How does DHPOS compare to real POS software.

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Dale Harris
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How does DHPOS compare to real POS software.

Post by Dale Harris » Mon Jul 05, 2004 3:21 pm

In the last few days I have received a couple of emails basically asking me how my POS software compares to "real" pos software.

My initial reaction was, "Are you implying that my software is not real? It sure took me long enough to write imaginary software. Do you think that the thousands of stores that use my software worldwide are taking payments in Monopoly money?"

Then I started thinking about what Monopoly money would look like in different countries but I eventually got back to the point.

I calmed down when I realized that what they meant was how does my POS program compares to those you have to pay for. (At least I hope that is what they meant.)

Unfortunatly I have little to compare it to. In real life I run a key shop in a large department store chain and have to use their POS system. I hate their POS system so much that it is what actually inspired me to write mine using the theory that I could do better in my sleep. Actually I cheated, I was awake many times while writing the program.

But my host's POS system is the only other one I am familiar with. I like mine better.

So I am asking for opinions. If you are familiar with my POS system and at least one other, would you like to post a comparison here? You do not have to post the name of the other system if you do not want to and that would probably be a good idea so that they do not sue your butt off. Try to go into more detail than, "One sucks, other doesn't." And of course it is perfectly acceptable if you like the other one better than mine.
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First.

Post by Dale Harris » Mon Jul 05, 2004 3:44 pm

Well someone has to go first so it may as well be me.

Things I do not like about the POS system I have to use....

It takes 7 minutes to load in the morning.

I have to go into the main store office to change prices.

I cannot add new items into the stock table (only from the home office.)

I cannot make sevices "non-taxable" by default, I have to jump through hoops to remove sales tax from services everytime I sell one.

I have to add up sales from each employee to get a total sales reading.

You cannot look up an item, if you do not know the stock number you are dead.

Which also means that you cannot view the stock table from the register.

You have to enter a "department" number for everything you ring up.

All stock numbers are 5 digits long even though I only need 3 digits and only need 1 digit for 80% of what I sell.

It does not print store information (address, phone) on the receipts.

Even though I sell keys I have to tell the register that I do not want them delivered.

"Voids" are not "clean", you have to into the office the next day to argue about how much should really be subtracted from yesterday's sales.

To find the transaction count for the day I have to subtract the opening transaction number from the ending transaction number.

Register has no calculator function.

Also no date or time on the screen.

No sale parking, if your customer cannot find her money everyone just waits or you void out the sale and start over when she can find her money.

All reductions and discounts have to be "explained" even though none of the expainations apply to the key shop.
<hr>
Things I like about my host's POS that I wish my POS would do...

Integrated credit card validation.
Dale

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peewee3ie
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Dale's POS software is at the top of my list

Post by peewee3ie » Mon Jul 05, 2004 5:41 pm

I work full time with POS software. I have never come across one that is as basic Dale's POS software.

When you enter stock it does not ask you a load of questions i.e

what colour, how is it packed

These are questions the come from Easy Retail POS software that I setup a lot. It is a real pain in the neck. If you are using it in shop i.e Hardware shops, sweet shops.

But with Dales POS software I can have the whole shop done in a day and it is very easy for the staff of the shop to add stock to the stock table.

Easy Retail costs about US $2400 a year just for support, not from me but from the company the own it.

As you can see from the above infomation. That's why I would use Dale's POS Software, not because it is free but because it is easy to use.

Now I show it to people that want a Point of Sales system for their shop.

So it is one big thank you from me Dale.

When I get some money togther I will send you some as I have just moved and that is a promise and I will keep it Dale.
Tony McGuire
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nak

my turn

Post by nak » Mon Jul 05, 2004 5:50 pm

things i like about dhpos over my system
-you don't need an overide to void or suspend a transaction
-the calculator
-viewing the stock table
-on screen reports
-viewing prevous transactions

things i like about my other system over dhpos
-when an overide is preformed who did it is also recorded
-check account numbers are tracked and can be blocked (eg to catch who wrote a bad check)
-one transaction to cash a check

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Post by Carl Fox » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:02 pm

On the whole dhpos is much more user focused than anything that I have ever used before.

The only draw back is that the pos software that I have used in the past allows more detailed reports to be obtained that can be printed on a back office printer.

i.e. stock count lists

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Pos Systems

Post by Bobby » Tue Jul 06, 2004 8:05 pm

Hello,

I have used various POS systems in the past and the reason that I love this one is that is is stable. The features that it claims to have work. Before we opened our scrapbook store, we tried various programs. I.E. QuickPOS, ComCash, RetailICE, Cash Register Express, The Retail Solution, etc... I really wish that we would have just stuck with dhPOS. My ex, unfortunatly, was stuck on the idea of loyalty points. We ended up going with The Retail Solution (we tried Cash Register Express, but it was not compatible with the printer we bought, star tsp600, and the tech support team could not give me any support). Well, I also put on dhPOS and I am so thankful that I did. It came in very handy at times as a backup register when, either the network or office pc had a spaz.

The only feature that I feel is unrealized is the customer info part. The buddings of this part of the program have been around since the beginning, but there is not much to be done with it, except, the check acceptance part. If you do use the cust info part, you can block check acceptance from persons writing bad checks.

The ease of use and vast amount of features for the price is what sets dhPOS above all of the rest. You can run dhPOS on less then it costs to buy some cheesy cash register brand new and have better knowledge of your inventory then you ever would with just a register.

