UACXN - a Windows XP issue? Focus on Why.
 

The end of the Wall Street Journal article on the protested demise of United connection, Jane Costello found a quote from a UA-er, to the effect that "...we can't keep improving UACXN to keep up with the constant updates to Windows."

Previous posts identified that Micorsoft programmed United Connection directly for United.

Can any FlyerTalkers, especially those technically proficient, explain what could be going on within Windows and how UA Connection uses the OS? Any UA infotech folks with info about why UA did not re-hire Microsoft people to upgrade UA Connection?

Blunt, dumb question: is there something in Windows XP or Internet Server that would have forced UA to reprogram and redistribute UA Connection?

Please share what you know!



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UA 1K since 1997, hitting MM by Dec2001!

I have been using United Connection 3.0 on Windows XP for months with no problems, although I have hardly done a full test of it. As I wrote before, I strongly suspect it is an issue of UA wanting to spend the money to support it, when they have another system that they have to support as well (united.com).

Visit http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...oundations.asp
for an explanation of Microsoft's attempt to ensure compatibility with "back level" applications. United Connection, Developed by Microsoft, should run without problem.
<quote>

"With Windows XP, application compatibility is not an afterthought, as it was in Windows 2000," says Jude Kavalam, a program manager in the Application Compatibility Experience group at Microsoft. "The number one ship criteria is compatibility. We've been testing applications since day one and have tested several thousand apps so far." For Windows XP, Microsoft's application compatibility goals are straightforward: Applications will just work.
<end quote>

The question now becomes who do you trust more? UA brass or Microsoft?

I took Jane Costello's source, as quoted, to mean the problem was in UA investing to keep up with the evolution of SOME server side product related to the operating system.

Any possible culprits?



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UA 1K since 1997, hitting MM by Dec2001!

United would face some major ongoing costs if they had to support the United Connection dial-up access feature. They would have to pay for the POP's in every city they provide access.

My point is that they could abandon all of the dial up ports, and only provide access to the United Connection through an internet connection, save a big $$$ and only continue to provide the existing interface to their reservations systems.

We may have to recognize that there won't be any softare upgrades to what we have, but that is preferable to UA just abandoning the product.

Using United Connection 3.0, under the menu item Tools is Communications, then Service Provider. Two choices there:

- Internet Service Provider
- United Airlines Network

Having their own nationwide dialup network - this second choice - might be a significant cost, but shouldn't this price component of United Connection be dropping, if not stable?

Granted, 4-5 years, some of us may have dialed directly into the United dialup numbers, but does anyone still use this 'network' over their current Internet provider?

In parallel, FedEx Ship used to ('95 -'99) work from a diskette, and required dialing into their local access numbers to setup shipping labels. Their website clearly caught up and passed this capability.

Is UA living and learning the FedEx way?



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UA 1K since 1997, hitting MM by Dec2001!

I was under the impression that the dial-up network was not a UA Network, but rental space from Compuserve.

And so it seems. I first learned of this by accident when I was in LHR a couple of years ago and needed to make some new reservations. As a CompuServe subscriber of many years I finally noticed that the access numbers were identical.

I can't conceive of anything in the near future. A new MSFT O/S makes a convenient excuse for UAL. However, what I/T manager is going to deploy XP on production servers soon after release?

UAL would rather spend their tech budget on Mypoints or the Bizjet venture, IMHO.

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Who is John Galt?
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CompuServe is essential to many United employees; it's the only way into their internal network from the outside. And, they too can use disk-based PC software, which in turn uses either CompuServe dialup numbers or a customer-chosen ISP. There are several different products, of which the best known is probably BidPlus, primarily marketed to Flight Attendants. Unlike UACNXN, all of these also provide command-line access to the full functionality of Basic Apollo (in addition to an easy-to-use point-and-click interface).

Hey United lurkers, how would you like it if you were told you had to "migrate" to a crappy web interface (SkyNet)?


[This message has been edited by EPS (edited 07-16-2001).]