Was Vista DOA?

As if the commotion over Windows "Workstation" 2008 weren't enough, a recent survey of IT shops shows that over 70% of respondents will still be using their "current OS" in 2009. Since the overwhelming majority (92%) of these sites are still running Windows XP, that means that Vista will likely never achieve critical mass in the enterprise.

To those of us working "in the trenches," this really comes as no surprise. Resistance to Vista has been stiffening in recent months, with many shops crying a Roberto Duran-esque "no mas" as they leap off the Wintel treadmill in droves.

So, if Vista is doomed, and if IT shops are indeed rejecting the OS en masse, the question has to be: Was Microsoft's new OS dead on arrival?

I asked myself this very question as I was assembling my 10 reasons why it's really OK to stick with XP (It is, honest! See "Death Match: Vista vs. XP" for details). As I thought back through Vista's first year - the struggles with buggy drivers, WGA's invasiveness, the disappointing SP1 - I realized that the writing was indeed on the wall. In fact, many of us who were beta testing Vista back in 2006 quietly expressed our concerns to one another in web forums, chat rooms and the occasional email thread. After all, we were privy to some of the earliest Vista bits, and what we saw disturbed us.

Here was an OS that, from an enterprise IT standpoint, had almost nothing going for it: No major new technologies; no paradigm-shifting architectural changes; nothing to whet a system administrator's appetite. What it did have was layers and layers of consumer-focused baggage: Pervasive DRM plumbing; dubious multimedia prioritization tweaks; OS X-envy driven eye candy. Basically, it was an OS designed to secure Microsoft's seat at the RIAA/MPAA roundtable, and little else.

I'll never forget the day early in 2007 when one of my contacts at a Wall Street trading firm asked me how I liked Windows Vista. I responded with a half-hearted "great," to which he replied: "Really? So tell me why you think we should upgrade."

I was stumped. I couldn't think of a single reason why one of the largest financial institutions in the world - with tens of thousands of desktops and a multi-billion dollar IT budget - should move to Vista from their well-tested, proven Windows XP configuration.

It was a seminal moment for me - the point at which I realized that the vague sense of unease I'd felt early on was in fact my subconscious telling me what I knew to be true all along: Vista was a lame duck; a false hope; a cadaver before it ever hit the operating table.

So, as we start to formulate an epitaph for Windows Vista ("Here lies, in bloated agony, all that's wrong with the Wintel duopoloy"), we must look to the future and hope that Microsoft finally learns from its mistakes.

Form : http://weblog.infoworld.com/

Save Windows XP! The clock is ticking

Microsoft will end OEM and shrink-wrapped sales of Windows XP on June 30, 2008, forcing users to shift to Vista. (System builders, meaning those who do white-box PCs, can sell XP through December 31.) Don't let that happen!

Millions of us have grown comfortable with XP and don't see a need to change to Vista. It's like having a comfortable apartment that you've enjoyed coming home to for years, only to get an eviction notice. The thought of moving to a new place -- even with the stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and maple cabinets (or is cherry in this year?) -- just doesn't sit right. Maybe it'll be more modern, but it will also cost more and likely not be as good a fit. And you don't have any other reason to move.

That's exactly the conclusion people have come to with Vista. For most of us, there's really no reason to move to it -- yet we don't have a choice. When that strong desire to stick with XP became obvious in spring 2007, major computer makers such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard quietly reintroduced new XP-based systems (but just to business customers, so as not to offend Microsoft). Come June 30, however, even that option goes away.

So what to do? Let Microsoft decide where your personal and enterprise software "lives"? Or send a loud and clear message that you don't want to move?

We're going for the loud-and-clear option. Join us, and tell Microsoft that you want to keep XP available indefinitely. Not for another six months or a year but indefinitely.

And ask your friends and colleagues to join in, too. Just point them to SaveXP.com for a quick link to this page. And if you'd like to publish our countdown animation on your Web site to help promote this petition, e-mail Executive Editor Galen Gruman for the code snippet.

Don't think Microsoft will listen? Consider this: Although Microsoft denies that anything is wrong with Vista or that most people don't want it, the company has already postponed XP's demise by six months. That's a start, but it's not good enough.

Microsoft doesn't have to admit failure; it can just say it will keep XP available indefinitely due to customer demand. It can take that opportunity to try again with a better Vista, or just move on to the next version that maybe this time we'll all actually want.

There is a precedent for that, too: In many respects, Vista is like the Windows Millennium Edition that was meant to replace Windows 98 in 2000 but caused more trouble than it was worth. At that time, Windows 2000 was promising but didn't support a lot of hardware, so users were stuck between two bad choices. Without admitting Millennium's failure, Microsoft quietly put Windows 98 back on the market until the fixed version of Windows 2000 (SP1) was available. Microsoft needs to do something like that again today.

Make your voice heard to Microsoft. Sign our petition to save XP today. We will present it to Microsoft.

