Computer Hope
Software => Computer software => Topic started by: dudge on January 31, 2014, 12:01:51 PM
-
Our small business must upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit. We're rep'ng our 3 desktops. Problem is our 2 important Soft'ws are obsolete-but work great!--after 20 years. Prisma's Yourway card file works like an expanded, old Rolodex-but we can't find a simple replacement. Also, our old Lotus WordPro allowed us to create a data base--then "merge" the data onto our own templates. Since we like to keep it simple, are there any suggestions on getting new software? Seems like the available PKG's give us the "entire world" when we need only a "few city blocks". We've already tried the "Virtual" for obsolete software---it just operates too slow---and, it's obsolete anyway. Again, any help / suggestions is greatly appreciated. Regards, Dudge.
-
Please let me offer some personal observations. Years ago I worked with some of the office software that is now considered obsolete. Yes, by modern standards it is now obsolete.
Nevertheless. it did very useful work. And it still can do the same work. There is of course concerned about maintenance and upgrades. One of the ideas that is hard to explain is the concept of scalability. In simplest terms, scalability means your ability to expand and enlarge your business without destroying what you already have. Normally, that means you would hire more employees and moved to a larger building as well as purchase new equipment. But with computers being part of the picture it's hard to project that clear path for expansion.
When trying to say is this, it's not easy. My personal advice is that you cannot do this yourself. You'll have to get an outside consultant to help you. Wished I can offer my services, I'm too old to work anymore and I've lost art of my eyesight. But I will offer you an opinion.
If you believe the cost of hiring an outside consultant is out of your budget, then do not try to plan a new system on your own. Instead, scale up what you already have by buying more equipment and perhaps hiring some entry-level employees. That can be just as effective and workable as paying for consultants and buying brand-new equipment and buying brand-new software. The cost could be prohibitive.
You can buy the equipment similar to what you already have that will be guaranteed to work. I'm talking about refurbished equipment that is then taken off lease. Perhaps your tax consultant will tell you it's better to buy new equipment, and he may be right, for tax purposes. But for your needs, an older refurbished computer is a better investment because of its scalability. Instead of buying just one, you buy two. And you get an entry-level person to run the new computer. Excuse me, I meant to say new refurbished. The computers that have been taken off lease by big manufacturers such as Dell and HP are refurbished by certified companies that will offer you a one-year warranty on both the hardware and the operating system.
There has been a lot of talk about how Windows XP is going to die. That is not really true. Microsoft will continue to provide security updates for Windows XP until sometime next year. This gives you and other small business people a window of opportunity to keep using Windows XP on older or refurbished computers.
The issue is not ready the functionality of the operating system. With proper drivers the older operating system runs very well. Even very old software works quite well under Windows XP. It was designed that way on purpose.
So, in essence here is what I'm telling you.
One. Hire an outside consultant and be prepared to pay a lot of money and have yourself a hard time.
Or, two, by some older equipment that has a warranty and get some entry-level people to help you to grow the business.
Please pardon any grammar errors juiciness, because of my eyesight problems have to do this through speech dictation. And yes, speech recognition works pretty good even on old laptop running Windows XP.
microphone off.
-
As far as rolodex feature, if you have MS Office, we used that as a rolodex that was electronic. Here is old info on how we did it with Office 2000, however this feature should still be available in newer MS Office versions. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,31538,00.asp (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,31538,00.asp)
If you need something that goes beyond this then without buying a large program package with extra features that are unnecessary your other option is to hire a programmer to make the program for you. However unless you can find a college student who needs a project for their programming course or degree who works for peanuts it will most likely cost you more to have a custom program created than to buy whatever package is out there that is beyond what you need, so your then stuck buying the package that has more features than necessary to save money.
