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>Hello fellow Azipians.
>
>If someone was to ask you what is one piece of business software that needs
>to be invented what would you say?
>
>If you had to think of one application that all businesses in general need,
>what would you come up with?
>
>Ideas include: Automating processes, simplifying business practices, etc.
>
>OR are is there really no new software that needs to be made. Meaning that
>it has all been taken care of by companies like Microsoft, IBM, Sage and
>Intuit?
>
>A friend of mine and I were talking about this the other night and I was
>curious as to what other business professionals had to say.
Since I develop software for businesses I have a few words regarding the
above. First, you are unlikely to fine one program to do it all. There
have been what is known as integrated programs, AppleWorks, MS Works,
that do a multitude of things, e.g., Word Processing, Spreadsheets,
Databases, Graphics/Drawing/Art, Communications and sometimes more. While
these work, what you end up with are programs that do many things good,
but nothing really good.
MS Office is another example of trying to do all with one program or set
of programs. Personally I do not like MS Office. To me it's really a
kludge. I know many people seem to love it.
I have several different application programs I use and develop with.
While I have used the Works type programs I prefer individual programs
specific for a task.
What I develop are custom database programs. Almost all of the required
activities of a business can be handled by different customized database
programs. Payroll, Invoicing, Inventory, Order Processing, Contacts, etc.
Some of these can be combined into one program. The beauty of these is a
company can have a database program tailored to their specific needs for
only a few thousand dollars. Sometimes much less. The alternative is to
purchase a commercial non-modifiable program that sort of does most or
some of what a business wants/needs. Or to hire a programmer and spend
six months to a year or more and tens if not hundreds of thousands of
dollars for development using something like C++.
I develop custom database programs using two applications; 4th Dimension
and FileMaker Pro. For those who are not familiar with these, they are
both cross platform (work on Macintosh and Windows or in a mixed
environment) and can easily be connected to the web. Data can range from
2 GB to several hundred GB. Programs developed with these applications
can be used as single user or networked (typically a couple hundred
simultaneous users or less). The 4D programs use a truer Server/Client
type set up, however, FileMaker Pro also has a Server but works a bit
different. FileMaker Pro can also network in a peer-to-peer environment
without the server, but at a reduced level.
To give some perspective, FileMaker Pro is on the low end, easy to
develop with but limited. Access, which is Windows only, next. 4th
Dimension is next and much more powerful that either Access or FileMaker
Pro and arguably the closer of the three to a real relational database.
Oracle is next for very large Corporation use, but very expensive.
The bottom line is my recommendation is to fix on specific programs for
specific task. For programs that handle specific business activities
unique to that business, there is no beating custom database programs.
Anyone wishing to explore the above can contact me and I'll be happy to
try to answer any questions.
Happy Holidays.
Jeff
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Jeff Hopkins HPO SOFT
4th Dimension Developer 7812 West Clayton Drive
FileMaker Pro Expert Phoenix, AZ 85033-2439 U.S.A.
BASIC/C++ Programmer (623) 849-5889 (Fax)
www.hposoft.com Over 25 years of Programming
www.amug.org/~hposoft and Database Development Experience
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