frazer Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Hi there, I am looking for Rental Management Software to help manage our inventory, invoicing and general stock management. But we only use Apple Mac's here, not a PC running Microsoft Windows in sight.Does anyone know where I can find Rental Management software that runs on an Apple Mac Operating System - no emulators or similar? Yes if I had my way we would buy a few PC's to run one of the popular titles such as RentalDesk, Easyjob or HireTrack, but unfortunately that is out of the question. Alternatively I have heard that there are some companies that run an online rental management system which is accessed via a web browser - therefore totally cross-platform, but after searching Google have not found anything. Any thoughts, comments or advise would be greatly appreciated. Frazer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 When you say no emulators or similar is UNIX based stuff compiled to run under X11 OK or does it have to be aqua? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frazer Posted April 12, 2008 Author Share Posted April 12, 2008 When you say no emulators or similar is UNIX based stuff compiled to run under X11 OK or does it have to be aqua? I cant see a problem with UNIX. Its just Microsoft that everyone seems to have a phobia of. Why can you recommend any good UNIX based software? Frazer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 I thought I could. A while ago I saw a rather snazzy open source application called flexi.hire or flexi.rent or something along those lines but typically now I can't find it. ;) Hopefully this might jog someones memory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiggy Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Have you ever tried running an emulator like parallels ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 .... runs on an Apple Mac Operating System - no emulators or similar? Have you ever tried running an emulator like parallels ? <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Must admit I'm close to trying to get a Mac software written, as I'd prefer not to have to use Windows if I could avoid it. And I'm fairly certain there would be a market for it. One option I'm toying with is Easyjob run on a Windows server, and use Terminal Server to run it on the Mac's we have in the office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 I started writing some software for a web based system in Perl, mainly for asset management, but I was planning to extend it to allow bookings (for a student TV stations equipment), which could obviously be extended to add money and the rest of the rental stuff to it. Its still a fair way of completion, although the asset management part is getting there. Have you tried looking for Java apps which would obviously be cross platform, although if they don't run on your Mac and are open source I could perhaps take a look, although I'm not promising to be able to fix anything. :** laughs out loud **: .... runs on an Apple Mac Operating System - no emulators or similar?Have you ever tried running an emulator like parallels ?<_<While I can see what you're saying Gareth, if the user hasn't tried Parallels before, its very different to the traditional emulator experience of a small window which all your Windows software runs inside. I don't know what its like speed wise, which is one of the other issues with emulation, but it may be worth a look for the user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackerr Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 While I can see what you're saying Gareth, if the user hasn't tried Parallels before, its very different to the traditional emulator experience of a small window which all your Windows software runs inside. I don't know what its like speed wise, which is one of the other issues with emulation, but it may be worth a look for the user.If the OP says he doesn't want to run Windows, or Windows software, how does running Windows on a Mac serve his needs? Windows on a Mac is still Windows, with the added feature of either having to reboot, or the slight speed hit of running it under an emulator. There have been a couple of similar discussions recently at ProSoundWeb.com, here and here. There is discussion of the MacOS options in both threads. While almost all my computing is on a Mac, deciding that you want an inventory management system, and you can't use a Windows computer is just making your life hard. Decide on the software package that does the job you want it to, and run it on the computer it runs on. Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frazer Posted April 13, 2008 Author Share Posted April 13, 2008 Decide on the software package that does the job you want it to, and run it on the computer it runs onTotally agree with you Mackerr, but I'm relatively new to this company, and so persuading the rest of the staff (including the Managing Director) of this could prove very difficult as they are perfectly happy with the traditional pen & paper approach to most things. Thankfully they are all in support of a rental management system as they do acknowledge it will boost productivity - It just needs to be Apple Mac. Have you ever tried running an emulator like parallels ?Although Parallels does look really good, it is still Windows software on a Mac, and therefore might prove difficult to sell. Following IKE's suggestion of running UNIX based software I have found two systems: MCS Insitu and Rental Result. Does anyone have any experience with these particular pieces of software? Frazer P.S Also looking down the Filemaker route. Thanks Mackerr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 While almost all my computing is on a Mac, deciding that you want an