In article ,
says...

"Reka" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
says...


Well, I bought it and it came two days ago, but for some reason, it does
not like me and is refusing to start. Alex, poor guy, is on his
Thanksgiving vacation and trying to help me in spite of it! We'll get it
fixed once he gets back to his office.
The screen saver is nice, though.
--

Well, we got OrchidWiz up and running. Alex realized that the program
was not finding the database because my standard folder for programs is
C:\Programme (German Windows version), not C:\Program files. I moved the
folder to "Programme" and it works fine. Alex was so concerned about my
troubles getting the program to work that he refunded my money. Wow! All
of this, and free, too!

Sounds like Alex is a good developer/businessman! From what you have said,
if he wants to support PDAs, optimally using a web application, feel free to
pass my email address, or the URL for my website, to him with the comment
that because of your experience, I am willing to help him as time allows. I
like to encourage developers with his attitude toward service as much as I
am able.

Cheers,

Ted



He was very friendly, very helpful, and very courteous. And I am sure he
will be glad to take you up on your offer!

--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

Thanks Kathy, will mention you.

--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

K Barrett wrote:
wendy7 wrote:
Thanks for the info Reka, I think I will go ahead & get it too.
Keep posting, would love to hear more about it.

better hurry, price goes up jan 1.

K

I think I would like to offer an alternative good business model idea. This
is just my opinion. Perhaps a bit of free help installing the software on a
non-standard system is enough expense to incur in order to make the customer
happy. Giving away the perfectly good software in addition to the free help
is an extravagant expense and is probably not a policy he will be able to
maintain AND keep the price of his product reasonable. All expenses of the
business endeavor will have to be offset by income from somewhere. Somebody
will have to pay for them. And that's just to break even.

Perhaps he considers this initial deployment a kind of testing phase and is
being liberal with his efforts and product for his first few customers as he
irons out the bugs they find in it. But eventually the price per unit will
have to cover these expenses as well. Every thing a business gives away has
to be paid for by somebody. And that's just break even.

I wonder why the price is going up? ;-)

Al,

PS, if he is charging money for his software program then he should probably
expect to pay for the pictures he is using to help sell it. And of course,
if he has to pay for the photographer's work that are helping to sell his
program then that will also have to be reflected in the sale price per unit
of the software. On the other hand, I am sure he can find plenty of orchid
photographers who are willing to help him put food on his table by giving
away their work just for a photo credit. Just an opinion....

I should probably have kept my mouth shut. A good idea, I always seem to
ignore.

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
wendy7 wrote:
Thanks for the info Reka, I think I will go ahead & get it too.
Keep posting, would love to hear more about it.

better hurry, price goes up jan 1.

K

Al,

Perhaps I can explain this. We made a mistake in the OrchidWiz software in
that the program accessed files by a "physical address" rather than a
"logical address." In other words, it assumed the program was always
installed in a directory called "Program Files." This error did not affect
anyone else but Reka Hukari. It affected him because of the German setup on
his machine. This was entirely the fault of OrchidWiz. Since then we have
fixed the program so it will not happen again. This was a small fix,
involving two lines of code

Because of our error, Reka endured much frustration over a period of almost
two weeks while he tried to get the program to work. Reka finally fixed the
problem himself, by moving files around his machine.

Even though Reka finally got the program to work, to us it seemed the only
fair thing to do was to refund his money. After all, his time is worth
money too. And by helping us discover the problem, he made it so that
others will not be having that same problem in the future.

This has nothing to do with marketing policy, business model or profits.
Sometimes you just do what your conscience tells you. If we treat other
with fairness, they will retribute in kind. I give you my word that nobody
else will pay for this expense.

Sincerely,

Alex
OrchidWiz

Ah, so you are reading this thread. :-)

Reka is a woman. or so she says... No wait, I have met her.... I am pretty
sure she is a woman.

More power to you. I think you are correct in letting your conscience guide
you.

"Alex Maximiano" wrote in message
news
Al,

Perhaps I can explain this. We made a mistake in the OrchidWiz software
in that the program accessed files by a "physical address" rather than a
"logical address." In other words, it assumed the program was always
installed in a directory called "Program Files." This error did not
affect anyone else but Reka Hukari. It affected him because of the German
setup on his machine. This was entirely the fault of OrchidWiz. Since
then we have fixed the program so it will not happen again. This was a
small fix, involving two lines of code

Because of our error, Reka endured much frustration over a period of
almost two weeks while he tried to get the program to work. Reka finally
fixed the problem himself, by moving files around his machine.

