TurtleSoft just hired a developer to write networking code for our new accounting software. It will allow more than one person to log into a company file over a local area network (LAN), using Ethernet or a wireless connection. The interface will be similar to the one in Goldenseal.
The new accounting app also adds something nifty: log in from remote locations. To make that happen, you’ll need a fast Internet connection on your laptop (Mac or Windows). Also, the server must be on a computer with an Internet connection and a static IP address. That’s something you can get from your ISP (ours costs $10 a month; your service may already include one).
The second half of the project is to build mobile apps for Android and iOS. They will only write a starter version with a user log-in screen and a few fields. Later, our staff will add the guts to make single-function apps for phone or pad. A few ideas come to mind right now:
• Material Purchases/Subs/Other Costs, for expenses entered from anywhere.
• Labor Hours, so employees can enter their hours from job sites.
• Estimates, for quick field generation of quotes.
Networking should be ready soon after the first, early release of the single-user version. Mobile apps will take a bit longer.
Beta versions of our new accounting software are guaranteed to have some bugs and missing features. Hopefully, they will be good enough for daily use. We will update weekly, so bugs won’t linger long.
Goldenseal went through 3 years of alpha and beta status, then a few more years when important features were added gradually.
Fewer things will go wrong in this release, since the accounting and business management code hasn’t changed. That’s where most of the Goldenseal bugs were during the first ten years.
Dennis Kolva
Programming Director
TurtleSoft.com