inventory management system, and you can't use a Windows computer is just making your life hard. Decide on the software package that does the job you want it to, and run it on the computer it runs on. I don't agree with that. It's not as simple a choice for a business. If you have an office with an installed system of Mac's, (which may be PowerPC therefore can't run Parrallels or other emulators due to the chip architecture), to skip a load of perfectly good machines and buy a slew of new PC's is not cost effective. Plus there's the issues or relearning the systems, which might be minor but shouldn't be discounted. Then factor in the cost of all the new software licenses. And the IT support guy to keep the windows system running..... <_< My experience of using PC's and Mac's for work is that once the Mac's are set up that is generally it. A small amount of caretaking, and they should run fine. PC's on the other hand seem to need constant attention, and always seem to suddenly decide to stop working. never great when you need to achieve something by 10:30 and the printer has suddenly stopped working. As I said above, consider a PC server running Terminal Server and connect like that. This means both PC and Mac users can use it from what I understand. I also believe that if there was a program written for Mac then it would be a success, and has got me wondering if I should delve into XCode.... I know SSE used to use a filemaker database for their inventory, but that's going back a few years. A spot of googling has turned up:Androminarent which appears to be written by some Spanish company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3guk Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 I've been working on a PHP web based system for a few months now, as this seems the best way to allow cross compatibility and even allows the people in the warehouse on PDAs to inventory manage. The only problem with my system at the moment is that it is very much configured exactly the way I need it, I'm working on ways to make it so that other people can use it in their buildings without having to understand PHP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackerr Posted April 13, 2008 Share Posted April 13, 2008 If you have an office with an installed system of Mac's, (which may be PowerPC therefore can't run Parrallels or other emulators due to the chip architecture), to skip a load of perfectly good machines and buy a slew of new PC's is not cost effective. Plus there's the issues or relearning the systems, which might be minor but shouldn't be discounted. Then factor in the cost of all the new software licenses.It's a fine idea, but the product doesn't currently exist in the MacOS world, and there are several choices for Windows. I too am a Mac user, but I own a PC for those jobs that can't be done on a Mac, like run PM1D manager, or AudioCore. The cost of software development is high. When I was last involved in developing an inventory management system for equipment rental companies it took over a year and cost over $100,000, and nearly bankrupted the company. It ran on Data General Nova minicomputers (long time ago). Today with slick DBM programs like FileMaker it could be done more quickly and much cheaper, but it's still going to take time to get it right, and there is going to be a period of learning anyway. If you time is completely free, and not billable, you can do it cheaply, but if you value your time at $25/hr, you could easily spend $25,000 in development. You can buy a lot of Windows boxes for that, and have the system working, and streamlining your business, now. And with a commercial product, you get support. I am a big MacOS supporter, and I pressure every manufacturer I deal with to offer a Mac version of their product, but unless you are experienced at DBM and rental inventory management software development I think you would be better off with an existing commercial product and a few Windows boxes to run it. Hopefully someone will come along and either port an existing product, or develope a better one for MacOS. Till then I'd buy the right software and run it on the computer it needs. Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfmonk Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 I am working on a free MS Access based system which will have a web interface at the moment. It will be aimed towards the Marquee end of the market though and might not be available in time for you as I am about to hit the "crazy" time in Marquee land but I will keep TBR updated with progress. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevieR Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I am working on a free MS Access based system which will have a web interface at the moment. Please, please, please don't develop a shared database product in MS Access. Its simply not up to the job - even though MS will say its fine. I used to be a DBA so have a fair bit of experience in database products. Going back to the original question, if you want a reliable, scalable solution you need to ensure that the underlying database platform is stable, scalable and has good product support from the manufacturer. At the moment, all the serious DB's are PC or UNIX based. Easyjob, for example used MS SQL Server as its back-end. This is a serious database that will scale quite happily and you can run it on a server or a stand-alone PC. It also provides all the necessary backup and data recovery features that you won't get with some small-scale DB products. So, its worth looking beyond the front-end functionality of the software sometimes to ensure that the product grows with your business and is easy to support. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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