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ReesNews
In This Issue
Rees
2000 Version 2.0 - Road Map for the next 12 months development
With the release of version 1.50 of Rees2000 we will be taking a couple of months rest before starting the next phase of development. The following new features are scheduled for delivery in 2001. E-mail
integration It is intended to fully integrate e-mail with Rees2000. The actual processing engine to send and receive e-mails directly from Rees2000 has been developed and tested. It is already in use by one large Rees client to run a customised e-commerce Sales Orders processing system, which is fully integrated with Rees2000. The Rees2000 e-mail module will require a gateway e-mail server (POP3 and SMTP) or a permanent connection to the Internet such as JetStream or ISDN. It will not work with a dial up client program such as Microsoft Outlook. There are many inexpensive e-mail gateway programs such as MDaemon (www.deerfield.com) and also more expensive solutions such as Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Small Business Server. It you think you may want to use the e-mail module of Rees2000 you will need to have one of these gateways or a permanent connection to the internet installed Please contact you computer support person for advice on this. Report
Writer The built in reporting of Rees2000 is very extensive and is enough for most users. However we receive many requests for special reports that have been provided as additional programs that supplement the standard program. With version 2 of Rees2000 we intend to provide a report writer to allow clients to design their own reports. The first release will provide a basic report writer, which will be enhanced over time. The report writer will also offer the ability to export the reports to a standard CSV file format so that the data can be easily imported into Excel spreadsheets for additional processing. Graphing Several clients have indicated a wish to be able to display information in a graphical format. At some stage after the release of version 2 we will be providing graphical output of some selected information. For more extensive graphing the Report Writer mentioned above will allow users to export the data they require into CSV format so that it can be graphed in Excel and other external programs. Other Several other
requests for enhancements that have not been able to be incorporated
into the current version are also scheduled to be completed. These
changes all require us to alter the database structure of Rees2000, that
complicates the updates for all users. These database structure changes
are usually only made at every major version number change. If
you have any additional features that you like would incorporated into
Rees2000 version
2.0 please submit them in writing with a detailed explanation of what
you require!
NEW WEB DESIGN We are currently busy upgrading (and hopefully improving) the design of our web site. It is intended that these changes will appear on our Web Site later in January. The layout of
the Web Pages will be changed inline with our change to windows based
programs and the dropping of our DOS products. Each page will have a
prominent button at the top for each of our main products. Clicking on
these then gives you a new web page with options and information that
just relates to that particular product (i.e. Updates; Changes, Modules
available). I know that
with the ability of Rees2000 to automatically get a program update
without actually having to log onto our web site (using option 14:8)
many of you probably do not bother to look at it. We do however
encourage users to at least check the Rees2000 CHANGES page every now
and again as it contains a list of recent changes to the program. Some
of these may well be relevant to your company and make it worth while to
update your program more frequently than perhaps you do at present. So please
check it out on the first of February. We are also always please to
receive any suggestions for improvements etc - please email them to
Over the past two months extensive work has been done to update our Windows Helpfile in line with the product’s development. This has been completed in essence, however we are making the commitment to continue updating our Helpfile as new features develop. Please take the time to look at the Helpfile update and familiarise yourself with this. The Helpfile is accessed by pressing the F1 key when in Rees2000. We will be
continuing to enhance the Helpfile further to enable easier searches for
common questions. If you
have any suggestions for our Helpfile please fax us on 03 546
8841. A couple of
weeks ago I was setting up one of our old Pentium 100 computers to do so
testing work. I couldn't help notice how slow the computer seemed. I
began to wonder just how much faster computers have become over the last
4 years. I decided a "benchmark" test was in order. Most of
the work I do is software development. The usual cycle in development
is;
Change program -> compile to EXE/DLL -> run and test
program. The selected
speed test was to take all the program source code for the Rees2000
system and do a full compile to the final programs, which we publish for
upload on the Internet. Three computers were chosen to compare and the
results are in the table below. As you can see the improvement in
performance is huge and the fastest machine used here is only 800 MHz.
The fastest machines today that you can purchase are 1400 MHz and so
will be significantly faster than the fastest test machine here. Please note
however that these tests were all performed on a single stand-alone
computer. Most of you are running PC's connected to a network. While
these new faster computers will improve
performance for many jobs, when accessing Rees2000 data files across a
network the factors that significantly effect how fast the application
runs is the speed of your network
cabling and the processing speed of your server computer. Don't
expect to see this level of speed improvement simply by putting faster
workstations on you network. Computer
Operating System
Ram
Age in years Time
In Minutes Pentium 100 Windows 95 48 4 27 Pentium II 233 Windows 98 96 2 8 Pentium III 800 Windows 2000 128 Current <1 Version 1.50 of Rees2000 has been published on our Internet site. The main focus of this release has been to tidy up the program to increase the overall reliability and speed. Much work has been done to audit critical areas of the program code to optimise its performance. We have also identified the areas of the program where most errors can occur, particularly during period end processing. All these areas have been reviewed carefully and where necessary the program code has been re-written to minimise the potential for errors. The side effect of this is that some period end processes have been speed up. This will be particularly noticeable when doing the Debtors period end. The new version has been extensively tested, first on our own internal system and then at a few large client sites. Please download the new version as soon as you are able from our web site. Most of our Rees2000 users have already received an email advising of this update asking them to visit our web site. If you are a Rees2000 user and did not receive this email notification, please fax us and state in the subject ‘Rees2000 User’ plus your trading name, we will then add you to our email listing to ensure you are informed of all future major updates. Please ensure your company regularly updates the Rees2000 program from our web site, to enable you to take advantage of the latest enhancements and features. It is a requirement to upgrade a minimum of every 6 months, however we strongly recommend you grab an update from the web every one to two months. We wish
to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a happy
New Year. We hope this season is both safe and healthy for you, your
staff and families. From the Rees Software Team
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