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Old 07-03-2002, 04:24 PM   #1 (permalink)
 
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Andy.. very much appreciate the info and service you provide. Being new to the industry as well as totally computer illiterate, can you please explain your past/present relationship with Helios, etc.
Mahalo, Mark
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Old 07-03-2002, 04:43 PM   #2 (permalink)
 
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Sure Mark,

I am an independant Computer Consultant that in 1997 did a significant amount of work for a major Canadian Distributor in the Tanning Industry, this involved upgrading and stabilizing both the Hardware and Applications they are using and wished to use.

At the end of that initial engagement, they introduced me to Helios, an application that they sold a few copies each year to their Bed and Lotion clients. Normally the user would have significant difficultly implementing and using the application (Helios).

I went to Chicago in November 1997 and spend 2 days in training and orientation with Tony and his staff. I then spent a couple of months learn and "debugging" Helios. Most of this learning revolved around Sales Codes - you may have heard of them.

In 1998 through 2001 in addition to Training and Support I was also able to sell Helios in Canada.

Over the years have spent hundreds of hours testing and reporting issues and suggestions to Helios Ownership and Staff. Then came May 31st, 2001. Received a phone call from an ETS Executive, advising that they had acquired (controlling interest) Helios and they would be selling it and supporting it from Indy from that day forward.

Over the last year, I have continued to provide independant training and support to many Helios Users. As outlined on my website, I provide Onsite training and Remote Set up service primarily directed at new installations.

Last summer I was approached by Michael Chunn, and asked by him to assist with the Marketing of the Solarsoft product - Salon Net and Salon Wizard. Michael and his team are truly professional and I am enjoying my association with them.

Salon Net provides for data replication between salons using Helios.

I live in Ontario, Canada. Married 31 years last week, my wife and I have two sons in there early 20's. One works in the Fitness Industry and the other attends Queens University here in Canada studying Engineering Physics.

I need to lose weight, and it is to dam hot this week.
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Old 07-03-2002, 10:37 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Wow Andy, thanks for the informative bio and hey, weight is hard to lose and in a few months it will get cooler
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Old 07-04-2002, 07:20 AM   #4 (permalink)
 
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Nice bio Andy. The rest of the story is......he is the BEST, any time I have had a question or problem he has been right there to answer it. I have been using Helios for many, many years and I still get stumped occasionally but Andy always helps me find the answer.
Thanks Andy for being here for us!!!!
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Old 07-04-2002, 07:44 AM   #5 (permalink)
 
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Thank you Teresa for your kind words.

It truly is a pleasure to be of service when and where I can. I always believe that just rewards will follow in time. It is not always necessary to "demand" an agreement to be in place before attempting to assist a User with a problem.

Both Michael and I would truly welcome the opportunity to be of service related to your Multi Location requirement. As time passes by we are always open to and welcome further conversation.

Again Teresa, thank you and it is always a pleasure to be of service.
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Old 07-04-2002, 07:50 AM   #6 (permalink)
 
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We are going to sit down and critique Helios V10 today. And frankly the issues you have addressed scare the heck out of me. We use Mailink and send postcards EVERY month. I also was not aware of their networking involving a central server of "their choosing". Time will tell, I'll keep you posted.
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Old 07-04-2002, 07:59 AM   #7 (permalink)
 
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Teresa, my reference to a "central server" related to a possible approach of a future release beyond V10.

It has been the desire and believe of Helios Management that the long term (V11 or later) approach for Helios should involve an Application Service Provider approach located at some central location and Helios users would connect to and process on that ASP.

Although my comment did not relate to V10 - since the Helios "WAN" product is still something I have not seen, I do not know if it takes the approach of "real-time" (therefore Central Server in your office - thus still exposed to communication outages) or the more reliable "batch" approach that Salon Net utilizes.

I welcome discussion as you proceed with and after your evaluation.

Here to help.
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Old 07-04-2002, 08:21 AM   #8 (permalink)
 
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Remember as well that the encrypted Address line is a major problem if you use or wish to use MailLink or a similar service.

Below is a link to a Screen Shot that shows the data that you would export from the Helios Access Database to send to MailLink and below it in the Screen Shot is the way one of the records appears inside the Helios Application.

The postman may have a problem.

A secondary issue here is that the SmartMail extract module within Helios is also gone. You would need MS-Access 2000 (or another compatible program) to export the data from the Helios Access Database, selecting the records you wish to include in your Marketing distribution.

Now that point is mute, because how are you going to use the exported data anyway with the encrypted address line?


Screen Shot of Helios Client Profile and Data stored in Access Database



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ACT Help Center [ This Message was edited by: Andy @ ATSO.ca on 2002-07-04 08:28 ]
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Old 07-04-2002, 10:28 AM   #9 (permalink)
 
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It looks like BAD NEWS!

Very scary with the data in helios open to corruption, I know it happened to me, can you imagine a incripted data file being corupted. What a mess!

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Old 07-04-2002, 11:04 AM   #10 (permalink)
 
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Even thought the encryption scheme they use looks very easy to break ~~ A word of caution before thinking about descrypting YOUR OWN DATA. This is protected by the DMCA.

Here is a pdf copy of this act of congress!

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

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