Even though Reka finally got the program to work, to us it seemed the only
fair thing to do was to refund his money. After all, his time is worth
money too. And by helping us discover the problem, he made it so that
others will not be having that same problem in the future.

This has nothing to do with marketing policy, business model or profits.
Sometimes you just do what your conscience tells you. If we treat other
with fairness, they will retribute in kind. I give you my word that
nobody else will pay for this expense.

Sincerely,

Alex
OrchidWiz

In article ,
says...
Ah, so you are reading this thread. :-)

Reka is a woman. or so she says... No wait, I have met her.... I am pretty
sure she is a woman.

More power to you. I think you are correct in letting your conscience guide
you.

"Alex Maximiano" wrote in message
news
Al,

Perhaps I can explain this. We made a mistake in the OrchidWiz software
in that the program accessed files by a "physical address" rather than a
"logical address." In other words, it assumed the program was always
installed in a directory called "Program Files." This error did not
affect anyone else but Reka Hukari. It affected him because of the German
setup on his machine. This was entirely the fault of OrchidWiz. Since
then we have fixed the program so it will not happen again. This was a
small fix, involving two lines of code

Because of our error, Reka endured much frustration over a period of
almost two weeks while he tried to get the program to work. Reka finally
fixed the problem himself, by moving files around his machine.

Even though Reka finally got the program to work, to us it seemed the only
fair thing to do was to refund his money. After all, his time is worth
money too. And by helping us discover the problem, he made it so that
others will not be having that same problem in the future.

This has nothing to do with marketing policy, business model or profits.
Sometimes you just do what your conscience tells you. If we treat other
with fairness, they will retribute in kind. I give you my word that
nobody else will pay for this expense.

Sincerely,

Alex
OrchidWiz




Al, you have *not* met me! We have only corresponded. Get those rabbit
ears on straight! I *am* a woman, however.
And Alex, you were probably more frustrated than me, though when there
is a problem like that, I can't get it out of my head until it is fixed,
either. Glad you joined the fray!

--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

Oops...

Reka is a woman. or so she says... No wait, I have met her.... I am
pretty sure she is a woman.

Did I meet your mother once? For some reason I thought I met you both at
the same time, although I can barely remember this moment, and it may be one
of those days when the antennae were causing more problems than they were
solving.

....and "fray" pretty much describes it BTW.

The one think I will look for in OrchidWIz is a program that updates new
information in a timely fashion. I have been buying wildcatt since it first
came out (12 years ago now?) as an alternative the AOS's outrageously priced
offering. I have been updating it 4 times a year since then. I look at it
as a subscription and I find it valuable. I have noticed that the data is
presented in a rigid manner and is becoming outdated in it's presentation.
Yet it does not change. I had been wondering when, if ever "Wildcat II" was
going to come out. There are so many other connections that might be made
with this data, and I figured it was only a matter of time before Wildcat
updated something other than new data, (which is a big commitment for a
small company to begin with)...or somebody beat them to it. Pictures are
not important to me.... But new ways to connect and present this data is.
This desire to see these new connections implemented still does not outweigh
the desire to have current information available. Time will tell. More
power to you. Or to wildcat... I wonder if Helga is paying attention too.
:-)

I have often wondered why or when the AOS or RHS was going to implement a
web available searchable database system that allowed the data to be
useable. The small effort the RHS has made is notable but very limited in
what and how the data can be used. Of course, it is free and always up to
date if all you want it so know first generation parents or grex names. And
picture and culture sheets are available everywhere. I figured a
subscription service would one day be available from their websites that
allowed much greater search and presentation abilities of the data. It has
not happened yet.

One of the reasons that the AOS and RHS have had to suffer with the presence
of Wildcat as a competitor is that they took the same data and presented it
in a new format... and so could not be held in violation of copyright laws.
You can not take a phone book and copy it page per page and republish it,
but you can take the same data and present it in a new format.

