WINTER 2013

10 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

10 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Dennis R. Cowhey Dennis, R. Cowhey, started Computer Insights, Inc. in 1981 as is currently CEO. He served for many years on the Illinois CPA Society Computer Information Systems Committee. He is a frequent author of articles for Industry Trade Magazines. Before starting Computer Insights, he served as Central District Manager for a division of Litton Industries (now part of Northup Grumman). That company offered Inventory Control Systems to Retailers. Prior to that, he was a Credit and Financial Analyst for National Credit Office division of Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. He received his education at Chicago City College and DePaul University. THE BUSINESS EDGE 2.0 LINUX OFFERS A REAL CHOICE Fastener Software All Looks Alike Fastener Distributors who are looking for software to run their companies face a daunting task. The software packages are very difficult to differentiate from one another. The salespeople seem to speak a different language and the answer to every question seems to be “no problem”. Yet there are stories galore of failed installations and million dollar losses because of software that didn’t fit the bill. Windows & SQL Server One thing that makes most of the software look so similar is the fact that the vendors have mostly chosen Microsoft Windows and SQL Server for their operating platforms. Conventional wisdom says that is a good choice, but is it Computer Insights, Inc. has chosen a different path for the latest version of The BUSINESS EDGE 2.0. We have chosen Linux and IBM. We have good reasons for our choice. Because of the Linux environment, all peripheral programs are tightly integrated. With a typical Windows system, using best effort integration, the user will not be notified of a fax that fails to go out. The record of the failure is in a separate “bolt on” program. Similarly, the Wireless Warehouse is usually not tightly integrated, so when a transaction is passed to the Wireless Warehouse module, it is no longer visible in the main system until it has been allocated and passed back. If a Wireless Gun goes down, the transaction is “stuck” in the Wireless Warehouse system. None of these issues affect The BUSINESS EDGE 2.0 since all of the add on modules are tightly integrated parts of the core program. Our intense vertical market focus means that the add on modules that our clients need are already available; we won’t have to create them as custom modules. This saves our clients time and money. Linux vs. Windows Ken Hess of PC World wrote an article a couple of years ago that summed up the advantages of Linux over windows. He said: • “Linux stability offers business owners the peace of mind that their applications won’t suffer lengthy outages due to operating system instability. Linux enjoys the same high uptimes (often measured in years) that its Unix cousins do. This stability means that Linux can support your "99.999 percent available" service requirements.” • “Linux has the support of a worldwide community of developers who contribute to the source code, security fixes and system enhancements. This active community also provides businesses with free support through forums and community sites. This distributed community gives peace of mind to Linux users, because there's no single point of failure and no single source for Linux support or development.” Companies have reported saving over 85% in support and maintenance costs by switching from Windows to Linux. Linux is everywhere – Linux represents nearly 100% domination of the cloud services industry, an industry that needs to operate 24x7. • “Businesses that have standardized on Microsoft technology, specifically their .NET web technology, can rely on Linux for support of those same .NET applications.” • “Fortunately for Linux adopters, there’s no hardware upgrade madness that follows every new version of the software that’s released. Linux runs on x86 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. If your system runs Windows, it will run Linux”. To read the full article, go to: http://www.pcworld.com/article/201731/ 10_reasons_to_dump_windows_and_use_linux.html. please turn to page 156