A custom Windows Application program that operates as a simple rolodex by a professional programmer would be say 40 to 80 hours at $60+ per hour to have it custom to your needs. If you add importing old data to migrate to the new system then add another 40 to 80 hours on top of that. So your looking at like $2400 minimum for 40 hours of a $60 per hour programmers time who is contracted. With a college student you might be able to agree on a set price of say $500 to be paid when the program is complete, however I'd request the source code no matter who created it so that if you wanted to add features or fix bugs you can do so by either the original programmer or another programmer who might be cheaper etc.
Buying a software package vs a custom program has its advantages to generally a better quality program and cheaper because the company or programmer of the software is making up for months of programming in the numbers of people who all buy into it, so you end up with a program that took say 6 months to create and work the bugs out for $500 than a $500 custom program that may be flawed as well as potential for security risks if poor programming is implemented or the programmer is a rogue planting backdoors etc to hack your business from the outside etc. And if the program took 6 months to create and is only $500, then you essentially got the programming of $86,400 for $500, if a single programmer that works from their home with low operating expenses for example etc. If that programmer sold 200 copies of the software then he made $100,000 in sales and so he gets a $13,600 bonus on its success if also taking on the distribution of the software to cut out ( avoid )publishers greedy deep pockets from the transaction.
-
Hi
You said you had tried the virtual for old software and it was too slow. I would load VMware player or if you want network support then Vmware Virtual machine full, this will cost but there is a trial version. Then if the software runs under Dos then load dos into the virtual machine then your software and data and run it like that. It could run faster than it did on the old machines if the appropriate hardware is configured. This could give you some time to work on an alternative. if you would like a method to image the 32bit windows to a virtual machine please ask.
-
Most 32bit software works just fine on 64bit machines. We still use a piece of software at work that was created in 1996. Works fine on Windows 7 64bit. It also runs fine in XP Mode. Most programs that I have tested in XP Mode run just fine. Might take a couple extra seconds to load up the virtual app but after that it runs pretty smooth. I was running Office 97 like that for a while just for giggles.
-
Perhaps he should convert 1 workstation and test the existing apps before going overboard...
-
Our small business must upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit. We're rep'ng our 3 desktops. Problem is our 2 important Soft'ws are obsolete-but work great!--after 20 years. Prisma's Yourway card file works like an expanded, old Rolodex-but we can't find a simple replacement. Also, our old Lotus WordPro allowed us to create a data base--then "merge" the data onto our own templates. Since we like to keep it simple, are there any suggestions on getting new software? Seems like the available PKG's give us the "entire world" when we need only a "few city blocks". We've already tried the "Virtual" for obsolete software---it just operates too slow---and, it's obsolete anyway. Again, any help / suggestions is greatly appreciated. Regards, Dudge.
I think your office is a good candidate for Microsoft Office. It has various merge capabilities. Using the Mail Merge feature with Word can merge data from Outlook Contacts, an Excel spreadsheet, or an Access database into a Word file.
-
Our small business must upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit. We're rep'ng our 3 desktops. Problem is our 2 important Soft'ws are obsolete-but work great!--after 20 years. Prisma's Yourway card file works like an expanded, old Rolodex-but we can't find a simple replacement. Also, our old Lotus WordPro allowed us to create a data base--then "merge" the data onto our own templates. Since we like to keep it simple, are there any suggestions on getting new software? Seems like the available PKG's give us the "entire world" when we need only a "few city blocks". We've already tried the "Virtual" for obsolete software---it just operates too slow---and, it's obsolete anyway. Again, any help / suggestions is greatly appreciated. Regards, Dudge.
-
Any logical reason for re-quoting your original Post ? ?
