Summit Event Management System 4.0
System requirements: Windows 3.x or 95, 20Mb hard disk space, 16Mb RAM (32Mb
recommended), 800 x 600 resolution or better
From: MIE Software (03) 9690 0673
URL: www.miesoftware.com
List price: $695 Professional, $345 LightIt's no small task to organise a conference, and the Summit Event Management
System is no small program. Think about it: airline bookings and ticketing, hotels,
information about delegates, conference papers, schedules and agenda, workshops and
committees, halls and dining rooms, catering and cutlery, projectors and microphones,
tickets and labels . . . There are a thousand and one bits and pieces that need to be
arranged and organised.
When you have several hundred delegates, there's obviously no
hope of managing without a computerised system, and obviously this is where the multi-user
version of SEMS shines, with its ability to permit entries and queries through several
terminals. I found its ability to answer off-the-cuff queries particularly impressive; for
example, 'What stage equipment is needed in Hall 3 for the first afternoon session?', 'For
what dates do we need to rent the 35mm film projector?', 'How many wireless microphones do
we need?', 'Has Dr Wossname's return flight booking been confirmed?' -- all the
overwhelming detail that it's so easy to fumble.
It's particularly difficult to design a simple user interface
for such a big and comprehensive program, but MIE Software (for Making It Easy) has
succeeded, mainly by splitting the work into four stages: setting up, before, during and
after -- all else follows logically from this. I found SEMS easy to use (and I have, thank
heaven, never arranged a conference) with little learning effort. There's a sample
conference to demonstrate what the features are for and a very clear and comprehensive
manual.
There's also a Light version for events that don't require
accommodation, travel and trade arrangements.
There are other systems that will do an equally professional
job of big events; what sets SEMS apart is that it's affordable, especially in the Light
version -- so much so that it is worth while running as a single-user system to handle
even school-class-size events. And let's face it, those are the ones that tend to be badly
run and/or drive their bits-of-paper organisers to distraction as they try to cope with
the copious detail even 20y delegates can generate. Summit Event Management System makes
it practical to conduct any size event with professional polish.
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The starting point is clear and simple because each stage needs a different set of
operations.
This is a typical instant report for the benefit of the person in charge of equipment.
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Millennium Master 2.0
System requirements: Any system running any version of Windows after 3.0
From: MFX Research (02) 9935 8940
URL: www.mfxr.com
List price: Corporate Tool Kit $550 for single user. BIOS tester $25,
BIOS Buster $75, Software Diagnostic $150, Software Corrector $300.Let me say up front that the judging panel didn't believe this one either. I
mean, a program that checks all applications on your DOS or Windows system (as well as the
system itself) for the Year 2000 problem and alters the programs to remove the problem?!
Pull the other one, I don't want to limp.
The entire judging panel, and I freely admit that I'm the
least expert of the five, spent a full day riding this program with spurs and whip over
all available obstacles. This included a 1Gb+ database that the Commonwealth Bank (the
major sponsor of the Awards) uses and worries about, with known Y2K problems. It was
fixed, just like that, as all other programs we tried Millennium Master on were fixed.
Let there be no mistake: small programs, big ones,
special-purpose database applications such as Quicken or M.Y.O.B., database applications
from ClarisWorks to SQL Server and spreadsheets, such as Lotus 1-2-3 or Excel --
Millennium Master fixes them all, programs and data files both. And I still can't imagine
how it's done, but I have to believe what I see. If I see the author of Millennium Master,
Bruce Parker, jogging confidently on the waves of Sydney Harbour, I'll believe that, too .
. .
Let me tell you what's really scary, though: the best
anti-virus programs around don't detect the changes. Let's all be quietly pleased that
Bruce isn't the sort that writes viruses!
Millennium Master consists of a diagnostic tool and a
correcting tool; there is also a BIOS tester and a corrective for the BIOS – no need
to update your BIOS, according to MFX Research. The modules are sold in a package as the
Corporate Tool Kit, but is also available by modules, so if your BIOS is known to be okay,
you can save on that part.
A small caution: the program lets you check and modify any
file. It's a standard option to restrict checking to programs and libraries, but if you
want to clear up any problems in your data files, you need to make sure that you don't
select irrelevant ones. Checking picture files is not only a waste of time, if they happen
to contain date-like structures and these are changed, your pictures will develop measles.
Another possible issue is legal: if a program that needs to
be changed is not fully owned but use-licensed, you are probably not allowed to modify it,
though I've never heard of a software company asking for its program back after the lease
expires -- mainly because it usually doesn't expire. If you're time-leasing a program or
you want to be absolutely sure, it might be a good idea to check with the vendors that you
can modify your copy. Again, I find it hard to imagine anyone suing you for altering the
installed copy as long as you have the unchanged distribution copy available.
So is this the one-hit, total solution to the Year 2000
problem? For Windows 3.1, 95 and NT the answer is an unqualified 'yes'. MFX is working on
versions for other operating systems, firstly Unix, but I wouldn't be surprised to see
versions that will apply the same cure to minis and mainframes.
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This is the display of the checking part of Millennium Master after
checking the current version of Quicken. |