Software For Companies Essay, Research Paper

It is sometimes hard to choose appropriate software for a growing company. One difficulty is that there are so many different products to choose from. It is not the same thing as going into a candy store and deciding whether or not one is in the mood for plain chocolate or something along the lines of a Snicker s bar. Rather, it is more like choosing between a plain Hershey s or Nestle s. They are almost the same. Each has different features. Does the color of the Nestle s wrapper attract the customer? Or, is the design of the bar or taste the most important thing? Manufacturers and advertising agencies work hard to attract customers, assure brand loyalty and further, provide a product that can be utilized by a broad customer base. Hershey and Nestles Companies compete just as Microsoft does with others. Despite that, the media and the public alike have continually bashed Microsoft, along with founder Bill Gates. Currently, the company is being plagued by legal difficulties, which have culminated in hearings in Washington that are trying to determine if the company has broken antitrust laws. While Microsoft does compete with other companies such as Oracle, Adobe, and Intuit, they are by far the leaders in software manufacturing. In recent years, it seems that Oracle has provided Microsoft with more competition, so much so that some have suggested that Microsoft and Oracle are on a collision course due to the competition in databases (Sullivan PG). This information is important to the executive choosing software for his or her company. When a firm is deciding what software to utilize for itsnetworks, it is important not only to look at the product but at the longevity of the manufacturing company. The reason for that is because technology increases at such a rapid rate, no company wants to be stuck with an outdated product that cannot be upgraded. Buying products where the manufacturer s name has endured is a good practice. At the same time, there is no reason not to buy state of the art software, even if it is produced by a company other than Microsoft. Two products currently on the market that provide companies with good database systems are Microsoft Access and Oracle. While these products are similar in nature, there are many differences and it is important to look at specific features of each when deciding to purchase software for a business. Microsoft Access for Windows 95 offers many high-end features in an easy to use desktop package (Ricciardi PG). With Microsoft s Access, users are able to create applications for themselves (Spitzer PG). Access is considered to be the leading access and analysis product available on the market today as well as one of the best product development tools (PG). Access 95 for Windows, for example, has become more user friendly, enabling users to develop their own programs in addition to acquiring more complex portions from professionals (PG). All can be integrated. Additionally, some new features of the Access upgrade include portions that in the past needed to be programmed but are now included (PG). Certain features include Filter by Form and Filter by Selection; Form clears data from view and permits the user to enter their selections for any field shown (PG). Thus, the data entry form doubles as a query interface (PG). In general, most tasks are easy to access; the Wizards help to guide users through any task (PG). Access, built on Microsoft’s Jet database engine, supports many advanced features, including updatable views (PG). Access is certainly an advancement for Microsoft as its latest version can provide its regular users with brand new features. As good as Access is, it is only as good as its users will allow. In other words, if the user cannot understand and use its most creative features, its purpose is lost. Microsoft’s usability labs employs specialist testers in order to assure that its products are saleable. Testers spend a lot of time observing the mistakes computer users make (Independent 11). They are not interested in testing people’s abilities but rather, they look for quirks in his company’s products (11). They want to find the things that confuse people and make the product more difficult to work with (11). One example of what a tester had found on Access, for instance, is that people had trouble printing summaries of reports (Independent 11). Because people had difficulty with the procedure, Microsoft moved the summary button to the left side of the dialogue and after that, it was found, that everyone got it right (11). It is important to understand that Microsoft employs a great deal of research in order in assure that it will be marketing a quality product and one that can be used by the average individual. It makes no sense to create programs that only engineers can understand. Thus, products like Access have been determined to be somewhat user friendly even though it has very sophisticated features. In assessing which products are better it is important to see how they are utilized in office situations. For example, Microsoft Access 97 had been utilized to create a relational database called HRSource; it was designed to provide data collection and process supports to employees and applicants (Meade PG). The database allows users of the program to construct custom reports (PG). Jim Meade maintains that Human Resources departments can utilize such software for all HR functions (PG). Thus, by using HRSource, created by Access, most any company can utilize the program with little or no changes (PG). Further, the use of Access 97 as the database engine allows HRSource to be integrated with other Microsoft products such as Word and Excel (PG). Access 97 is a good tool to use when creating reports in a business environment. But it is also a good tool to bring database information and the World Wide Web together (Robinson PG). It includes accessible hyperlinks to the net and additionally, hyperlinks may be utilized to access information such as forms or reports which are created in different Windows applications (PG). Further, hyperlinks can be created in the form of text labels, pictures or buttons, and can be integrated in forms or reports themselves (PG). This feature is quite useful, particularly when employees or customers must fill out forms. Not only that, but the straightforward Publish to the Web Wizard allows the user to take an Access item, such as a report, and turn it into a Web page (PG). This allows not only easier creation of web pages, but also has the added convenience of allowing its creator to keep the site up to date. A link can be set up to update Web pages as the database changes (PG). This feature alone can save hours of work.

