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Post by Stuart Anslow on Jun 29, 2004 23:45:05 GMT
Many of you may have heard or MAS or similar martial arts programs. in fact Dave created a pretty good one in access. However, a computer programer friend of mine has created one from the ground up, as I tried the MAS one (a demo version) & found it very buggy & not very flexible. You can have a look at the version Im refering to by registering on www.championsway.net, going to the downloads section & downloading the software demo & user guide. Or www.championsway.com/Products/Front-Desk-Software/featuresMAS.html#AutoOrder - to just see the features of the MAS version. Anyway, I had a look at my friends program tonight & its unbiasedly the best Ive ever seen - NO JOKE. Some of the features so far - Everything in the MAS & other software, student, instructor, owner & school information. Schedules, calenders, reminders, brilliant mail merge facilities, statitics on studnets, clubs, supply companies etc. The ability to define everything, from belts, to whom is eligable to grade (definable items like days training between grades etc.), to club times & age groups, stocks, supplies, faxs, emails. It is multi country & multi-currency enabled. One very funky thing I saw was the programs in built ability to covert currency. It connects online when it loads to the latest, up to the minute currency conversion rates (all int he back ground) & is very cool. Idea for getting club supplies from abroad, planing international trips etc. Many other things are still to be added, like student log ins (saves taking a register if you have a notepad etc.) Anyway, thats just the start. My question is: Considering this is an all in one program, in the vien of, but very much better than the MAS software which they are presently selling for $249, would you be interested in it for a fraction of that price. He has so far spent 3 months developing this from scratch & like I said, its very fast. Im not soliciting orders, Im just interested in who would be interested when its completed. He suggested £50 for IAOMAS members (there will be a trial version available first). But who reckons they may be interested? Stuart |
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Post by Glen Doecke on Jul 1, 2004 4:39:30 GMT
Count me in, I'd be interested in having a look.
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Post by Travis Bowler on Jul 2, 2004 0:50:22 GMT
Im not soliciting orders, Im just interested in who would be interested when its completed. He suggested £50 for IAOMAS members (there will be a trial version available first). But who reckons they may be interested? Stuart Maybe he could allow interested iaomas instructors free beta copies  . Beta testing finds bugs that in house testers never find, and allows the final released version to be much more stable and robust. Its win-win... he gets in depth testing in real life applications as opposed to test cases, and the instructors get to work with the full package without having any initial outlay. ahhh well, just an idea  |
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Post by PiotrBernat on Jul 2, 2004 4:52:31 GMT
I'd be very interested as well. Let us know if there will be a demo available.
Regards
Piotr Bernat
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Post by Dave Melton on Jul 2, 2004 8:01:16 GMT
Sorry - as you mentioned - already have my own with mostly all those features. I am skewing the percentages above a bit, but maybe a viewpoint from someone who already has software.  |
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Post by Stuart Anslow on Jul 2, 2004 10:19:12 GMT
Maybe he could allow interested iaomas instructors free beta copies . Beta testing finds bugs that in house testers never find, and allows the final released version to be much more stable and robust. Its win-win... he gets in depth testing in real life applications as opposed to test cases, and the instructors get to work with the full package without having any initial outlay. ahhh well, just an idea Trav, As much as I personally would like to do that I cannot ask him to do that. It has been in development almost a year now, with the last three months of intensive hard work on it. Would you simply give away something you had spent so much time & effort on? Its a professional product, he doesn`t even do martial arts, plus the market is very small (niche) for something like this, so I doubt he`d do that & I would ask that of him. However, I did ask to discount it for IAOMAS members! Look at the price difference between the MAS one & this, and this ones better IMO. Im not biased as Ive tried both (and Daves - no offense). MAS is okay, Daves is good too, but this zips along. Everything I presently do in Excel, Money, Word, Outlook etc is covered in this one programs. Even the imported student photos are turned into code to make it run faster! Anyway, like I said, everyone is welcome to a trial version, which I think will simply be limited to the amount of records it can hold! Everything else will be fully functional. As for price, like I said, its just a rough figure at the moment, something we touched upon when discussing it the other day. TBH, if the MAS one was that price 5 years ago (it was around $500 if I remember right), I would have brought it, but it wasn`t, so I didnt Geez, you Aussies, always want something for nothing. Isnt it enough we gave you our prison Island to live & flourish on!  Anyway, will keep you posted. Stuart |
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Post by Stuart Anslow on Jul 2, 2004 10:41:35 GMT
Just managed to take some screen shots, so heres a preview. If you see this today (2.7.04), check out in the bottom corner, the exchange rate from GBP to Yen! All I did was type it in from my desk top! Its more accurate than ebays LOL The white lines cover real Addresses & are not part of the program. These are just a few screens, more to come as the codings done. Hes a perfectionist so wont move on until hes 110% happy! |
