Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:43:00 -0500 From: Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: The quest for linux-oracle-instantclient-sqlplus Message-ID: <200906042043.n54Kh05w003205@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
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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
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