Posted by mbos on Feb 27, 2009 in
General,
Recommendations As a web-based software development company, we come across a lot of other web-based services. We use some of them. We would only recommend a company/service, that we ourselves use and appreciate for it’s value.
One recent service that I would HIGHLY recommend, is Clarity Accounting. We started using Clarity after starting up MutinyWare, and have been using it to handle all of our accounting needs.
Clarity has done a phenomenal job at providing an online accounting system that is functional, efficient, user-friendly, and beautiful! Not too often do you come across a system that has all of those features, but this one does. I honestly cannot say enough about it, other than to recommend it.
I looked at a lot of other accounting systems, and found most to be either much too complicated for a small business, or not nearly complicated enough. Clarity has found the perfect balance. In another life, I used to be a bookkeeper for a company I worked at. Since then, other than to track invoices, and keep receipts, my bookkeeping skills have been severely neglected and restricted. When I started using Clarity, I thought at first that it would take a ton of re-learning, however the system has proved to be so intuitive that my lessons and skills came back quickly, and with little pain.
For any small business or freelancer out there, you can’t get better than Clarity Accounting. Their prices are extremely reasonable ($10/mo or $100/yr). Also, I can’t help but mention the fact that their site is very well done, and I love reading the Clarity blog!
Huge congrats to Clarity for doing it right!
Visit Clarity Accounting here: http://www.clarityaccounting.com/
Tags: Services We Use, software
Posted by mbos on Feb 26, 2009 in
General,
News No, not a new “Nessie”, but how is what we do green?
There are a few ways in which our business model contributes to a greener business aspect for you, the customer.
Reduction of servers needed
When software is delivered as a service, as a hosted solution, it is on a shared server environment. This allows for a reduction of servers used by the companies using the service. Of course, the reduction of servers, allows for a reduction of energy usage and the parts used to make the servers, much of which is plastic.
Reduction of paper
Many companies still perform many of their tasks manually, usually on paper. By using a software-as-a-service model, these niche tasks can be addressed and digitalized, thereby reducing the need for as much paper. Also, by archiving digitally, the reams and reams of paper needed to archive reports and documents can be drastically cut. This also has the side benefit of saving you storage/archival space and cost.
Reduction of building space for server housing
If there are fewer servers being used by individual companies, that building room and the associated energy costs are reduced as well.
Reduction of gas usage – you can work from home!
This one has great personal benefits! We hope to see more and more businesses moving to a work at home model. Not only does this improve productivity and efficiency, but it also reduces the amount of vehicles on the road, thereby reducing gas usage and exhaust.
What else can I do to go green?
There are a ton of ways that you as business or an individual can help with the effort of saving our planet. There are many, many resources online that can help you.
Many people don’t even realize the impact that we are having on our planet on a daily basis. By doing some small, simple things, we can make a huge difference.
Read this article about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – be sure to check out the photos and video, they are disturbing, but that is the point.
Tags: environment, green, News
Posted by mbos on Feb 24, 2009 in
General About our design style and the naval theme
Why is everything MutinyWare in a naval theme?
Well, for one, mutiny is traditionally associated with a ship. For another, to put it very simply, ships and nautical elements are just very elegant and cool.
There is much to be said for old and ancient shipping. There was an amazing amount of craftsmanship; they were beautiful; they were powerful; and they were elegant. It would have been such a shame to have a name like MutinyWare and not take advantage of the incredible visuals that go along with it.
The same adjectives that describe ancient ships, also apply to our products. We strive to create a well crafted, beautiful, powerful and elegant solution to industry needs for software. By utlizing old-world concepts, we bring a new level of sophistication and elegance to our modern technology.
Along with the visuals however, it gave us the opportunity to name our products after ship types/styles. By doing so, we were inherently naming our products with a unique name, rather than a name that is obvious, typical and corporate.
Tags: design, theme, website
Posted by mbos on Feb 18, 2009 in
General To make sure you are happy with your online experience, and that you gain the full benefits of today’s technology, please read through the information below about web browsers.
- All browsers are NOT created equal
- Know the differences
- Learn the advantages
- Which browser to choose?
- Resolution…huh?
MutinyWare tries their very best to make sure that all of our websites and applications run on as many browsers as is possible.
Making sure you have an enjoyable experience!
However, this is indeed a daunting task, and not all browsers are created equal…and no matter what you do, there are some browsers that just don’t function up to today’s standards. This means, that no matter how well we design and program, due to the changes in standards and coding ability, some browsers are just too old to render the code properly.
