a toaster tidbit: NOW uses cookies not only to manage Session state in IIS but also to maintain Authentication and Authorization across our newly expanded backend. That's why the Cookies have domain ".netapp.com" and not "now.netapp.com."

i hear the input about lynx and the ability to script. while modern lynx supports cookies -- e.g. release 2.8.1rel.2 libwww-FM 2.14, not all installations do. that said, IMHO, i think it's key for NTAP to review and architect, again, how NOW should handle general interactions with modern text browsers (including the absence of javascript).

thanks for the feedback. //michael

-----Original Message----- From: Pete Ehlke [mailto:pde@listserv.music.sony.com] Sent: Sunday, October 17, 1999 6:41 PM To: Luke Mewburn Cc: toasters@mathworks.com Subject: Re: now.netapp.com now needs javascript/cookies?

Luke Mewburn (lukem@cs.rmit.edu.au) said, on [991017 20:43]:

Since when has now.netapp.com needed JavaScript & Cookies?

Since someone decided that IIS/ASP was a Good Thing(TM). And, AFAICT, the cookies aren't used at all for the only technical reason for using them, keeping state. I smell the presence of marketroids and user tracking. Pfeh.

I find this unacceptable:

a) I have JavaScript (& Java) disabled on my GUI browser because it increases the reliability and security.

b) My text browser (lynx) doesn't support JavaScript.

As do a fair number of the people who use NOW, I'd wager.

With NetApp's drive to encouraging customers to using now.netapp.com as a method to lodge support calls, I remind them that until this point I could do everything (manage my filers, submit calls, look at bug reports/new releases) via a text based connected *if* I needed to.

So could I. And if I ever need information from NOW in the middle of the night, while I'm hunched over a dead filer in a colo cage, with nothing but a vt100 at my disposal, I'm going to pitch a pretty serious fit. This is a technical resource, folks, not just another opportunity for your marketing department to count hits.