I've been trying out the new SAP support portal that email notifications were sent out about a few days ago.
The good news - The navigation is definitely much better - there's a big button that you can't miss saying Download Software and you can find ebfs etc without much fuss.
The bad news - the credential insanity is worse than ever - I had to enter mine four times to get a download, twice (yes, twice in quick sucession - no intervening screen) every time I did a search. Yes, you can use the SAP Passport to install a certificate which helps a bit, but WHY WHY WHY - the site knows I'm logged in - it kindly tells me my name at the top of the screen which is handy for when I can't remember it?
<rant>
I realise that the folk at Waterloo aren't responsible for this horror but it does effect SQL Anywhere as a product. It also affects me as re-seller, as we have to help clients getting stuff that they used to be able to do for themselves and now (reasonably enough) have decided that it's far too ridiculously complicated and expect the people who sold them the thing in the first place to do it for them instead. Everyone knows that having to log in kills visits to web sites faster than anything else and the support portal expects you to do it pretty well every time you click a button.
I just hope that actually I just missed the checkbox marked "Stop messing with my head" and I just need to untick it! </rant>
UPDATE
Had a very useful discussion with Kirsten from SAP who was able to reassure me on some points.
First - the team behind the portal are very aware of the credential issue - it affects them as well - and they don't pretend that the current situation is satisfactory. The problem is caused by the fact that the portal acts as a front end for a variety of legacy systems where the various different functions / resources reside, each of which has its own security demands. This is being worked on actively and we should see rolling progress in the form of a steady reduction in frequency of credential demands until it is just required at initial log in. They aren't publishing time-scales yet but it is in progress.
Second - it is accepted that while the Passport can help, it isn't the solution (hence the work above). While it can be helpful if a) you are on a PC you use regularly b) you only have one identity and c) you use IE or Firefox. This last is because they don't currently have a solution for Chrome that automatically uses the Passport certificate in the way that IE and Firefox can - see the link in Kristen's post. As a short term measure they are trying to find a way of getting Chrome to do the same.
So, while it is still a frustrating system (to put it mildly) I am at least a little happier that the problems are acknowledged and that people are actively trying to do something about it!
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