For a browser to be “standards compliant” means that they must pass a certain testing scenario to make sure that they render (display) code as it is meant to be, and as the designer/programmer intended. There is a organization, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. The W3C often sets the standards by which the web functions.
Currently, the most standards compliant browser is Safari (Apple), which has been compliant since 2005. Firefox is the next closest, and with it’s upcoming version 3 has been tested as passing the “Acid2″ test. While version 2 of Firefox is not perfect, it is incredibly close, and to date we have not had any problems with using Firefox at all.
Internet Explorer, which is by far the most common browser and holds approximately 70% of the browser share, is also by far the least standards compliant browser available. IE7 has made great strides in being better able to handle code and specifically CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), but it is still bad enough that many IE specific code hacks need to be created for IE browsers.
Add to this problem, the fact that the majority of IE users are still using IE6. IE6 is immensely buggy and has major difficulties in displaying a web page properly when using CSS.
A small note about display resolution (for your monitor): Minimum display should be 1024 x 1280 pixels.
Therefore, our recommendations for browsers are below:
- For All Windows Users: Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer 7
- For Mac Users: Safari or Firefox
- For Linux Users: Firefox or Opera
Tags: browsers
Posted by mbos on Feb 17, 2009 in
General There are two key problems, or rather hurdles, when designing software. One is that you want to put everything into the first version, you want it to be perfect from the get go. The other, is being inherently unaware of every scenario or functionality that your customers will experience or desire.
So many ideas, too little time
It is a constant battle to not put in everything but the kitchen sink when designing and building a new application. Many times, ideas will continue to come to you throughout the development process, which is a good thing! However, often, if a person were to implement everything that came to mind, and was determined to wait to launch until the system were perfect in every way….well, the thing would never get launched!
This is one of our biggest struggles. We have to learn to prioritize and to keep a list of all ideas for future versions, so we can get that critical first version out there.
That is the beauty of working on web based software, or software-as-a-service. We can implement enhancements and new features quickly and easily. Unlike traditional installed desktop software, or even worse with server based software, where an update needs to be packaged, the client notified of an update, and then getting them to install it; web based software is a much simpler process of deploying it, and giving a nice surprise to the customer when they next use the application and see something new available to them!
The second obstacle, and perhaps much more important, is acknowledging the fact that we don’t know, and cannot anticipate everything!
As much as we labour over the features list, functionalities and possible uses to which a customer may put our applications, we can never think of everything. This is where user feedback is so critical to the development process. The goal of any software developer should be in meeting as many user requested features as possible, to provide the best experience and most robust feature set that we can. So, be sure to let your feelings and desires be known. If your software provider has a forum or method whereby you can communicate this information to them, take advantage of it.
Tags: development, features, information, process
Posted by mbos on Feb 11, 2009 in
CrowsNest,
QuarterMaster Currently, we have two projects in progress. One is CrowsNest, the other is QuarterMaster.
CrowsNest
CrowsNest is currently being developed to meet a client’s specific needs. Once this is complete, we will be working to add additional features and functionality, and make the system generic so that it can be used by anyone. We are looking at having this available as a public beta around summer time. CrowsNest will be a survey, assessment and poll system.
QuarterMaster
QuarterMaster was initially developed to meet the needs, again, for a specific client, and is currently in use on the Cambridge Partners, Inc. websites. As soon as CrowsNest is wrapped up, we will be returning to QuarterMaster to beef up the functionality, add a ton more features, and get it ready for public beta. QuarterMaster will be a fully featured content management system for Property Management groups. It will allow for the complete build and management of a property management website, including all the details necessary for having a detailed and informational site for each individual community/property.
Posted by admin on Feb 11, 2009 in
General Welcome to the new MutinyWare blog. Here, we will be posting news, events, launches and product updates, as well as some personal thoughts and observations as we go along.
MutinyWare is a new company…with a lot of old ideas. We have been working and planning to do this type of work for years now, and have finally come to a point where we can feasibly do it. MutinyWare is a company that builds on a lot of experience from our corporate worlds, taking what is good, and losing what is not. By doing so, we have created a business model that works for us, and we know, will work for our customers.
Please, take a look around the MutinyWare site, see what we have to offer in terms of software-as-a-service, our products and methodologies. Come back frequently to see what is new!
The Mutineers
