I have been looking on the webs for a possibility to purchase Rational PurifyPlus for Windows.
In our company, we have been using Purify in the past and want to replace it with licenses for the current version because we need to support Windows 7.
The Rational Software division was sold by IBM to UNICOM Systems in late 2014. Until the present day, I have been unable to find any place or store that would offer to sell a license. There's not even a "how to buy" section on UNICOM's website!
Attempts to gain information by using the company's contact form remained unanswered.
If you were able to purchase that product within the last year, it would be somewhat helpful if you could share with me how you achieved this.
Alternatively, can somebody elaborate on a suitable alternative to Purify?
Maybe you recently ditched Purify for something else and are happier than before?
Thank you very much.
It turned out that directly contacting the company and asking for a quotation finally led to a result.
Future readers: UNICOM does not appear to attach great value to the smaller client audiences (small business or single developers): There is a minimum number of licenses a customer is required to purchase.
Related
Recently Microsoft announced some changes to their Dynamics 365 Teams license. The people who have these licenses will not be able to access Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, custom model driven apps etc and will have their own app like Sales Team member app.
These dedicated apps have restrictions of only 15 custom entities.
This change will cause some of our clients a lot of problems. As per my understanding, the only option they will have is to buy the full Dynamics license.
Am I correct on above? If no then feel free to correct me. If yes then can anyone suggest a good alternative?
Yes, the new licensing model is quite confusing.
I suggest to check the updated licensing guide (if not already done)
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=866544
(if the link does not work, it is taken from here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365-release-plan/2020wave1/dynamics365-sales/license-enforcement-users-new-team-member-licenses)
Allthough this document is quite extensive, it is also recommended to talk with you MS Sales Rep (or anyone else who is responsible for you from MS side) to make sure all your needs are covered.
I'm currently running a Magento Store in Version 2.2.3
I am need of a POS extension that can operate online and offline for when i take physical offline sales in a shop or at an external event.
After trying 3-4 POS extensions already, I have just installed Webkul POS for a few different reasons. It's a one time payment which is very important. It's got a very easy to understand interface and it syncs sales to keep my stock correct when it's connected to my Wifi, but it can also work offsite and store offline orders to be synced when it reconnects to wifi.
However, despite being cheap and easy to use, it's also horribly riddled with bugs and shortcomings. As below:
Offline sales don't sync when the system goes back online
Doesn't work on Safari
Can't show Configurable products
No way for it to process disabled products through the checkout
Crashes fairly regularly
No way to delete unsynced orders (which happens to be all
offline orders)
some other technical bugs which i have reported to their support system.
So without spending crazy money, is there actually any POS extensions which people have found to work well?
So one year on with Webkul POS and I thought I would post an update.
Webkul support worked on and fixed approximately 25 - 30 bugs in the software and despite being a little slow it worked for the most part. Their support team was very helpful in fixed multiple issues.
Whilst planning an upgrade on Magento 2 I asked the webkul support team if their latest version included the multitude of fixes which were completed on my build and if it was compatible with the latest verion of magento and php. Without hesitation, i was told, yes everything will work and they arranged a download of the latest version which we got and installed into our newly upgraded magento 2.3.3
Back to square 1.
All bugs returned and extension was unusable. It simply didn't work. After support refused to look at the issues I paid for extended support and they started to fix bugs. After some bug fixes and getting our heads around the magento Multi Source Inventory, we have got the pos to work or at least function enough to use it.
So here's my current issue. Webkul POS requires it's own source for stock (not sure why it can't use the default one) so now I have my default source which the website uses, and another source or stock qty table that the POS software uses and the 2 stock numbers are completely independent and do not sync.
This means if I sell an item in my shop using POS, my website stock does not update and it is still possible for people online to buy an item that I may be sold out of. This is until I manually adjust the stock.
Therefore in my eyes, the POS extension is totally pointless.
Does anyone else have the latest magento and had the same issue with any other POS systems? I think the MSI in the new magento seems to be causing some similar stock control problems. I can't really justify a monthly payment style POS extension because this experience has made me question if any of them work properly in the latest version of M2.
I may be a bit late to this post, but I know exactly what you mean about Webkul POS. Disappointing and just confusing to use tbh.
Sad truth is if you're not willing to pay for the good stuff, you'll get what you pay for. One-time payment for Webkul is all well and good, but it's got the usability and functions corresponding to that. If you want to experience the really good stuff, you've got to pay for it.
I know people who have had success with Connect POS - https://www.connectpos.com/magento-pos/ - and there's no extra hidden fees that surprise you down the line. A pretty powerful extension in my view cos it's got AI and PWA capabilities. The best option for Magento 2 imho.
Has anyone got any experience with Lightspeed POS? It's currently looking like a front runner to become a webkul replacement for us. I can't really fine too many reviews or any information from any users. We're moving to a new store soon and need something a little bit slicker at a reasonable cost.
Im interested in providing part of magento ecommerce as a SAAS solution. However, it would be great to get some clarity around the osl license.
I realise that distributing that actual software requires me to open the source. However, in a SAAS environment, surely I can charge for the software service? As long as I release all changes to the core code etc?
How about using the XML API to provide data - I guess thats ok too?
What about if I decide to let the user have the source code? what would I be obliged to do then? let them have it? release all changes?
Anyone have any experience with this? ps I realise you may not be a lawyer ;]
Cheers
Ke
What I would do is charge the user for the hosting. You can sell your customizations as you please as they technically are not subject to the Magento license.
I would stay away from making changes to the "core" code and instead build off of them. That way you are not selling modified versions of the core software (which would kill your ability to easily upgrade the system).
You are allowed to license your extensions however you please so you would not have to worry about the open source model.
