[crstein]

We will be working on a iOS app for this summer, the issue that we struggled with a couple years ago when we were an html based application is the constant refreshing that occurs in this type of an application. As you add each item to a quote and want to check availability live, you need a refresh every time. Same thing with scanning items. Also the longer your quote gets, the longer it takes to return the results for each refresh. The flash platform handles these issues so much better than standard HTML. As far as moving to HTML 5, that is still a couple years off. There are not really any good programming tools, let alone a standard to program to. We chose the Flash player long before Steve Jobs and Adobe had their spat. If you play with our online demo, you will see how elegant the display is, and it looks more like a software and less like a web page.

As far as a price goes, we have lots of smaller companies using our software as well as many larger companies. I think the old saying you get what you pay for fits. This is a software as a service, so included in our $235 a month is the online hosting, support, monthly updates, backup and restore services etc.
If you told me 10 years ago that my phone / data rate for me and a couple other employees would be more than $250 a month I would not believe you. But in todays work environment, that is the cost of being able to communicate instantly.

Is it the right software for everyone? No.
But defiantly make sure you are comparing apples to apples.

Is other software Windows, Mac and Linux compatible?
Is it web based?
Does it include web hosting?
Do you need to buy a server to run their application?
How much additional is their yearly support?
Is that price for one user?
How often do they update their product?
How good is their scanning process?

Just a couple questions to help make a good comparison.

Let me know if you have any other questions.
Also some great how to videos on our youtube channel at http://www.youtube.c...rentalsolutions
We also have our weekly webinars tomorrow at 4:00 PM GMT.
Go to https://join.me/flexsupport to view live or to our youtube site for an offline viewing.

Thanks,
Chris Stein

 timperrett, on 02 April 2012 - 09:24 PM, said:

Quote

There is no software for you to install at all, just a current web browser with a flash player and an internet connection.

You were grabbing my attention until flash player was mentioned and then I realised that I won't be able to use the iPad to login to the system which is really dull!

 crstein, on 02 April 2012 - 02:28 PM, said:

 MidlandsAudio, on 31 March 2012 - 02:40 PM, said:

Hi Just a quick one. Does anybody know of a web based rental software purely because im on a mac and cant seem to find anything that runs on mac. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks

The subscription pricing (typically $235 a month for a single warehouse with unlimited users) dramatically reduces up front costs.

Oh...and this bit has put me off too - £146 a month is a fair old whack! Maybe this is just for the bigger boys with the need for unlimited users and who have multiple licenses of HireTrack/EasyJob - £1800 p.a. on a cloud based solution seems a little steep to me (considering Pete bought EasyJob in 2008 for £1800 and has had it ever since!)

[david.elsbury]

 crstein, on 03 April 2012 - 03:31 AM, said:

We will be working on a iOS app for this summer, the issue that we struggled with a couple years ago when we were an html based application is the constant refreshing that occurs in this type of an application.

What's wrong with using AJAX, isn't that exactly what it's designed for?

David

[crstein]

AJAX solved some of the problems, but didn't solve all of them.

[jiggles]

Using flash to build a program is a terrible idea! Flash good for fancy bits other than that is a total no no! Its a nightmare of security holes and bugs and smacks of laziness. PHP, HTML5, JS and some Jquery outstrip flash. It can be done really simply if you spend the time with it. Your arguments about refreshing are old pre Jquery arguments. My friend is a whizz at JS and all the fancy stuff and the things he has made are outstanding and you wouldn't expect from non flash. It can be done simply and very effectively if you take the time to do so.

[crstein]

Big thanks to all who voted. Flex Rental Solutions was awarded the Best Rental Management Software at the Rental and Staging Awards ceremony at InfoComm 2012!
From the press release.

This was the first year Flex had been nominated for theaward and the company is honored to be recognized for a product that was onlyreleased to the public two years ago.

Chris Stein, CEO, said of the award:



“Wedesigned our cloud based software with the end user in mind, and it means a lotthat the users of software around the world are the people who vote. Itconfirms that we are moving in the right direction to deliver the bestproduction management software that happens to be web based. By no means do wetake this award as a “mission accomplished” achievement, but is a call toaction for us to step up our offering with new features and functionality.”

Jeffrey Payne, CTO, also commented on the award:



“Itake this as a signal that our users like where we’re headed with the productand want to see that trend continue.Iknow all of us on the Flex software engineering team are grateful for therecognition and are committed to making Flex even better for next year.”

[steve@soundbp.com]

I am very much in favor of cloud based systems. I use my accounts on a system called XERO (www.xero.com) Its a really powerful accounts package which is very intuitive to use. Many accountants are switching their clients to it from Sage. With Xero you can get a number of add on web applications which share data with Xero. I use two includes:

Capsule CRM - http://capsulecrm.com/ - Web based CRM and task management
Quotient - http://quotientapp.com/ - Fantastic application for putting quotations together. Very simple but very powerful.

I am after a hire inventory management system that will link into these other cloud solutions or something that would combine all the features together.

People saying that cloud based system are slow is simply untrue. The Xero system works brilliantly through all web browsers.

This Flex system sounds ridiculously expensive. When you think Xero is £15 per month and in terms of functionality is on par with SAGE. So I would not invest in Flex at all.


If anybody has cloud programming experience I am sure there is a market for a hire management/inventory system. Esp if it can link to these other applications also.

[Tom Lovick]

Not technically a rental software, although I use it as such.. DJ Event Planner (DJEP) http://djeventplanner.com/ - Made in the US, but with UK support and UK settings.

A great piece of software - Email Alex at alex@djeventplanner.com who is the support rep for the uk

[rmsplanning]

 MidlandsAudio, on 31 March 2012 - 02:40 PM, said:

Hi Just a quick one. Does anybody know of a web based rental software purely because im on a mac and cant seem to find anything that runs on mac. Any help would be much appreciated. thanks

Hi,

First of all, let me introduce myself: my name is Stan Gunkel and I am from Rmsplanning.com We have been making software for the AV-industry for the past 25 years. Our latest product is RMSAnywhere, a web-based rental software.
We just introduced the latest version or RMSAnywhere, with lots of new features and improvements.


To give some answers to the questions that were asked:

Is the software Windows, Mac and Linux compatible?
Yes, RMSAnywhere works on most browsers, including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox.
RMSAnywhere runs on PC, Mac, tablet and smartphone, in fact on anything with a browser.


Is it web based?
Yes

Does it include web hosting?
Yes

Do you need to buy a server to run their application?
No, although for people who do not trust the cloud, it can be run on your own server as well.

How much additional is their yearly support?
Zero, this is included in the monthly fee.

Is that price for one user?

1 user extra user
basic pack 49,95 8,95
crew- and transportplanning 12,95 3,95
multisites, per extra site 4,95

All prices are in euros, ex. VAT, per month.
Prices include secure hosting and daily backups.
There is no limit to the number of Jobs, nor a limit in disc-space usage.




How often do they update their product?
At least once a month.

How good is their scanning process?
Scanning is something where other software-vendor make a big issue of.
A barcode is nothing more then a font. In fact, for the software it does not matter whether a code is typed in, scanned, or whatever. As soon as the code is entered, the software processes the information (and in RMSAnywhere, it does that very quick).

If anyone wants to give RMSAnywhere a try, just enter your email-address on our website at www.rmsanywhere.com

Let me know what you think of it, we are always open for critical remarks.

Stan Gunkel

PS to the moderators: I hope I have not violated any rules here.