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Post by Travis Bowler on Jul 3, 2004 0:51:54 GMT
Geez, you Aussies, always want something for nothing. Isnt it enough we gave you our prison Island to live & flourish on! Anyway, will keep you posted. Stuart lol.. yeah, I guess I was just looking at it from an old school point of view. All software of any scale will have some bugs; in the 80's software would be given away 'pre release' or beta so that users could find these bugs (a lot of them at least) before going on the market. I think its still done today but on a much smaller level (you get invites to test there product. Go figure). Looking at it from a purely financial viewpoint it makes some sense also. Think about how much testers cost per hour, these testers use structured guidelines for testing, yet can never emulate all the rediculous things some users try to do. btw Micro$oft released free beta versions of NT and also XP. That really isn't a good example though given how buggy all M$ OS are, but at least they tried hehe. The software does look good though judging by the screen shot you gave us. Maybe he should have called it something more generic than 'tkd manager' though - because it seems as though it could have applications outside martial arts... for any club environment really. Catchya.. |
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Post by Dave Melton on Jul 3, 2004 2:40:34 GMT
Look at the price difference between the MAS one & this, and this ones better IMO. Im not biased as Ive tried both (and Daves - no offense). MAS is okay, Daves is good too, but this zips along. Everything I presently do in Excel, Money, Word, Outlook etc is covered in this one programs. Even the imported student photos are turned into code to make it run faster! No offence taken at all Stuart! btw, why would you want the conversion?  Doesn't everyone pay you with the same currency? I have added alot of these features since I gave you my program. I also have an add-in program that the students use to take their attendance now. They sign in (only lets them sign in once per day), and it not only updates, but since I have DSL and a router, it will send them a notice if their tuition is past due immediately. Something he may want to add... |
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Post by Dave Melton on Jul 3, 2004 2:42:55 GMT
I also like the birthday feature! I will add that to mine tomorrow!  |
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Post by Stuart Anslow on Jul 3, 2004 7:29:27 GMT
No offence taken at all Stuart! btw, why would you want the conversion? Doesn't everyone pay you with the same currency? Yes they do. It came about as I was booking a group Trip to Ireland! They charge in Euros & students give payments in pound sterling, so when I pay for say a hotel deposit, its hard to know how much it costs for each student until I get my bank statement through. This way I know immediatly. Plus I sometimes order training stuff & videos from abroad. Yes, but not everyone is computer minded like you Dave. Funnily enough, thats on the list of things to do. So you can take a lap top to the Dojang & do away with marking off students etc., as they sign in themselves. Its already got it, you can also chose to mail merge certain letters etc. Maybe a nicey nicey one, or a more formal one etc. etc. Its still very much a W.I.P., so anything ANYBODY would like to see, just say!
Trav, I know what you mean, but like I said. If someone were to buy it & found a bug, he would correct & everyone would get a new copy. Its not gonna sell like XP or anything big or medium or probibly even small. He started to for my club & I suggested making it generic for all clubs & countries, so the name could be changed later. Remeber, hes put in 3 months solid work free, on this, though an IAOMAS members deal is certainly on the cards. It looks even prettier in XP mode look. I use the classic Windows view. Stuart |
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Post by PiotrBernat on Jul 3, 2004 7:37:13 GMT
After seeing the screens, I can't wait already...
Something I was looking for for quite a while, and the price is really reasonable even in our part of Europe.
Regards
Piotr Bernat
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Post by Andy "Mr Miyagi" Wright on Jul 4, 2004 6:33:13 GMT
excuse me... there' s already the market leader out there and I WROTE IT... www.kma3.co.ukIt is specifically designed for running clubs / associations; was the FIRST in the marketplace has been the model for others to copy is 100% cheaper than anything else in the market place so, guys, don't buy the buggy stuff... get the good stuff. |
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Post by Andy "Mr Miyagi" Wright on Jul 4, 2004 6:37:10 GMT
.........and for those who want MORE there's a new improved system, called CENTRE MANAGER - multiple classes, styles, instructors, etc. Automated and Integrated...fully bar code aware... www.thecentremanager.co.ukps there is no trial version yet, but stay tuned!! |
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Post by Dave Melton on Jul 9, 2004 1:09:28 GMT
excuse me... there' s already the market leader out there and I WROTE IT... www.kma3.co.ukIt is specifically designed for running clubs / associations; was the FIRST in the marketplace has been the model for others to copy is 100% cheaper than anything else in the market place so, guys, don't buy the buggy stuff... get the good stuff. I created my Kickmate software in early 1991 (Remember the DOS days?) - When was yours created? |
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. Beta testing finds bugs that in house testers never find, and allows the final released version to be much more stable and robust. Its win-win... he gets in depth testing in real life applications as opposed to test cases, and the instructors get to work with the full package without having any initial outlay. 
Doesn't everyone pay you with the same currency?
