...COMDDAP...

Last July 2 of this year, there was a conference held at the Apo View Hotel. COMDDAP (Computer Manufacturer Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines) provides lots of seminars for the manufacturers and for the student as well. Actually, the seminars were conducted in three consecutive days.

The event started late because the seminar before the next seminar finished late. So we roamed around the booth outside the conference room and took all the flyers they are giving. What was captured my attention is the digital camera’s by the CANON company. I really wanted to have my own digital camera since that it is not that just a gadget to me but a useful gadget as well. It captures memories you know. Then there were also a huge kind of printer, though I’ve already seen one in our OJT. It is useful for engineering print outs. The other one is the POS machine or the Post on Sales. Before, I did see that one during my Jollibee days, but I really don’t know the meaning of POS, now I know. It was a POS for restaurant purpose. We had a free ballpen given by the GH Depot. There were also free accesses of internet in the hallway. We were not the only students attended the seminars. I’ve seen from UM, UIC and Ateneo de Davao University.

The first seminar was being discussed by that I have attended was being discussed by Mr. Celster Santos, a representative of the Jupiter Company which deals with the Jupiter Systems Inc. and tackles about the ERIC DMS or the Brilliant Dealer Management System. The system has its own specification. First it monitors sales executive activities, the systems also monitors the sales from initial inquiry to actual close, it also process sales quotation, it also supports sales of new and used vehicles, it also demands multiple pricing and discounting schemes, it also deals with financing and insurance transactions, the vehicle inventory, it records incident and customer resolution, it provides reports and queries, it has an interface that suits the manufacturer, it has highly graphical technician assignment and loading window, it also provides customer appointment, it has customer/vehicle service history, it has technician time-in/time-out, it has parts requisitioning, and it has control parts and consumable costs.
Actually, I really didn’t pay attention to the first seminar since it only deals with the manufacturers of cars. Since that the system are for car dealers. If he discussed the prototype of the coding of the system, maybe I would be interested. But the topic doesn’t catch up my interest. Maybe if I owned a car manufacturer company, I’d rather be interested. But somehow there were still few participants who get interested on the system. The system was nice since that it is complete and the manufacturer won’t ask for more about it. My question was, until now, is that it can be Open source? I mean, what if the manufacturer decides to create a new event to the system, does the system analysts can manipulate the system? Or what will the manufacturer have? Is it an executable file already or with codes? Well, like what I said, it is still a big question to me.

The next seminar is about the HP thin client. On which it catch up my attention since that after the seminar they will be giving prizes to those who really listened well. I have seen some thin client in a computer shop before, but HP thin client is quiet interesting and different. The thin client doesn’t have CD ROMS and hard drives. Then what was really interesting, it has 8 or 7 ports of flash drive. And not only that, it has a security for two ports. It is quiet good especially to those who forgot pulling out their USB. There were lots of advantages the thin client has. First, it has lower IT administration cost, easier to secure since it is thin, it enhanced data security, lower hardware cost since it don’t have CD ROMS and hard drives, it consume less energy, it has easier hardware failure management, worth less to most thieves since that there were no parts on it that has bigger costs, it can be operated in a hostile environment, what I remember is that it can still work within 40 degrees Celsius, it has less network bandwidth, it is usable efficiently in computing resources, it has simple hardware upgrade path, lower noise, and less hardware waste. And what was really amazing is that once it is affected with viruses, just reboot it and it will be back to normal. Isn’t that interesting? Then, the product can be put in other ways. Since it is thin. One picture they let us see is that the thin client product is put in the wall and put at the back of the monitor. Hassle free and it is not space consuming. Though the speaker really speaks fast that time, he can still attract the listeners to listen, and very well, the product is really interesting.

During this topic, I was really interested since they were giving freebies. At what I said, they will give prizes to those who listened and answer the question. And luckily, I get one of the freebies. 2 gig of data traveler flash drive. Kind of disappointed since that I really wanted to get the t-shirt. But still, I was happy for my prize. On this event, my question is how much is the prize of the product. Since that it is use as the server, is it possible to use it as a desktop system unit? Well, actually, it was being answered that it is preferable to use in a big company as a server not as a desktop computer. And like in the topic of one of my classmate in research, is it really appropriate for the University to use it? Since that we have the cost cutting scenario, would the university adopts it?

After the event, me and my friends went to Gaisano South mall for a window shopping, and went home after.