiring your customers to jump through meaningless hoops is one of the requirements of the STAR awards. I can understand requiring registration to download software, but there is no excuse to lock up the knowledge base and how-to documents.
The link that verified my email address did take me to a page saying I
could peruse SupportNet as a lowly guest. I wasn't able to download the updated Mentor specific Flexlm pieces I needed, but I did much of the information I needed. Why must software companies make the lives of systems administrators more difficult?