Form : http://weblog.infoworld.com/

Software Portability and Tax Preparation – The way it should be

With the busy season upon us, having the ability to export information from your general ledger into the tax preparation software of you choice, such as Lacerte, UltraTax, Drake, CCH and others would radically reduce the amount of time it takes to prepare corporation or partnership tax returns. Imagine never having to manually enter data or proofread pages upon pages of forms. Wouldn’t that be a welcomed relief?

Unfortunately, accounting practices may not be appropriately educated when purchasing their general ledger systems and tax preparation software, because, for the most part, they are very likely inextricably linked. When choosing accounting software, your choice for tax preparation software has been made for you – and vice versa.

For example, data exported from Thomson’s general ledger only works with Thompson’s UltraTax CS. Does another tax software solution from CCH or Lacerte better meet your client needs? If so, profitability will drop as your staff starts re-keying information by hand. Neither vendor’s system has a bridge to another software, nor will either vendor likely ever create one.

The solution would be to choose software that allows for interchangeable exchange of data between platforms and software. Termed “portability,” this exchange of data is seamlessly imported and exported between multiple vendors. Portability is the concept of how easily a software program and data can be moved between, and used on, different computer operating systems, similar to the way you can play a CD on anyone’s CD player. When a firm understands how portability directly impacts profitability, they would make portability a top requirement when purchasing either general ledger or tax software.

However, portability does not necessarily imply that an application will easily transfer to a new platform or that a major effort is not required. Instead, portability is the ability to use the program on another system with reasonable cost and effort, including little or no retraining on the program.

Portability is highly desirable for software products; it saves time and money up front and over an extended period of time. What company wouldn’t want to run its accounting, payroll and tax software on a five-year old Windows-based PC, the latest Macintosh system or both? Usually a program written for Windows is fundamentally different and virtually impossible to transfer to Unix, Linux or any other operating system unless portability is designed in. Portability allows the end user the flexibility to make changes in hardware and software while remaining flexible.

This flexibility certainly impacts workflow and processing during tax season. You should be allowed to produce current year financial statements without yet finalizing the prior year. Balance sheet entries should seamlessly roll forward as required, along with any changes made to the operating statement and the retained earnings. The software should also be able to allocate the profit and loss statement for the year, based on the profit and loss sharing percentages that are set up in advance with the system automatically handling the processing.

If portability and flexibility are limited, users may not be able to use the same software on different versions of the same operating platform. What’s a business to do if some computers run Windows 98, XP or Vista, while others depend on Unix – yet all need to access the same program?

If accountants had the ability to separate their general ledger write-up system from their tax preparation system, they could select the best products for their practice, while minimizing any disruption to their profitable tax preparation workflow. Here are some of the more distinct advantages.

 

Mix and Match Best-of-Breed Solutions

Most software designers want to have users captive to all their company’s products, whether or not these programs are the right fit. This highly parochial, monopolistic view of the world would be similar to having a printer or copy machine that only worked with a particular brand or model of computer.

Accountants should be free to mix and match best-of-breed software that meets their specific needs. Changing tax preparation software shouldn’t mean having to change everything in the office or the general ledger because this all-or-nothing move costs time and reduces productivity, especially during tax season.

Server Flexibility

Beyond simple data transfer, having portable software allows an office to run an ASP (Application Service Provider) server. Because data is kept on the server, it can be connected to an internal network or the Internet; employees can access the client’s data where there is Internet connectivity. This includes PDF file document storage.

Software designed for portability plugs into an ASP server and behaves the same way it would on a local workstation or peer-to-peer network. Data exchanges between software behave the same way. In an ASP environment, you can configure portable brand X tax software and install portable brand Y’s general ledger. Through appropriate configurations, exchange data as before. It can be that easy.

 

Operating System Flexibility

Portable software allows for flexibility in operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Unix or Mac. Most general ledger, payroll and other accounting software, whether designed for small or large companies, is written exclusively for Windows. Similarly, all tax prep software for the accounting industry is currently written exclusively for Windows. As a result, tax preparation programs often do not allow data to be transferred to general ledger software programs on platforms other than Windows. Regrettably, the only way to get data out of the system is in the format the software allows.

 

Because of Windows’ popularity and broad use, it’s relatively easy to find qualified IT help and hire employees who have experience working with a Windows system. Although a wide variety of programs are written for Windows, users still need technical assistance regularly because Windows applications don’t scale as well as Linux or Unix-based ones for multiple reasons. Sadly, they don’t accommodate growth in users or multiple users of particular files.

 

Linux may be a more desirable platform long term. Most notably, there is more limited vulnerability to viruses and hackers, it’s faster and offers more stable performance, and there is greater scalability. Because Linux is an open source system, users can actually see and manipulate the underlying code for it. This makes Linux easily adaptable to a company’s specific needs. Linux interface is not as user friendly, making it definitely a “geekier” system requiring specialized technical assistance. There are not as many end-user applications for smaller businesses, making it more suited for larger firms.

 

Macintosh’s operating systems are now based on Unix, making it a limited, but increasingly popular choice; vulnerabilities are limited and it is stable. The Mac’s OS is also designed to do many functions for the user, giving more flexibility.

 

Mac and Unix users trade off that ease of use for functionality. Unix is difficult to customize for an individual user, is graphically impaired and requires arcane commands. Unix is definitely for geeks only. Other than software written for Macintosh, no one is writing in Unix.

