I am a big fan of RIA, Flex, and Flash UIs in general. So, why do I feel that the flash-based version of Oracle MetaLink sucks? Here is a quick top 5:
- I usually develop on a machine other than my own: using remote desktop with anything flash-based is fairly useless in my experience. Waiting for animations to refresh on the screen is dreadful.
- I have more problems. I can’t say I liked the UI of the old MetaLink, but my experience was consistent and stable.
- I end up having to log-in more with the Flash version…rarely, but randomly…while I am using the site actively.
- My head hurts with everything going on in the new MetaLink
- Did I mention my head hurts? I need to go.
Note: I hope to start liking the new MetaLink soon. I realize the old one is going away at some point, so I better get on board, but I do hope Oracle comes up with a “MetaLink light” offering, with minimal movement and a stripped down interface (spelled “the existing/old MetaLink”).
Update – although Oracle did release the Flash-based MetaLink (and I have gotten more accustomed to it, by the way), there is indeed still access to a non-Flash version of MetaLink:
I meant to update the post a while back; thanks for commenting and reminding me ssu.
4 Comments on “Flash-Based Oracle MetaLink Sucks”
Couldn’t agree more. It is truly awful. Yesterday it was hanging at 96% (proudly displaying “Improved Stability”). Today it returns a server error. You’d think that Oracle, which is a pioneer of many RIA technologies, would choose something other than flash…
Totally unstable. Sever error. Single-Sign-On sucks too (can’t change password). Somebody at Oracle should get fired.
Maybe Oracle laid off a bunch of support folks. Make the site unusable to cut down the actual support requests they have to handle…
Try this.
supporthtml.oracle.com
Thanks for the reminder on this, ssu. I updated the post as well given that I hadn’t updated it since the new MetaLink was released.