Thank you Dale for all your hard work and I hope you enjoy your time away. (Though, you never seem to really be away!?!?!?!)

Bobby

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Post by bdude » Mon Jul 19, 2004 1:00 am

CONGRATULATIONS DALE!!!

NO OTHER POS PROGRAM CAN COMPARE TO YOURS!

ESPECIALLY FOR THE PRICE WHICH IS:


FREE!

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Post by sfrk001 » Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:09 am

This is real POS software :), I like it. Way to go dale!
Anyways, about the date and time on the screen, I never use Full screen mode, so the clock from the taskbar always shows :), I just want customers to know I run Windows, because they always ask (none of there business anyway :), but most windows freaks wish everything was Windows)

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Post by daleadmin » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:20 pm

I have added this post to bring this thread back to the first page of the forum to see if anyone wants to add more comparisons to it.

Dale

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Post by ProDeZigner » Fri Jul 20, 2007 5:37 pm

Well, where to start...

1) Written extremely well. Not a lot of great programs written in BASIC... Most are C++. Dale gets mad props for that alone.

2) Entirely free. Some want an upfront fee for the media and shipping.

3) The solutions I've tried that were free, weren't as intuitive as Dale's. It's easy to use, navigate and anyone can use it. I'm running it on a Linux machine virtualized because I like it so much.

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Post by jimmypos » Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:51 am

I work for Woolworths, one of Australia's largest retailers and have worked with 2 different pos systems ICL's ISS400 and Retailix Storeline and have found Dhpos compares very well with the features both systems offer. I have also evaluated many other pos systems avaliable on the internet and have found Dhpos to better than any other shareware/freeware package. It really reflects that it was written by someone who actually uses pos systems as part of their day to day working life instead of some programmer who has never even used a pos system. Dhpos works better than many "real" pos systems simply because you use some common sense and remember that its users are not computer geeks with college degrees. You have done a great job Dale keep up the good work.

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Post by IAN » Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:44 pm

well i have used several pos types in my 8 years of retail,

pros.

all i can say is for a end-line Cash Register is fully functional but has many back office system (BOS) functions you can use over the network or standalone,

the other units i used before was mainly server and clients (BOS and tills) where everything was put via the back office and tills was just a till.

cons.

all except dales software i have used was capable of hand held device input for many things such as stock receive, product stock counting.
nearly everything runs from F-keys, (might be handy if there was an action menu moving to sub menu brought up by an unused key or key-combo) eg CTRL (action menu, have all main actions) select V for voids then the number you seclect for line, transaction void etc etc

this latest units and software im using allows for gap checks (prints a report of how many of the items you got missing) and what i mentioned about loading stock then it also can be used as a backup till but thats the software in the device but still needs to be decoded by the back office.


future software addition suggestion

a way to load stock (receive program) by file so you could use a hand held terminal. (mind you one problem that would possably arise is it can only take 60 items per page) and if the item not there to give you a chance to add it in there and then while still in receive.

as i said i have used several, only 2 i have used are running dos, thats a company thats been taken over and dales.
i hope this gives a few ideas of how functional dales software is compaired to the systems i have used that large companys buy/have made for them
IAN

(Everything i say is a lie! so am i telling you the truth?)

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Post by zzzxtreme » Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:20 pm

hi i've never really tried other softwares yet

but what i like about dhpos is

1) Print to file. that helped me run printing from linux using my own bash script

2) is it dos based. so, I just have to copy the whole folder to backup everyday (to usb thumb drive). effortless

3) all are keyboard based. do u see large retail store cash register using mouse? keyboard is the way to go

ok what i want to learn now is to export files to sql, and it'll be perfect

ToPS

Re: How does it compare to real POS software.

Post by ToPS » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:14 pm

What we have to keep in mind here is that we are comparing software written by teams of professional programmers with the part time passion of one very dedicated person.

Before I got my hands on DHPOS I have tried out every single free point of sale software I could get hold of.
Some of them are so difficult to install that after days of struggling I still did not have a working program.
Others were just to to difficult to use.
I had DHPOS set up and running within 15 minutes!!

I have also tried out lots and lots of demo's of commercial software and have concluded that most software is more concerned with the accounting side of the business than with actually selling things.

In my shop we easily have 450 or more sales per cashier on a busy day - mostly very small sales but lots of them.
For us it is absolutely essential that starting and ending a sale must take as few as possible keystrokes and/or mouse clicks.
DHPOS passes this test with flying colors when compared to commercial software.

I have not come across any other software that is easier to set up, maintain and use than this little gem.

Yes, I agree that it is not perfect and I would also like to see certain features, but my biggest concern is what will happen to us very privileged Users and our shops when Dale can not or does not want to continue his great work.

ToPS

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Re:

Post by tbr1967 » Mon May 26, 2008 5:44 am

bdude wrote:CONGRATULATIONS DALE!!!

NO OTHER POS PROGRAM CAN COMPARE TO YOURS!

ESPECIALLY FOR THE PRICE WHICH IS:


FREE!
Yup! I totally agree with bdude. I have tried several other POS systems and the one easiest to use was Dale's.
Second was Volutive (http://www.binarema.com) it came close, but the simplicity of dhpos was much better than Volutive.
The others were just so complicated, and some of them did not even work!
One point though-
the thing I like about Volutive is that there are types of receipts (Invoice/delivery order/quote) and it was easy to convert between them.

WELL DONE DALE !!!

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