"Reka" wrote in message
.. .
Al, you have *not* met me! We have only corresponded. Get those rabbit
ears on straight! I *am* a woman, however.
--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

In article ,
says...
Did I meet your mother once? For some reason I thought I met you both at
the same time, although I can barely remember this moment, and it may be one
of those days when the antennae were causing more problems than they were
solving.
Nope, don't think Mom has been east of the Mississippi that I know of
except for changing palnes at O'Hare or JFK. How about an RGO meeting at
the Miami WOC??

...and "fray" pretty much describes it BTW.
Yep, and sometimes it frays more than others. I know my nerves get
frayed here...

The one think I will look for in OrchidWIz is a program that updates new
information in a timely fashion. I have been buying wildcatt since it first
came out (12 years ago now?) as an alternative the AOS's outrageously priced
offering. I have been updating it 4 times a year since then. I look at it
as a subscription and I find it valuable. I have noticed that the data is
presented in a rigid manner and is becoming outdated in it's presentation.
Yet it does not change. I had been wondering when, if ever "Wildcat II" was
going to come out. There are so many other connections that might be made
with this data, and I figured it was only a matter of time before Wildcat
updated something other than new data, (which is a big commitment for a
small company to begin with)...or somebody beat them to it. Pictures are
not important to me.... But new ways to connect and present this data is.
This desire to see these new connections implemented still does not outweigh
the desire to have current information available. Time will tell. More
power to you. Or to wildcat... I wonder if Helga is paying attention too.
:-)

Well, Alex plans to update every 6 months, and the program is sure
flexible.
I have even found out how to search for species by almost every
available criteria except color. I can search by geographical
distribution, size, light and temp requirements, fragrance, genus,
family...WOW! A friend is looking for a pleuro he saw in Cuba. Boom! I
can list them!
I have often wondered why or when the AOS or RHS was going to implement a
web available searchable database system that allowed the data to be
useable. The small effort the RHS has made is notable but very limited in
what and how the data can be used. Of course, it is free and always up to
date if all you want it so know first generation parents or grex names. And
picture and culture sheets are available everywhere. I figured a
subscription service would one day be available from their websites that
allowed much greater search and presentation abilities of the data. It has
not happened yet.

The big problem I had with RHS is its inflexibility and the fact that it
didn't always function. "610 hits. Page 1 of 1". Duh. Quite frustrating.

One of the reasons that the AOS and RHS have had to suffer with the presence
of Wildcat as a competitor is that they took the same data and presented it
in a new format... and so could not be held in violation of copyright laws.
You can not take a phone book and copy it page per page and republish it,
but you can take the same data and present it in a new format.
All I can say is I hope Alex makes a lot of money on it and DOESN'T sell
out to the AOS or RHS. They would probably ruin it.


--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

Gosh, I actually have a memory of meeting you and your mom here in the
greenhouse.
I suppose I should be worried, but it happens enough that I am getting used
to it.
I have even told people on rgo who have been here that I met you and your
mom here once. At least I remember telling some of you all this, if YOU
were here and now I just don't know. If these people I remember claiming to
be you and your mom ever come back I will be sure to get a picture.

(I don't do drugs. I don't need to.)

on topic: It sounds like a good program. And a lot of work.

"Reka" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
says...
Did I meet your mother once? For some reason I thought I met you both at
the same time, although I can barely remember this moment, and it may be
one
of those days when the antennae were causing more problems than they were
solving.
Nope, don't think Mom has been east of the Mississippi that I know of
except for changing palnes at O'Hare or JFK. How about an RGO meeting at
the Miami WOC??

...and "fray" pretty much describes it BTW.
Yep, and sometimes it frays more than others. I know my nerves get
frayed here...

