All flavors of
Unix & Linux
supported:
Solaris
SCO
HP-UX
AIX
Red Hat
...
Yes, we also have Windows
expertise
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Date: Friday,
March 27, 2009 at or before noon, lasting until after dinner.
At the home of Larry and Susan Hoover of Hoover Computer Services, Inc.
Address: 4611
Bedford Boulevard, Wilmington,
DE 19803
Phone: (302) 529-7050
email: susan@hoovercs.com
and/or larry@hoovercs.com.
| Purpose: To establish
personal and business associations with other filePro developers.
To consort with each other on solutions for common problems within our
technical community. |
Meeting Agenda
Directions
Meeting Ground Rules and Goals
Pictures from the Meeting
Meeting 1st session Audio 12:30-3:00
List of people who have accepted the invitation: As
of March 27, 2009
Larry Hoover
Susan Hoover
Dennis Malen
Brian White
Tom Palmquist
John Esak
Joe Chasan
Don Coleman Howard Wolowitz
Richard Kreiss
Tim Barr
Dale & Sherrie Egan
Scott Nelson
JP Radley
George Simon
Dave Stauble
Guy Templin
Bruce Easton
Frank Gemeinhardt
Ken & Laura Brody
Nancy Palmquist
Request for pre-meeting information from all
attendees and from of filePro community
Not attending, but information submitted:
Mike Schwartz
Jose Lerebours
Tom Heine
Richard Hane
Robert T. Repko
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Is filePro
Dead?
Remember
when Time magazine ran a similar title in 1966? They
had a different noun on their cover, but the conclusion was the same:
no. I remember having a meeting on this same subject
in 1995 with Guy Caron of GPC Company and Bob Preville of Empire Data
Group. After an event hosted by GPC, we sat in a
restaurant in DC and discussed why fPTech was doing very little to
promote their product. We expressed our love for
filePro and our concern for it’s future. The result
of this impromptu meeting was the first of a series of filePro
conferences which, by the way, were hosted by Empire Data Group, not
fPTech. Eighteen years have passed since that
meeting, and filePro still exists. The company has
been whittled down, but the product has been developed and improved and
has kept up with today’s fast changing computer industry.
It’s a wonder that it has lasted so long, but it has indeed
outlasted many other larger more heavily promoted software products.
Why? Because it can do the job.
But, we all wonder, what happens now? Will
filePro still be there in a few years? Should we
continue to base our businesses and our livelihood on this product?
Most importantly: it there anything that WE
can do to help promote filePro’s existence?
The Problem
We all see
the writing on the wall. Nothing lasts forever.
However, we obviously all love the product or we would have
abandoned it long ago. Two important issues need to
be resolved:
1. There needs to be enough of a revenue flow to
keep fPTech alive as a company so that they may continue development.
2. There seems to be no doubt that we need a better
graphical interface on filePro in order for us or them to sell to new or
even existing customers.
Path to the Solution
Something
needs to be done NOW to address these issues. Thus, we are scheduling a
meeting of the minds, a brain trust to discuss solutions, and short of a
satisfying conclusion, alternative paths.
The invitees of this meeting have all made successful
business enterprises last for many years using filePro and are thus
qualified to comment on how a business should be run.
It’s time
that fPTech should partner with, or at least take guidance from, other
successful businesses. Let us not pretend that
fPTech is a large company anymore; they are down to just a few core
individuals and they need our help.
Hoover’s axiom: “All
problems have a solution. It may not be the obvious
one, but it exists.” We all know this to be
true, being programmers; we always end up solving a problem one way or
another, and sometimes it takes others to help us find the obvious
solution.
The Tone of the Meeting
The purpose
of this meeting is to compare notes with other developers who are
sustaining themselves with the same core set of tools (filePro, Unix,
Linux, etc.). By putting our heads together we may
be able to uncover a solution to our problem, or at least a more
comfortable path forward. Our motive is to take a
positive approach of how to use what we have and continue to succeed
with it. Those who wish to give up and move on need
not accept the invitation. But if you are willing to
contribute to a solution, no matter what it may lead to, you are invited
to join mental power with the others at this meeting.
The purpose of this meeting is NOT to stage a complaint forum,
nor to declare doom for filePro! We hope to keep this meeting totally
positive, progressive, a push forward.
The forum is
to be as follows: Meet around noon on Friday for
lunch, spend some time socializing, then start out with a discussion on
what we have done individually using filePro in a nut shell.
Each person can present to the group for 10 or 15 minutes
touching on interesting projects and technologies they have gotten
involved with related to filePro. The idea sharing may benefit others
needing that solution or technology and may help provide work for the
presenter.
Once the presentations are made, perhaps break out into
interest groups to discuss subjects brought up in the presentations,
sitting down with people with similar interests.
I think a
special discussion would be in order to discuss our most pressing issue:
GUIfying our filePro interface. We can talk
about Sound Idea’s Reface, FPGI and other options
for a GUI or web based filePro.
Discuss options on partnerships, or
formation of a consortium to share/buy each others products for further
development of our own. Keep in mind that the Obama
administration is earmarking billions of dollars to implement new
healthcare technologies, such as electronic medical records, aimed at
improving care and cutting costs. Let’s discuss how
we can get a piece of this! Many of us have small
“cottage” businesses with limited manpower. It’s
hard to compete with larger companies retaining a large work force.
Each our companies has unique skills that can out-perform most
organizations. By combining our expertise, we can
present a more competitive edge. Perhaps we can form
some sort of partnership of experts which together can present a
solution for purchasers.
Format
The format
will be informal- at our house. We have a
large interesting house with room for at least 20 people.
We can provide lunch and dinner here. We are
30 minutes south of Philadelphia
in Wilmington,
Delaware, about 20 minutes from the airport, 10
minutes from Amtrak, 5 minutes off of Interstate 95, 5 minutes from
accommodations.
We’re not expecting miracles from this get
together, but I’m sure some positive results will come from it.
It may lead to bigger things. At least it’s
doing something proactive. Please email or call us
if you can attend, or need help with arrangements, or have other ideas
for the forum. A more detailed agenda will follow.
This is by invitation only, but we are open
to suggestions from any invitee who suggests someone who should attend.
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