Here around the office we have a diverse mix of computers and technologies. There are, of course, numerous Sun Solaris servers, the Sun Ray thin clients are growing like weeds, I have a Sun Ray and an Apple MacBook at my desk, and of course countless desks have Microsoft Windows boxes running XP. Up until about three years ago everyone on the Windows boxes ran Office 2000 as their Office productivity suite. That is about when I tried Star Office for the first time – and only due to persistent nagging from my colleague Bruce. Needless to say, I didn’t like it.
Why? It was different, it meant change. I like to think I adapt well to change, especially when it comes to technology. I am always on the “bleeding edge”. I liked MS Office – it worked well, was reasonably stable, and I knew everything about it.
But after a couple of weeks of consistent use I realized it wasn’t really that different at all. I just didn’t like the change. Most of the buttons look the same, 9 out of 10 tools are in the same place. It really turned out to be a pretty easy switch, with just a few frustrating moments.
Around the office, as we bought new Window’s machines, we elected to skip the $400 price tag that came with MS Office and instead installed Star Office for all of $70. (Star Office is one of many available productivity packages available that use ODF, Open Document Format. Many ODF programs are free – like OpenOffice.org) And with MS Office 2007 just released I’m sure glad we’ve been making this change.
It seems that numerous large enterprises, states and even world governments have made this same choice. Not simply due to cost (my motivator), but due to compatibility. They don’t want to be married to Microsoft it seems. They want a choice. You see, ODF format Office Suites are built on open standards, not proprietary formats like MS Office. Open Standards = Interoperability.
Adopting ODF supporting applications in your business or service means you are not required to purchase an application from a single vendor in order to share and communicate your document data. You now have a choice.
IBM has chosen to switch to Open Document Format. Most of the European Union has switched to ODF. Massachusetts has switched and many other states have legislation pending – it looks like many will follow suit.
The benefits to switching are numerous, the drawbacks are few and far between. And as far as I can see there are only two factors keeping businesses from switching to ODF: 1) fear 2) uncertainty.
Further reading / resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_adoption
http://www-5.ibm.com/de/pressroom/presseinfos/2006/05/04_3.html
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid19_gci1187534,00.html
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think15/
http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/BobSutor?entry=open_document_format_for_office
http://www-142.ibm.com/software/workplace/products/product5.nsf/wdocs/wmcodf
I spent a good bit of time yesterday “touching up” four more manuals and our website, sum-it.com. In an effort to keep the manuals just for our customers I have moved them from the public site to the files area of the new User’s Group. I am also hoping that by keeping these in the User’s Group it will encourage everyone’s participation.
Take a look at the Documentation section of the website for a description of the topics covered and then visit the Files section of the User’s Group to download the manuals. Please note that Module 3, Accounts Receivable, is available for download but is still being edited and updated.
They are available in Adobe PDF format for portability; these can be viewed on just about any computer. But, if you want to download and customize the manuals specifically for your business, they are available in ODT format too. ODT stands for Open Document Text; this is a format that you can edit with a number of word processor programs, such as Star Office 8, OpenOffice 2 or NeoOffice 2.
Whew!
Good news! In an effort to further communication with all of our customers, and to also encourage communication between customers, the new SUM/IT User’s Group is now on-line!
Last night through today I have been adding the finishing touches to the group. This is an on-line group where I hope our users will go to share productive ideas and discuss all things SUM/IT. We as a company will also be able to post quick, informal messages via the group.
The group will be limited to invitation only, and you will need to create an account in order to gain access. Once your account is created you can choose if you would like to only view messages on the group’s site, or you can receive them via e-mail. Of course we will not share any of your information with outside sources – we’re pretty fanatical about privacy around here.
I imagine most people will just choose to have e-mail’s sent – it seems too inconvenient to have to remember to visit a web page. One of the nice things about the e-mail is you can get one e-mail for each message posted, or you can get one e-mail per day with all the messages.
I’ll probably send the e-mail invitations out on Monday, but if you want to automatically request one before then, or if you’re reading this after the fact and didn’t get an invitation, you can use this form:
| Subscribe: SUM/IT Systems User’s Group |
| Email: |
| Visit this group |
The success of SUM/IT has many sources. We have assembled a dedicated team, have established great working relationships with companies like Educators Resource & Creative Catalog and have even been the beneficiaries of a little luck every now and again. But our greatest strength continues to be our customers. Our best ideas have always come from here. And it is this two way street of ideas and information that drives SUM/IT.
That is why we have planned a SUM/IT User’s Meeting at the 2007 NSSEA Convention in Atlanta. We want your feedback and we welcome your input. We are also excited to share with you the exciting projects that we have on the horizon and give you a glimpse of the road that we’re on.
So please plan to join us for a worthwhile “town hall” meeting on Saturday, March 3rd from 2:00 – 3:30 in room C107. Swing by booth number 2223 for additional information and we look forward to seeing you there!
Things here at the SUM/IT offices sure have been busy lately. We are getting ready for NSSEA and are excited to host it in our home town. I wanted to take a moment to touch base with all of our version 5 and 6 customers and let you know about some happenings in regards to those versions.