-
To you nice folks that responded, thanks. We'll get MS Office and try it. On older, obsolete software, and due to "pirates", keeping old programs is super risky. Once loaded, some get "write-backs" and cannot be either re-loaded or copied. This is understandable for copyright reasons. But one of my worst experiences is spending $50 for a new Map program--having it go "south" after five years use. So, I's lucky 'nuff to get their engineering "ears" and they told me a "clock" was written into the program so's one had to upgrade after 5 years!$$$$----I'm now paranoid of anything I purchase that needs a CPU to run it---even my car!, Afterall, it's very easy to incorporate a time-out in a CPU's clock! My hobby is restoring/repairing old JukeBoxes from the 1930's thru about the 80's- and disk drives wear out just like old records do. So, electronically I even use a Dual Trace 20 Mz "scope"------So, I know what semiconductors can do. " Gee!" your engine blew up because the oil pressure limiting valve went hay-wire due to the CPU". Really!---Alas, we all don't really "own" anything--we just lease it! Here's hoping my newer auto don't suddenly "die" on me after a period of time! It's time to register my classic old Bentley. At least w/ a box of tools--I won't get completely stuck on the road! Economics have got us "all"---I'm afraid" in the "Slow Cooking of the Frog"---that is = Don't throw 'em in a pot of boiling water---to do the job, 'cause he'll just jump out! just put 'em in cold water, then slowly turn up the heat! So, I can still sue 'em? No---semicond's can self destruct leaving NO evidence they were "clocked"! Regards....Dudge
-
Economics have got us "all"---I'm afraid" in the "Slow Cooking of the Frog
Its called "Planned Obsolescence", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence) products by design to only last so long and then fail. Usually they use materials that are prone to failure, however Epson and some other companies for a while were putting counters in their printers that would eventually reach a limit and then no longer print and fault out. I bought into an Epson C60 that had this counter and had this fault. With no info online and Epson stating that its time to buy a new printer, I threw it away and bought a HP printer. Then a few years ago I found information online about Epson adding a counter to their printers to limit their life, so that they would die after so many printed pages. A russian hacker found out a way to reset the counter back to 0 and make the printers work like new again. When Epson was confronted about this counter, they claimed that they added it because after so many printed pages the sponge below the inkjet cartridges in the home position is estimated to be full and the printer is non serviceable and so it should be thrown away at this point instead of the potential for ink to exceed the holding capacity of the sponge in a plastic compartment. Clearly they wanted customers to throw it away after so many prints, but they gave this weak explanation in which a proper design if the sponge was a concern should allow for the sponge to be replaced and then the counter reset.
Just about all manufacturers out there have planned obsolescence in their designs, as for if something lasted 15 years, then the market would get saturated with products that dont fail and sales would slump. So to guarantee sales, make products prone to fail after say 3 years, so many uses, or hours of use etc.
Auto manufacturers are the worst at this as for they take new models of cars and soak them in all sorts of salt water etc to not just make sure that a door or fender wont rot out in 3 or 5 years of the warranty, but also to make sure that it starts to rot at around the 8 year mark, so that a vehicle has to be scrapped at 10 years old in regions of the world where the autos are prone to these conditions. They also replace metal parts with plastic in which the plastic has been tested to fail at a certain age so that even a vehicle rarely driven with low milage is also prone to failure by design. Also seals and gaskets that could be made to last 30 years are designed to fail before the 10 year mark, so that the customer is replacing an expensive head gasket that most people who are savy in fixing their own autos dont have the means to pull a head off the engine, plane it, and add a new head gasket and intake and exhuast gasket, stretch bolts, etc... and so depending on the engine and complexity of how tight the engine bay is to work in, its easily $800 USD or more towards the $2500 mark, and people usually tend to trade it for new! Which is what the auto manufacturers want.
Lastly on the planned obsolescence, the Cash for Clunkers program was not really designed to get clunkers off the road in the USA, but it was designed to give incentive for people to get rid of perfectly good vehicles for new. Dealerships that got these autos transferred ownership of the vehicles to uncle sam and these vehicles could not be sold to anyone driving by the dealership finding a corvette or trans am there. And the dealerships were given a solution to pour into the engines. Turn the engine on and rev it to the floor until the engines seized up. The reason why clunkers was just a marketing term and not a real fact was because you couldnt drive to a dealership with a 1978 Buick LaSabre with a tired V8 that was burning oil and take advantage of this program. All the vehicles to be destroyed were vehicles that the majority of the americans with deeper pockets would own or would have owned. People who when taking advantage of this program were not going to trade in a Corvette for a Kia Sephia, but instead buy another brand new vehicle with a medium to high end price tag. There are some sad videos out there of perfectly good cars destroyed one of which was a Trans Am that I would love to own, in one youtube video that the guys at the dealership beat the crap out of it in the back lot first before seizing up the engine with the solution that solidifies at a specific temp locking the engine up tight.
