Re: Re: Accounting Applications

To clarify a bit here, I work for Boeing. I have been asked to
evaluate alternatives to winCE on our IPAQs. We have already
bought a lot of ipaqs, so the Z is a difficult proposition.

In TheKompany, I certainly hoped to see what was missing in the
base opie apps - support, professionalism, attention to detail,
working functionality, and excellent documentation. The Opie
apps are AWESOME free software work. The problem is, there
isn't really any support (nor should anyone expect support from
people that do software in their free time), and a lot of the
functionality is broken/bugged.

TheKompany's website certainly looked professional. They even
have annual support listed on their web page - $3000 for 10
users per annum. Problem is, at least in my opinion, beauty was
only skin deep. I couldn't try the apps without buying them,
and I couldn't see documentation without buying it. Work
wouldn't pay for it sight unseen, so I took the proverbial leap
of faith in TheKompany.

Several of the apps seem to work fine. Explorer seems nice, if
somewhat slow. FTP Client is pretty stable, the interface isn't
designed even as well as the free opieftp tool, but opieftp
seemed to have problems on transfers of files over about 25MB
(Anytime I transfered 75MB+ files with opieftp, I had issues,
and it hasn't been that way with tkcFtp for me, so that is a
good thing). Gallery, an app I chose only for myself, not for
work, is excellent except it doesn't save any preferences.
Calendar and Contacts look and feel much more professional than
their opie counterparts. They still have work to be done, but
they are new, and I am willing to give them that. The editor
seems nice, but is just too slow to be useful in many many many
cases. And that is really sad.

tkcPlayer seems their most flawed app that I purchased, and
thankfully, it is for me personally - I doubt Boeing would ever
pay for it to be a part of their "standard software build".

What is inexcusable is that there isn't any documentation to
SPEAK OF. I absolutely cannot bring these apps to Boeing. One
of the first things they will ask is to see the documentation.
The -*FIRST*- thing they will ask is whether there is support or
not. What I am concerned about on the support front is how
small the company is. I don't know if Boeing would figure that
out super quick, but if they knew the size of the company, I am
sure it would turn them off (this is NOT tkc's fault - it is
Boeing's fault, but it is still a concern nonetheless).

I look forward to monitoring the apps that tkc has to offer, and
especially I look forward to the polishing and completing of the
apps they already have. Perhaps, in time, they will become
something I can present to Boeing as a viable alternative to
winCE. Lord knows they hate how often they have to reset their
winCE devices. :)

Sincerely,

-Joe Chott

--- Joe Chott <verxion_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> From what I can tell, they seem to believe in no documentation
> as a policy. So I doubt they would hire you. I have never in
> my entire life seen commercial software so utterly devoid of
> documentation in my life.
>
> I would certainly have preferred getting documentation with
> the
> software.
>
> -Joe Chott
>
> --- "Howard R. Abbey" <hrabbey_at_surfbest.net> wrote:
> > Hmmm... I wonder if I could get TheKompany to hire me as a
> > documentation writer...
> >
> > -Howard
> > _______________________________________________
> > Open Source User Interface and Apps built on Qt Embedded
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> > Opie_at_handhelds.org
> > http://handhelds.org/mailman/listinfo/opie
> >
>
>
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Received on Mon May 27 2002 - 16:32:31 EDT