COMDDAP 2009
Last July 3-4 2009, we attended the COMDDAP's IT expo held in the Apo View Hotel, Davao City. This the 46th year show of COMDDAP,the giant of all Philippine IT.
With the speed that IT is evolving and becoming ever more pervasive in our everyday lives COMDDAP continues year after year to to step up to the challenges of bringing something new to its market with every show. They showcase the latest IT products and software for computing, imaging, printing, connecting and communications, security, entertainment and lifestyle applications. As a matter of fact, COMDDAP Davao stages the LCD Monitor Shootout, and brings together the top LCD monitor brands in the world in a showdown of their most brilliant features in terms of graphics, photo, and video display.
Also part of its regular event is the Technology
Update series of seminars and workshops, and product demos.
As part of our real world education, we took part in the Technology Update session. The session we attended is the The ERIC Dealer Management Systems, The HP Thin Client, and Retailer Management
System Overview and Open Source For Business Applications.
We arrived at the Apo View Hotel around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. After getting our identification sticker as students we eagerly went to see the exhibits. Exhibitors include the Wordtext Systems. Inc., Trinity Marketing, Tills n' Labels Systems Marketing, Symantec, Smart Communications, Inc., Novell, Ng Khai Development Corp., Neo Manufacturing & Services, Microdata Systems & Management Inc., Metropreneur Trading, McAfee, Glee Electronics, Inc., Foxchit Business Systems, Faire Technologies Inc., Envision LCD Display, Danpro Computer Inking System Co., Cogent Consulting(CCSTC), Chase Technologies Corporation, Canon Marketing Phils. Inc., Autodesk, Astech Pengson Distributors Inc., Asiantech, and Adobe.
After exploring, we went to the function room for the session which has already started.
The Eric Dealer Management System
-presented by Jupiter Systems Inc.
According to the presenter, “The ERIC Dealer Management System is an end to end software solution for automotive dealer operation.” In the session they showed us on how to implement the ERIC DMS as well as it features which are the Costumer Relationship Management (CRM), Vehicles Sales and Administration (VSA), and Service Management (SVA).
The HP Thin Client
-presented by Nexus Technologies, Inc.
From the HP Thin Client brochure…“Thin clients are computing devices that function as an access device on the network. It provides solution to issues such as desktop replacement costs, network security, supporting application software on diverse hardware, or ensuring your data remains accessible and secure.”
The speaker also mentioned that Thin Client is designed with no hard drive and fan making it less bulky than normal PC system units.
Microsoft Retail Management System
-presented by Nexus Professional Services and Solutions
The next session is the Microsoft Retail Management System. In this session we were given an overview of the Retail Management System, its solutions and key benefits to retail industry. According to the slides that the speaker showed us “RMS is a software for retailers with multi-branch store. The key benefits it provides are:
- streamline operations - RMS automatically generate POs
- speed checkouts
- receive shipments and update inventory
- track inventory offline
- share reports
- improve profit margins - easily adjust pricing
- track ROI from marketing
- eliminate card payment terminal and fees
- increase employee productivity
- up sell and cross-sell your costumers
- build customer loyalty - customize receipts and price labels
- accept multiple tenders
- use flexible pricing structures
- tailor marketing to customer preferences
- reprint receipts
- manage business not technology - RMS is easy to install and use
- gain insights and make decisions
- tailor POS screens
- manage different inventory types
- add new lanes or stores
In terms of the RMS headquarters or the main office, it can control pricing, purchasing and inventory across stores, view and analyze data company wide, set and monitor policies and procedures for every store.”
Open Source for Business Applications
The last session we attended is the Open Source for Business Applications.
By definition…“Open Source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to software’s source code. Open Source software is licensed software that meets the Open Source definition.”
Some of the Open Source Technologies mentioned by the presenter during the lecture are Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin, GIMPshop, Transmission, LimeWire, VLC, LAMP, Drupal, Joomla,Wordpress,OS Commerce, Zen Cart, Ruby on Rails, PHP Cake, Civi CRM, and Moodle.
Reflection and Learning’s
From the exhibits I get the chance to see the new technologies present in the market.
During our participation in COMDDAP we meet IT people such as programmers, web developers and projects managers and through them I get a little picture of what I’m heading into. (ohhHhh..?)
True, I didn’t really appreciate the importance and beauty of ERIC DMS and Microsoft RMS since I’ am still a student. But I guess the information might still prove useful someday. (hehe…^^)
Perhaps the most exciting and informative session I’ve attended is the Open Source…
Actually that was my first time to meet open source (not heard, but meet…) and I found out that I’m already using some of its software and technology..(VLC, LimeWire, OpenOffice, PHP).
Let me tell you the story…
After meeting open source the presenter showed us a business case and ask two of the audience to analyze it. The task is to estimate the development time for each feature in days of the Anchor website, as well as the estimated total of days of project completion. After assessing the task both representative came up with the analysis that they can finish the project within 30 days. However the presenter told us that using Open Source (Ubuntu) they can finish the task in 16 days.
To accentuate his point the speaker told us the “MAC Analogy…” to explain the advantage of Open Source Technologies from Proprietary Software.
It goes like this… “If you were to buy a macbook from two stores that has the same specs, features and price but the other store can give it to you a day earlier, in which store would you likely buy a macbook?”
Of course, I’d go for the store that can give it to me earlier…who will not? And with that I was amazed and so impressed with open source technology…for a moment I believe it was the solution to whole world…(hehe…)
Just then, a handsome gentleman asked the speaker a question…
“If you were to choose from Open Source Technology and Proprietary Software, which would you use in a mission critical event like the 2010 election?”
The speaker answered that he could not choose between the two because there are many factors to be considered.
So the gentleman asked if he could address the crowd at large. He told us that he is a representative from Microsoft Company and that he is not against open source technology in fact if he were a student himself he would choose to use open source for practicality.
He emphasized that one of the important thing to consider in choosing a software is the level of liability. In the case of mission critical events open source is not the best and only option in all situations, because technically you can’t sue someone when your system fails in open source especially that you get it for free unlike in proprietary software.
And he left us with these words… “Remember that there is no such thing as free in this world. Everything has its own consequence. In Microsoft, you might pay more now but we’ll support you later…while in Open Source you might get it free now but you may pay more later.”
So interesting were his points that it left me thinking…
And that’s the best part of education…when it leaves you thinking.
We returned the next day, July 4 (particularly because of that gentleman…hehe…) but unfortunately I did not attend any seminar because of our interview.
Oh…and did I mention that flash drives and t-shirts are effective motivators?. I applaud HP for that and of course congratulate some of my school mates who win the prizes…hehehe…
Getting the general picture of the real thing is much better than theories alone.
…the first day…
that was GREAT!...^^
that was GREAT!...^^
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