I have received a couple of comments on my draft letter to Wayne
Greenberg. Here is the revised version:
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Wayne Greenberg
Mead Data Central
9443 Springboro Pike
Dayton, Ohio 45401
September 3, 1992
Dear Mr. Greenberg,
Like many other law school librarians, I am disappointed with the
new LEXIS/NEXIS Windows upgrade that has been installed on our
terminals. A bug in the new setup is causing frustration for
both librarians and student users.
There seems to be a problem with the Windows setup that causes
completed LEXIS for DOS sessions to remain active and in memory.
This seems to occur in at least two situations: (1) if the
student fails to quit the session with Alt-Q, and (2) if the
terminal fails to connect of fails to read a character. The
result is that, after two or three students have used the
terminal, the next student to attempt to do so is unable to do so
because of "insufficient memory." The librarian, then, is forced
to terminate each copy of the LEXIS software, one by one, so that
the terminal can then be used.
Not all law students are experienced with Windows. They do not
know--nor is there anything to tell them--that they must exit
their LEXIS/NEXIS session properly; before this upgrade the
program terminated automatically.
A number of law librarians have complained about this problem on
the LAW-LIB Internet discussion list. Many feel that this sort
of minor, but extremely irritating, glitch should have been
discovered and corrected during beta testing. It is extremely
frustrating to have improperly tested "upgrades" forced on us.
I understand that this must be embarassing for Mead Data, and it
is unfortunate that in their rush to get a new upgrade in the
hands of their users, they missed an opportunity to gain points.
We in the law schools look forward to receiving an improved
version of the LEXIS Windows interface.
Sincerely yours,
James Milles
Head of Computer Services
Saint Louis University Law Library
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Please give me your comments by this Wednesday, September 9.
(Please note that I am speaking for myself here, but I want to
make sure that the concerns of others on law-lib are
represented.)
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James Milles Internet: millesjg@sluvca.slu.edu
Head of Computer Services (314) 658-2759
Saint Louis University Law Library Fax: (314) 658-3966
3700 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108
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