 

Portable Software

SouthWare, SAP and UBCC all have accounting industry software with general ledger systems designed for platform independence. SouthWare touts its scalability from one to many users. It has been around since 1984 and has significant integration with any ODBC database. SAP, founded in 1972 in Germany, is the world largest business software company. Their programs are designed for mid-size to very large companies, and more often than not, entailing 7- to 8-figure installation costs.

 

True, multi-user, multi-task accounting software – if designed properly – is easily ported to other systems. UBCC, founded in 1981, runs exactly the same on well over 600 platforms, including all Windows, Linux and Unix operating systems and even IBM mainframes. These are not different versions of the software written for each system, but rather one set of source and object code, and one set of data files. Ultimately, the same program that runs on an ancient Windows 95 machine will function on an IBM mainframe or the latest Macintosh, with no need for the user to relearn the software.

 

The benefits of using the most portable software available are many. Companies can seamlessly grow from one to several thousands of users, or switch platforms or operating environments without jeopardizing mission critical software systems. Companies can preserve their investment in hardware, data files, software and training time. In a matter of minutes, users copy file folders from one operating environment or system to the other, add the new run time, place the software application shortcut on their desktop and are literally ready to continue.

 

Another benefit of building an application for platform-independence is that printing should be a snap. Anyone who has struggled with getting and keeping printers working seamlessly can appreciate not having an operating system update create havoc with installed printers. All the controls for the printer would be written into the software; there’s no need to choose the printer or printer trays manually, and the functionality would be built into the application.

 

The general ledger and tax preparation software solution for managing your client data should be portable. Highly portable software equates to unrestricted growth, seamless file sharing, including uploading and downloading between software and platforms, and the ability to adapt to your clients needs. Ultimately, software portability directly impacts how efficient, productive and profitable your tax preparation can be.

Form :http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/

Convert Photos to Pencil Drawings with AKVIS Sketch.

AKVIS LLC announces the release of AKVIS Sketch  v.6.5 for Windows and Macintosh. Now the software converts photos to realistic pencil and watercolor drawing in an entertaining way. The new Real-Time Drawing feature allows controlling photo-to-sketch conversion and even interrupting the process when the required result is achieved. The new version is available as a stand-alone application, as well as a plugin to a photo editor.  Upgrade for registered users is free.

AKVIS Sketch is an award-winning program for conversion of photos into pencil sketches and watercolor drawings. Make any photo look like a B&W or color drawing, imitate the technique of graphite or color pencil, charcoal or watercolor painting.

Version 6.5 presents a new feature - Real-Time Drawing. The new feature allows observing the conversion of a photo into a drawing/watercolor in real time and even interrupting the process when the required result is achieved. Now the program does not only deliver a high-quality result but is also fun to use.
Besides, the Color Strokes mode has been streamlined to get a better result.

Many photo editing enthusiasts have already appreciated the Sketch’ s features. Take a look at a gallery of examples (many created by users) at http://akvis.com/en/sketch/examples-pencil-drawing.php 

Sketch can be used on many occasions. Surprise your friends and relatives by presenting them their pencil portraits. Make a watercolor drawing out of a photo from your last nature shooting to decorate your room. Convert your own photo into a color sketch to print on a T-shirt. Create a comic out of your party videos.

The program can be helpful to designers who need to quickly bring images to one style for a web-site or an advertisement booklet.

AKVIS Sketch has a simple interface with a few sliders. At first you can process the image with the default settings and then touch up the photo adding color, or trying different techniques - from pencil to charcoal or watercolor. You can make the hatching denser or finer and change the pitch angle of strokes.  After that, you can apply a texture to imitate a painting on a canvas.

Using batch processing in Photoshop or Paint Shop pro (only for the plug-in version) you can even convert a film into a cartoon. Like here: http://akvis.com/en/sketch-tutorial/cartoon-film.php 
For a free trial, AKVIS offers 10 days of fully functional use. Details are available at http://akvis.com/en/sketch/index.php Upgrade for registered users is free

AKVIS Sketch is available as a stand-alone application, as well as a plugin to a photo editor. 
 
The plugin version of AKVIS Sketch  is compatible with Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, Corel Painter, Corel Photo-Paint, and Paint Shop Pro, ACD FotoCanvas, and Ulead PhotoImpact.
AKVIS Sketch runs on Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista and on Macintosh Mac OS X 10.3.9-10.5, Intel / PowerPC G3  and above.

AKVIS Sketch  Home License (plug-in or standalone) sells for $72  USD or  55 Euro,  downloadable from www.akvis.com . Home users can enjoy the full line of AKVIS plugins in the AKVIS Alchemy bundle (Sketch, Chameleon, Stamp, Retoucher, Coloriage, Noise Buster,  Decorator, Enhancer, LightShop, SmartMask and ArtSuite) for USD $325 USD, a savings of $513 over purchasing each separately. For business licenses consult the official web-site. One license key allows activating the software on two computers, for example, on a desktop and a laptop.

Form : http://www.designertoday.com/