The Daily Sucker

Submitter comments: I’ve just started using Crystal Reports 10 and had an issue pop up — a manager emailed me a report and asked for a change. When I ran the report to see what it did, CR popped up a message that a function couldn’t be used (UTCtoLocal) since the dll it needs isn’t installed. No big deal — go get the dll and install it, right? Wrong!

Apparently SAP bought Business Objects which owns CR. And the SAP support page now supports — sort of — Business Objects. They have a 2 MB PDF file on how to navigate their support web site. Hint: if you need a 2 MB PDF file to explain how to navigate your web site, something is wrong. Seriously wrong. And I’ve spent 45 minutes trying to find out where the dll is on their web site with no success so far.

Vincent Flanders’ comments: An interesting web design issue. The good news is the link is clearly marked that you’ll be downloading a 2Mb PDF file. The bad news is someone is laughing up their sleeve whenever he realizes customers have to read a 42-page document about navigating through their support black hole of death. Obviously, Business Objects wasn’t a contender for Best Application UIs of 2008 and it looks to me that SAP views customers as saps (see definition 4).

Business Objects Support Page (look for “How to Navigate Inside the SAP Support World: Detailed information for Customers & Partners”)