Getting back to software ..... I havent run into any software with planned obsolescence in its design yet. The only that stop working are the ones that are trials, or games in which the game developer pulled the plug on their servers and so the client software is useless without it made by EA Games. Generally software can run forever if you have hardware that will run it. But with new computers and 64-bit and differences in design you can run into issues with 8 and 16 bit programs etc in which you can sometimes use virtualization, however sometimes your stuck best running it on an older computer if it cant be replaced or you dont want to replace it with new to save money etc.
-
But one of my worst experiences is spending $50 for a new Map program
Did this Map Program have a name?
-
Eventually everyone needs to upgrade at some point in time. Using a 20 year old piece of software is eventually going to be incompatible with some newer version of the operating system. Or even if you someday decide to move to a different system architecture. Lots of us had to deal with that back in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Many businesses ran from Unix boxes or Mainframes because Windows just didn't have the software or stability to do what we needed it to do back in the day. We did everything on our mainframe for years. But we still run a mainframe today for some of our most critical business functions because you can't beat the reliability and speed of IBM iron!
-
We did everything on our mainframe for years. But we still run a mainframe today for some of our most critical business functions because you can't beat the reliability and speed of IBM iron!
And then you have mainframe oriented systems like THEOS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THEOS), which have become the bane of my existence... how does one reliably move from undocumented ISAM databases maintained by a 25-year-old BASIC codebase which a developer stripped of comments 8 years ago for "clarity" to a modern database system? And how do you make it happen yesterday because the systems crash every few hours due to the network activity triggering some obscure bugs in the Operating System's networking code?
-
Well, few of us have penfriend life with very old computers.
But I do remember my father had an old car you could crank.
Here is how to crank start a car.
http://obsoleteskills.wikispot.org/Hand_crank_a_car_to_start_it
Does that have a corollary?
-
***sigh***
-
Well, few of us have penfriend life with very old computers.
I was penfriend-zoned by a ball-point once.
-
And then you have mainframe oriented systems like THEOS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THEOS), which have become the bane of my existence...
That does sound bad. We have strictly stuck with IBM hardware and operating systems (OS/390 and now Z/os). Most of the software we run today is still continually developed and updated by the vendors who created them decades ago. I guess we have gotten lucky over the years. I have only seen our mainframe crash once in 18 years I have been with the company. That was the day they were switching over to a new battery backup system. The installer literally cut the power to the mainframe before connecting it to the new battery backup system. I wonder if he still has a job. Not sure why they decided to try and do that in the middle of the week while everyone was working but whatever. I don't get paid to make those decisions.
-
Nowadays there is really no excuse for using ridiculously out of date stuff, decent spec refurbished PCs cost very little and there are modern alternatives to almost all old software except for maybe some very old and badly designed software used internally within companies. People are just scared of changing - They don't want to use a new piece of software that does the task they need much better than the old one because they may need to take a few hours to learn how to work it.
Take XP for example, it's coming up for 13 years old but people just won't leave it and move onto something new (probably because they are scared or something) - I mean, some people behave almost religiously about XP! I recently moved my granny onto Windows 7 from XP and like most others she didn't like the idea of change - Apart from having to point out that the start button no longer said start on it and that "I don't like the new solitaire" - I have not heard a single complaint or issue!
Well, few of us have penfriend life with very old computers.
I also have loads of vintage PCs from the early to mid 80s up until the early 90s - Doesn't mean I actually use them to get work done! They mostly sit around and are occasionally used for playing about with or running old games.