Pop Up Post-It Notes?

[Aristarco]

My boss has this idea of sending notes to the users just the way Unix does it to informa that, let's say, the server is going to shut down in five minutes, etc. She thinks this can be accomplished by a program she hasn't yet seen, so even when the user's PC is off the message is waiting. Just the way ICQ messenger does. She says this program should use only the internal net and not go to the outside as MSN or ICQ. I've never seen such a program. Does anyone know about this?

PS: I still believe she wants something like the WinPhone we used to chat in the pre-ICQ era, but with increased cappabilities. Am I wrong? To boldly code, where no programmer has compiled before!

 

[fmancini]

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,92923,00.asp

 

[QldSugardaddy]

you could try net send. open up command prompt, to send to all staff type in :
net send * Server reboot in 5 minutes
to send to individuals replace * with user log in. Thanks, Todd
When in doubt, kick 'er in the guts

 

[Aristarco]

Neither is a solution for my situation. First of all,

 net send

only works for win2k machines and in this office we have a tutti frutti environment ranging from win95 al the way to winXP. We need some sort of internal ICQ, because there's this spec telling that the software must not let the message go out of the net AND keep the message so the user receives it when he(she) turns her machine on, let's say, at the morning.

But thank you anyway. This gave me some clues. To boldly code, where no programmer has compiled before!

 

[caddex]

http://www.exxzero.com/

LAN instant messenger, WinPopup replacement
for Windows 95 / 98 / Me / Windows NT / Windows 2000 / Windows XP

Not a salesman nor do i care to be

 

[wolluf]

What's wrong with email & a distribution list?

 

[Aristarco]

I'll check that LAN IM. The problem with email and dist. list is that many people is so busy that they check the email once a week or less. So it is not an option. Also, the messages must be unavoidable. To boldly code, where no programmer has compiled before!

 

[wolluf]

Aristarco,

You wrote:- 'My boss has this idea of sending notes to the users just the way Unix does it to informa that, let's say, the server is going to shut down in five minutes, etc'

'even when the user's PC is off the message is waiting'

Perhaps you need to define your requirements more exactly.
Any message that is about an imminent event is useless (and possibly dangerous) if queued up and delivered later to users not logged on at the time. So perhaps you need 2 modes of transport - one for immediate messages to currently logged on users, and the other for messages with a longer time span. I'd suggest something like that Lantalk - or net send/winpopup - what about winchat (there are many others on the net) linked above for immediate messages to logged on users & email for longer term.

As to unavoidability - there's no such thing. If users start getting pop-up messages on a regular basis, they'll dismiss them without registering content on a regular basis too. Also, I think most if not all of these messenging clients use underlying windows functions (eg, Lantalk uses the same messenger service on NT/2k/XP as net send and will send to users running winpopup on 9x/ME). So, if someone turns off their messenger service (NT based systems) or isn't running Lantalk/Winpopup/whatever, they won't get the message.

 

[Aristarco]

I used the server shutdown example to mention how the Unix messages were like. The server here never turns off. Messages are not going to be about imminent events, no "clear and present danger" events. No Doom's Day events. Also, the messages are going to be sent from specific people to entire/multiple departments.

Sometimes, info need to be updated at the morning and the notification of information available to be updated comes at night. Meetings are also important and "unavoidable". So, for this kind of event notifications, the basis is not so regular and annoyingly frequent like the pop-up ads on internet.

Sorry for not giving more info but this office handles sensitive processes and data for the government. But anyway, you all have been of great help. To boldly code, where no programmer has compiled before!

 

[wolluf]

Another suggestion (for morning updates) - logon script - displays message with a 'have you read this message' Y/N answer required (redisplays if N).

 

[Aristarco]

Well, it seems this LANTalk program works fine and I'd say it fits the problem. However, it doesn't seem to keep the messages waiting 'till the user turns the computer on. Anyway, thanks. To all. To boldly code, where no programmer has compiled before!