As far as the database itself, Access 97 allows one to design easy to use databases. One newly updated feature is the Tab control which lets the user create forms with tabbed pages, which is consistent with tabbed dialog boxes in most Windows 95 applications (Robinson PG). Toolbars and menus are also now able to be customized, which is one of its most popular inclusion. Robinson tells of the many changes, one of which is small but useful; for example, she explains that one can right click a field and enter a value to narrow the view of the database (PG). One important upgrade is the fact that the new software recognizes 00 as the year 2000 (PG). Oracle is a primary competitor for market share in the database category. The Oracle 8.0.3 Enterprise Edition has been called the Mercedes of the database market (Biggs PG). This version contains Java Database Connectivity drivers but only in an unsupported beta form and further there are some quirks (PG). In order to take advantage of the feature users are urged to wait until the next upgrade. Oracle seems to be producing at an astounding rate and has further considered the year 2000 problem as well (oracle.com). So whether one chooses Microsoft or Oracle products, the millennium shouldn t be a nightmare. New features included in Oracle 8 are enhancements in several areas. Some of these are “connection pooling” which allow Oracle Applications to support more users than ever before (oracle.com) . Thus, Oracle Applications for the Web customers can provide access to an unlimited number of users of the system. The new replication features are advantageous to mobile networks where sales personnel will be able to synchronize their laptop databases, utilizing Personal OracleTM Lite, and the enterprise database (oracle.com). The process is automatically managed through the software s Replication Manager (oracle.com).Oracle Applications customers using an Oracle Parallel Server with Oracle 8 will be able to achieve higher performance (oracle.com).Other features include something that allows a user to automatically recover from various types of data corruption (oracle.com). The system can also automatically suggest optimal backup strategies, allow incremental backups and backups grouped into sets for easy manageability (oracle.com). Oracle8 is designed to lower an organization’s computing costs, while managing all types of data, and delivering information faster to all kinds of users (oracle.com). More specifically, Oracle has also incorporated migration tools that are fairly straightforward (Robinson PG). Also, Oracle allows users to use large stores of data, and easily compare them with one another with the use of partitioning (PG). Oracle also uniquely takes individual partitions offline while leaving others active (PG). Some suggest that this support not only improves manageability but sets Oracle apart from the competition (PG). The database also includes object references, also known as REFS, which are table pointers that are quicker to use than relational joins (PG). Other features include a Web-publishing add-on that makes it easier to get Oracle data into HTML pages (PG). Although Oracle is the only dominant relational database management system developer to work on Macintosh products, the company has been criticized for looking more and more like Windows (Ricciuti PG). In comparing Access 97 with Oracle 8, every company must choose dependent on its needs. Because each product has unique features, it is important to pick carefully. For example, if Internet capability is critical for a company now, it might be better to go with Microsoft rather than wait for Oracle to work out the kinks in its Java connectivity. Access would also be better for an existing system that already utilizes Microsoft products. That is a given when making any choice. Many of the products are interactive, so a user should choose between Microsoft or say, Oracle, from the outset. In choosing between databases, Oracle does seem to have more advanced features and better networking capabilities with a seemingly unlimited capacity. It has also achieved excellent reviews. Again, one must choose based on specific requirements. Less knowledgeable users will probably want to go with Microsoft because it is easier to use whereas companies with large databases and networks, and whose employees are quite computer literate, may prefer Oracle. Access is easier to use and provides quick accessibility with its hyperlinks while Oracle is somewhat more complex but seems to provide more choices. Much of the decision comes down to personal preference. Both are good products and have come from growing companies. Oracle s a tinge more of a gamble because it seems as if Microsoft will be with us for eternity. Of course, that could all change in an instant as does everything in the continuing revolution of computer technology.

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