These older versions sure have been good to us all. As I think about how much trouble these Windows PC’s in the office can be, it at least reminds me of how remarkable the old IBM boxes running SCO Unix have been. To get more than four or five years out of a box is fantastic, and yet we have some customers that have been up and running for three times that long. Unfortunately, with aging hardware running an out-of-date operating system, it is becoming increasingly difficult to support. Finding parts as they break is becoming harder by the day; and our staff’s knowledge of version 5 & 6 is starting to wane. Finding a decent Wyse terminal these days is getting harder and harder.
In accordance, the support costs for these versions will be going up as we renew each contract. What I was hoping to do is point out that it will actually be more profitable in the long run for you to upgrade to our latest version of hardware and software. Not to mention that by using the latest hardware you will be increasing your system’s reliability exponentially; and I think you would be blown away by the difference in features from version 5 to version 8.
A brand new server from Sun Microsystems is just under $1,000; and that includes a DVD-RW drive to back up all your data to DVD each night. The flat panel LCD screens we use at the cash register are an amazing leap forward from those old dumb terminals; and I can’t even begin to tell you how easy it is to load a thermal receipt printer.
Now is the time to act on upgrading your aging system before another back-to-school sneaks up on us. Make sure your business can provide uninterrupted service to your customers. E-mail or call me with your questions or concerns and let’s get the ball rolling now so you can be ready for the busy season ahead.
I am very excited about this new little iBook laptop from Apple sitting here on my desk; it belongs to a customer in Nashville. I have been running the SUM/IT Software now for almost a month on my own personal iBook with OS-X (Tiger release) and it works great. And now I have this new iBook sitting right next to it that we will be running in Nashville later this month.
So what does all this mean? Well, in the past when a customer wanted a laptop version of SUM/IT we took a Dell laptop, removed Windows, and loaded the Solaris Operating System on it. This works pretty well, but not nearly as useful as an Apple computer. Once the Dell laptop was essentially a Solaris server it typically had less functionality for the user; but with the iBook (or any Mac for that reason) you can still run all the standard programs on it, along with SUM/IT. After all they make Quicken, QuickBooks, Microsoft Office, all sorts of software for the Mac. And now SUM/IT can run along side on the same machine! This means you can take SUM/IT with you wherever you go – trade shows, exhibits, off-site meetings with vendors, etc. You can have all your data with you – no need to talk back to a Unix / Solaris server because the Mac is the server. Want to plug a receipt printer and scanner into the USB ports? No problem! Report printer? Easy as pie!
Why does this work so well in Mac OS-X? Simple, it’s Unix too. OS-X is just another flavor of Unix.
So in the future keep an eye out for references to SUM/IT and OS-X. Solaris is still the OS of choice for servers, but for portability OS-X will be the platform of choice.
Point of Sale / Inventory Control software running natively on Mac OS-X? Someone please pass me the champagne.
The topic around the water-cooler lately is inventory; the dreaded physical inventory. For the past 6+ years we have used portable handheld scanners to accomplish this task. These scanners were very expensive and took numerous hours to configure; so maybe it is for the better that they are no longer available. The replacement models can cost in the neighborhood of $1,500 and up ~ before configuration. So, needless to say, SUM/IT is taking a new (and better) approach to physical inventory: RGIS.
Last year we had about 15 sites give RGIS a good trial run. These sites ranged from small neighborhood stores to larger, 35,000+ sq-ft facilities. All in all, the results were overwhelmingly positive. Inventories were completed in half a day and accuracy was outstanding. (not to mention that someone else does most of the counting for you) The cost for the average store was just over $1,200 – not a bad investment in my opinion.
SUM/IT Systems already has all of the routines in place for RGIS; likewise RGIS already has programming ready for us. So the “start-up programming” costs that RGIS quotes most companies has already been taken care of for you. So when you start talking physical inventory around the store please give us a call and we can point you in a new, more efficient, more accurate direction.
After months of hard work our good friend, Greg Freeman, has completed version 2 of our Operational Training Guide (a.k.a. “the manual”). I’ve just put it up on sum-it.com in PDF format for our current and prospective customers to review. It is a 141 page masterpiece (IMHO) and covers the topics of Employee time Card, Point of Sale, Vendor Purchasing, Inventory Control, Management Tasks and System Utilities.
We have more sections coming soon; the finishing touches are being put on the following titles: Physical Inventory, Accounts Receivable, Mailing List and SUM/IT Utilities. They should be ready to post in just a few weeks.
So take a gander and by all means, let me know what you think!
The big project here in the office right now is creating a customized Solaris boot DVD with the SUM/IT business applications already on the DVD. Currently, in order to restore a downed Solaris server it would be a two-step process. First, you would have to restore the Solaris OS from DVD and then second, your data would have to be restored from backup.
What is cool is that Sun provides a method for creating a customized DVD – all in one nice little package:
GRUB and the Solaris Operating System on x86 Platforms – A Guide to Creating a Customized Boot DVD
We are experimenting with it now – hopefully by the end of the week we will have a one-step solution to disaster recovery.
After years of reading the killboy.com blog on a regular basis; then coming across all sorts of techie blogs on sun.com anytime I go looking for a Solaris solution; I have finally joined the ranks of the bloggers.
My intent is to chronicle my day-to-day experience with technology. Specifically as it relates to SUM/IT Systems, Sun Microsystems (Solaris), Apple, and related technologies. Here we go . . . . . . .
mcornelia.com 