The team I'm working with have created a CRM4 add-on which encapsulates 'standard' CRM customisations (such as modifying existing entities, adding our own custom entities), reports, plug-ins, and our own web pages (in IFrames) and web services. All pretty typical stuff.
I'm writing all the requisite installation code to simplify / automate the install process so that our ISV add-on can downloaded and trialled by anyone, but have been asked to think of appropriate way restrict functionality - to encourage people to purchase a license.
I'm not that familiar with the concepts/best practices/pitfalls when it comes to the 'licensing' of .net apps (especially CRM4 add-ons) so am asking you if you have any suggestions. We're looking for something fairly simple, and should be reasonably 'crackable', since we believe that having to enter a license code is generally a PITA.
Does the CRM API have anything to offer the ISV developer? (I see that one is able to nterrogate the License entity, but I'm assuming that this is for the CRM license itself)
Are there any existing code samples / projects / frameworks that are appropriate to use or implement?
I'm tempted to create a Registry Key upon installation of the add-on which, if after a month the correct license key has not been entered, will restrict functionality. Is this the best way to do this? Have you seen any other add-ons do it differently / better?
In terms of restricting functionality, I'm thinking of throwing InvalidPluginExecutionExceptions. Surely there must be a more 'graceful' way to do this?
All thoughts and suggestions appreciated.
Regards,
Peter.
My thoughts:
Yes, you can query the License entity to get the number of licensed users, which is a common license type from what I've seen. Lots of 3rd party vendors charge by the number of licensed users, regardless of how many of those users actually use the customization. I try to stay away from these because the license costs are often prohibitive for enterprise deployments.
Not that I know of.
I like this option, and have seen at least one 3rd party tool use this method. They allow you to declare the license key in your .config file, and if their runtime doesn't find it there it checks a known registry key. The tool comes with an app that registers the license key in the registry for you. I'd be careful to test and make sure your custom code can read the registry in a least-privilege environment.
Definitely not graceful to throw exceptions, but it does prove your point. :) Other than that, just outright skipping your code is another possibility, although that could have data implications. If you must throw exceptions, I would suggest trying to run some javascript on form load of your entities that warns the user that their license is expired and a save will result in an error. Some more nefarious schemes could include Thread.Sleep, kinda like the old shareware nagscreens. :)
Another idea - can you set up an Enterprise IFD deployment so you can give customers remote access to your demo, including their own demo organization? This depends on your audience, but your customers may not have the luxury (time, dev environment) of downloading and installing your trial. They may just want to see it in action - once you qualify the sale maybe you offer free remote installation and not spend so much time on a flawless setup package? Again, depends on your audience and the volume of licenses you expect to sell. Technically, you could dynamically provision organizations using the SDK and make the online trial process completely automatic. Of course this is a big investment, but allows you to maintain absolute control over your demo/IP.
Hope that helps!
There is not official standard dealing with the layout of about boxes, which display the credits of a computer software and other information.
What should a good about box contain? And... is it okay to put an easter egg in?
(source: seasip.info)
I generally prefer to make tabbed "About" boxes. The first tab usually displays information about the application (name, version, copyright, etc.). The other tab is usually a log of changes with the most recent changes at the top.
Legal will want their copyright and stuff, marketing will want their branding (even though the user has already bought the product), the dev team will want their names up there in liquid crystal, but what do users need?
App name and version number. Users may need this to troubleshoot problems, perhaps while in contact with tech support or when using a knowledge base. Use a version number system such that this is all the user needs to specify their build. Version number is also needed for the users to know if they can upgrade.
A brief statement of what the app does (e.g., “Photograph and picture organizer.”). Users often end up with software for which they can’t guess the purpose. “About” is a logical place to tell the user what the app is about.
Put the above in conspicuous text at the top of About. Have a single OK button. Everything else that may be required by others in your company really isn’t of any interest to the user and can all be in “fine print.”
You could also include the web site or email for tech support if you can rely on that being stable for years, but usually users have this before going to the About box.
Easter eggs are fine if you think it’s appropriate to have a little fun in your app and your users lean towards the geeky side of things. Just make sure it isn’t something that will alarm a low-end user (or a future high-end developer; see: http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2005/10/20/483041.aspx).
Looking at a few examples of About boxes:
Name of the software
Name of the publisher/author
Copyright and licensing information
Version information
A nice logo
These days, it probably wouldn't hurt to have a way to directly go to the website for the software in the About box itself.
Microsoft's Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines tend to have useful information on designing good user interfaces. I wasn't able to find information specific to About boxes, but the section for Dialog Boxes may be somewhat relevant.
A team in my workplace actually has made the coolest About box ever:
Every time you open it, it displays a different simple game, with pictures of the dev. team (memory games, tic-tac-toe, sudoku, etc)
As for the About page content, that is the best place to have the version / release information so you can offer easy support.
I am using mine as the abstract description and a link to the legal pages and a credits page. If you have a website, its URL should be there as well -- might as well make that click-able into your own web-view browser to your big "Company About" page on your web server (don't launch a real browser, or the user just left your application).
Make it enjoyable to read but be concise. Avoid any scrolling or paging -- except to a completely different set of informational screens.
Also, let it be obvious and easy to dismiss.
By-the-way, if you add an easter egg to an app that is submitted to Apple Store, you have to disclose the sequence for Apple to 'test'; they promise to keep the sequence confidential. If they discover it later, which will make it back to them through forums, etc., then they will automatically pull it from the store.
I tend to add program name, version, company copyright, contact information, license information. I also add various variables for problem resolving. Winows version, servicepack, dll version if i use critical dll's etc. A large application icon. Sometimes I add an easter egg or some keycombo that launch parts of the program meant for debug and support purposes.