[ic] Scalability of IC

[Kevin Walsh]

> > > I have a client that wants to implement IC for their on-line retail
> > > presence.  In your opinion (experienced MV/IC users) could IC eventually
> > > be used to replace their in-house inventory system.  The current system
> > > handles around 10,000 items selling clothing to the public and
> > > wholesale.  I guess the major issue woulod be the accounting
> > > functionality that IC does/does not offer.  Would Interchange be good
> > > enough to run an entire meduim sized business on?
> > >
> > > I know this is a very vague and subjective question, but I am really
> > > just looking for thoughts.
> > >
> > No; it's not designed for that sort of thing.  You could reinvent all
> > the wheels if you want.  If you do reinvent all the wheels, you'll
> > find a web interface is too slow for real productivity.  Typically one
> > would glue IC to something designed for inventory/accounting, either
> > live or batch.
> >
> This kind of thing comes back to the Windows vs (L/U)nix thing.
>
> ** details of how outlook express apparently does the job of sendmail,
> pine and joe snipped **
>
> Unix/Linux has the philosphy of one task for one program.
>
> Trying to have IC handle all of these other functions kind of defeats all of
> this, and as you quite correctly say, would drastically slow the whole thing
> down. IC is a program for selling stuff via e-commerce. Let's stick to that
and
> continue to do that one thing very well.
>
You'd be surprised at what Interchange can do.

Take the "Freemoney" project for example (www.freemoney.org).  Freemoney
is an Interchange-based accounting system.  Interchange is not just about
E-Commerce; it can be made to do anything that needs a web-based front end.

There is an online Freemoney project demo at www.web-counting.com.
The project is still in its early days, but appears to be coming along
nicely.  I've been tracking the CVS changes for some time now.  It could,
eventually, be used to replace in-house accounting and inventory systems.

Strangely enough, SuSE sell their Linux distribution using Interchange and
Freemoney (www.suse.dk).  Red Hat may want to consider doing that at some
point. :-)

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