Re: IBM "Registered" SoftwareKnowledgeBase

IBM - Where are you when we need you?
Has everything gone to Bangalore?

Regards,
Steve

I had some issues with my passwords over the last two weeks.
1 - My Passport Advantage user id went bye-bye and Achmad from IBM says we
must have did it because IBM doesn't make errors.
2 - Some of my support user id's and passwords stopped working and I had
to get them reset.  At that point I developed a migraine while talking to
IBM on the phone (a conversion which involved a lot of words my mother
would not have been proud of) and couldn't read my screen anymore and had
to go home for a few hours.
3 - You chose a "challenge question" awhile back.  And your question was
that umbrella question.  Which may have made sense years ago when you set
it up.  Mine reflected my mood with IBM the last time they wanted to f...
with me.  "Who sucks?"  "IBM".

Rob Berendt
--
Group Dekko Services, LLC
Dept 01.073
PO Box 2000
Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com

Tom Liotta <qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
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04/20/2005 10:18 PM
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Subject
IBM "Registered" SoftwareKnowledgeBase

I've been working at odd moments during the past several hours trying to
find my way back into IBM's Registered Software Knowledge Base area.
It's been at least a couple years since I've gotten in.

I'm sitting at a panel now where I'm supposed to reset my password. It
apparently knows "who" I am because it filled in the IBM ID correctly,
including capitalization of the three parts of my user name. For some
reason, the site won't accept what I'm sure my password is; perhaps my
'entitlements' aren't sufficient although my access to a lot of other
areas seems to contradict that.

Anyway, it poses a security question: "What is your product umbrella
name?"

Huh?

I suppose I must have seen that question somewhere before, but I sure
don't know what the answer is. I'm not at all sure what a "product
umbrella" is, much less what the name of mine is.

I don't want to go into the details of the tortuous path of pages that I
went through to get this far, but I will post a link that is behind the
text saying "guidelines for IBM IDs and passwords":

https://www.ibm.com/account/profile/us?page=regfaqhelp#4

That link should take you to a part of a kind of FAQ. That section is
titled 'What are the rules for specifying an IBM ID?' and begins with
"Your IBM ID must have the format of a valid email address." A bullet
point in that topic even says "must contain an '@' character that
separates the user and domain values (example: lorem@xxxxxxxxx)".

No big deal except, of course, none of my various IBM IDs have _ever_
been in the form of an e-mail address and I've regularly created new
ones every time I've been notified that they're migrating to some new,
improved version of everything. _AND_ a couple topics down the FAQ we
see an entry titled 'What if I can't sign in with my current IBM ID?'.
Guess how that begins?

"If your IBM ID is over 32 characters or contains an "@" symbol, it may
not give you access to certain password-protected parts of ibm.com."
Naturally, the Registered Software Knowledge base is password-protected,
though I have no reason to think that has anything to do with anything
else.

Sheesh.

I first used the Registered SKB quite a few years ago. Cool stuff in
there. But how can it possibly continue to become more and more
complicated to get in? You'd think if anybody knew how to streamline
this stuff, it'd be IBM.

Well, no, you probably wouldn't think that. But wouldn't it be nice?

Anybody compare the WebSphere InfoCenter to the iSeries InfoCenter
lately? The link earlier today about WebSphere Application Server V6
went there. Wow. What a contrast.

Wouldn't it be great if there was _SOME_body in charge of bringing stuff
together within IBM?

Just letting off frustration...

Tom Liotta

--
Tom Liotta
The PowerTech Group, Inc.
19426 68th Avenue South
Kent, WA 98032
Phone  253-872-7788 x313
Fax    253-872-7904
http://www.powertech.com

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