The one think I will look for in OrchidWIz is a program that updates new
information in a timely fashion. I have been buying wildcatt since it
first
came out (12 years ago now?) as an alternative the AOS's outrageously
priced
offering. I have been updating it 4 times a year since then. I look at
it
as a subscription and I find it valuable. I have noticed that the data
is
presented in a rigid manner and is becoming outdated in it's
presentation.
Yet it does not change. I had been wondering when, if ever "Wildcat II"
was
going to come out. There are so many other connections that might be
made
with this data, and I figured it was only a matter of time before Wildcat
updated something other than new data, (which is a big commitment for a
small company to begin with)...or somebody beat them to it. Pictures are
not important to me.... But new ways to connect and present this data
is.
This desire to see these new connections implemented still does not
outweigh
the desire to have current information available. Time will tell. More
power to you. Or to wildcat... I wonder if Helga is paying attention
too.
:-)

Well, Alex plans to update every 6 months, and the program is sure
flexible.
I have even found out how to search for species by almost every
available criteria except color. I can search by geographical
distribution, size, light and temp requirements, fragrance, genus,
family...WOW! A friend is looking for a pleuro he saw in Cuba. Boom! I
can list them!
I have often wondered why or when the AOS or RHS was going to implement a
web available searchable database system that allowed the data to be
useable. The small effort the RHS has made is notable but very limited
in
what and how the data can be used. Of course, it is free and always up
to
date if all you want it so know first generation parents or grex names.
And
picture and culture sheets are available everywhere. I figured a
subscription service would one day be available from their websites that
allowed much greater search and presentation abilities of the data. It
has
not happened yet.

The big problem I had with RHS is its inflexibility and the fact that it
didn't always function. "610 hits. Page 1 of 1". Duh. Quite frustrating.

One of the reasons that the AOS and RHS have had to suffer with the
presence
of Wildcat as a competitor is that they took the same data and presented
it
in a new format... and so could not be held in violation of copyright
laws.
You can not take a phone book and copy it page per page and republish it,
but you can take the same data and present it in a new format.
All I can say is I hope Alex makes a lot of money on it and DOESN'T sell
out to the AOS or RHS. They would probably ruin it.


--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

If these people I remember claiming to be you and your mom ever come back I
will be sure to get a picture.

Uh, insert music from "Jaws" here............

Diana

In article ,
says...
Gosh, I actually have a memory of meeting you and your mom here in the
greenhouse.
I suppose I should be worried, but it happens enough that I am getting used
to it.
I have even told people on rgo who have been here that I met you and your
mom here once. At least I remember telling some of you all this, if YOU
were here and now I just don't know. If these people I remember claiming to
be you and your mom ever come back I will be sure to get a picture.

It must have been in another world or life, Al. You know how that
goes...
But if someone is impersonating us, I sure would like to know. And why?
I would rather impersonate someone who was rich. Might get more benefit
out of it! ;-)
--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

I thought you came to visit once with your mother and you all picked out
Phal seedlings for her to grow. I think you can remember the seeds of this
memory, but obviously over the years it grew unchecked into something quite
out of this world. My brain, I suppose, is a bit too fecund for the
average mail order memory. Too much fertilizer in there.

"Reka" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
says...
Gosh, I actually have a memory of meeting you and your mom here in the
greenhouse.
I suppose I should be worried, but it happens enough that I am getting
used
to it.
I have even told people on rgo who have been here that I met you and your
mom here once. At least I remember telling some of you all this, if YOU
were here and now I just don't know. If these people I remember claiming
to
be you and your mom ever come back I will be sure to get a picture.

It must have been in another world or life, Al. You know how that
goes...
But if someone is impersonating us, I sure would like to know. And why?
I would rather impersonate someone who was rich. Might get more benefit
out of it! ;-)
--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

In article ,
says...
I thought you came to visit once with your mother and you all picked out
Phal seedlings for her to grow. I think you can remember the seeds of this
memory, but obviously over the years it grew unchecked into something quite
out of this world. My brain, I suppose, is a bit too fecund for the
average mail order memory. Too much fertilizer in there.
We ordered some from you for her, but didn't see you. We *did* speak on
the phone once.
I would suspect maybe too many pesticides? ;-)
--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

Pesticides Reka? Are you suggesting now that Al is bugged? (((LOL)))
I love how these threads can run rampant.

--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

Reka wrote:
In article ,
says...
I thought you came to visit once with your mother and you all picked
out Phal seedlings for her to grow. I think you can remember the
seeds of this memory, but obviously over the years it grew unchecked
into something quite out of this world. My brain, I suppose, is a
bit too fecund for the average mail order memory. Too much
fertilizer in there.
We ordered some from you for her, but didn't see you. We *did* speak
on the phone once.
I would suspect maybe too many pesticides? ;-)