Our hardware is off-the-shelf. If part of the computer breaks, it can be fixed or replaced locally, quickly. Your IT staff does not need days of training to take our software and run. Your managers can easily deploy a new machine should one break.

If we lock it down, we give our customers the keys. Anything we can expose for a customer to help themselves with, we do, including callbacks for C# routines in .NET that we compile and load on-the-fly.

We run .NET on Windows. We recommend Windows 8, as Windows XP is reaching the end of its lifecycle (April 2014), and support options are no longer going to be available.

When designing the software's architecture, we considered the goals of a network administrator, database administrator, and embedded developer, not just a front-end designer. In fact, the least effort was spent on details of front-end development because each client has their own ideas of what they want; we developed our software so they can do what they want, when they want.

We are flexible about how you want to set things up, but we recommend

• Local wired network. We will set it up for you and wire it for you, if desired. We use Cisco SG-200 series switches for wired-only networks, and ASUS VPN-enabled wireless routers for those who want or need wireless connectivity.
• Local database. If you can use a mouse, you can create your own queries.
• Compiled Code. We're not using a web application running in a browser. We have compiled .NET assemblies.

The hardware we use is not custom-made for convenience stores. We use software from vendors such as and HP, Dell, and Cisco. We use their hardware that is designed for businesses users in every market, every level.

Whatever backup and update strategy you prefer, we can accomodate:

• Central storage
• Cloud storage
• Scheduled tasks

And finally, our code is not decades old legacy code that has been reworked over and over. We use the latest techniques in software engineering with modern libraries to ensure that, from the ground up, every component in our software is tested individually, so we are less likely to encounter surprises when they are all put together.

• LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl/Python (w/ jQuery and AJAX, mobile-friendly)
• .NET/IIS/SQL Server (w/ jQuery and AJAX, mobile-friendly)
• .NET Windows EXE in WPF or WinForms, C# or VB
• Microsoft Office AddIns
• Console or automation apps
• Parallel computing apps (CUDA GPU, .NET Task Parallel Library)
• Visualization apps (Direct3D, OpenGL)
• Touch apps
• MCU apps (Arduino and BS2, primarily; some MSP400)

• C/C++
• C# and VB .NET
• T-SQL and PL/SQL
• Perl
• PHP
• Ruby (on Rails)
• Java
• Fortran (debugging, integration)
• Inline Assembly

Experience (not recent) in REXX, ActionScript

• Operating Systems
  • Windows XP - Windows 8 (desktop)
  • Windows Server
  • Ubuntu
  • Exposure to a variety of other Linux flavors (CentOS, RedHat, Slackware, Debian)
  • Former Solaris and AIX sysadmin
• Database Administration and Development
  • SQL Server
  • MySQL
  • Access
  • DB2, Oracle, sqlite (not recent)