Kitkatninja Posted February 16, 2008 Posted February 16, 2008 Following on from this thread. We currently running Alice and we're thinking about either upgrading to either Eclispe .net or Oliver. Judging by what you guy's are saying, I am trying to hold off for a while. Eclispe .net wants our business, so they are doing an online demo of their .net product, however are there any schools in the Northants area that can show us a "real live" implementation of Eclispe .net. So that we can make a more imformed decision. Thanks -Ken
GrumbleDook Posted February 16, 2008 Posted February 16, 2008 They are in with my folks on Monday or Tuesday ... small world. We are also looking at Oliver to replace Alice too. I'll happily pass on the details of my NM so you can compare notes.
ZeroHour Posted February 16, 2008 Posted February 16, 2008 GD: We are finding oliver EVIL and the support is even worse.
john Posted February 16, 2008 Posted February 16, 2008 Am I spotting a pattern here with Library programs that they are all evil in a way ?!
Simcfc73 Posted February 16, 2008 Posted February 16, 2008 We've had Eclipse for 2 years and haven't gone live with it yet as the librarian is still cataloging. And she came to me and asked if we should upgrade. hahahhahahahhaha
olcinm Posted February 17, 2008 Posted February 17, 2008 Anyone seen any signs of the MLS webparts that use silverlight?
Kitkatninja Posted February 18, 2008 Author Posted February 18, 2008 They are in with my folks on Monday or Tuesday ... small world. We are also looking at Oliver to replace Alice too. I'll happily pass on the details of my NM so you can compare notes. That'd be great mate, thanks -Ken
Ric_ Posted February 18, 2008 Posted February 18, 2008 Just a note... Eclipse .NET is far from 'finished' IMHO. We have had the product since its release and things are still being worked on. I must admit that the support is very good and MLS are very receptive to suggestions. As for the web parts... I believe that they wanted over £200 for them which, in my mind, is extortionate considering how incomplete the product is and the amount of cash we have already given them!
john Posted February 19, 2008 Posted February 19, 2008 Also, isn't the maintancne on webparts near enough the same cost as the maintanace on the whole main key parts of the main eclipse program
Kitkatninja Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 Just a note... Eclipse .NET is far from 'finished' IMHO. We have had the product since its release and things are still being worked on. I must admit that the support is very good and MLS are very receptive to suggestions. As for the web parts... I believe that they wanted over £200 for them which, in my mind, is extortionate considering how incomplete the product is and the amount of cash we have already given them! When I chatted to them, it was £600 for 3 webparts. Also, isn't the maintancne on webparts near enough the same cost as the maintanace on the whole main key parts of the main eclipse program The maintenance, for the above, is £300 per year (unless I got it wrong). -ken
Ric_ Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 @wagnerk: The thing is that the product is sold as 'VLE compatible' or something to the librarians who then come to you later and you say they need to spend a further £600 plus it only integrates with sharepoint-based VLEs - we use Moodle! Overall, the piece of software is alright... I just think that webparts should be part of it if they are going to sell the software like this.
Kitkatninja Posted February 26, 2008 Author Posted February 26, 2008 @wagnerk: The thing is that the product is sold as 'VLE compatible' or something to the librarians who then come to you later and you say they need to spend a further £600 plus it only integrates with sharepoint-based VLEs - we use Moodle! Overall, the piece of software is alright... I just think that webparts should be part of it if they are going to sell the software like this. Thought as much, if you go down this route and can't afford the webparts - there's always the option to "embed" the webpage into sharepoint. -Ken
Joanne Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 we only ever hear from the librarian about eclipse when there is an upgrade to do. Alice was murder... at least once a week it went down. Go with eclipse!
mortstar Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 (edited) Which version are you using Joanne? My librarian is trying to get some money from SLG for an upgrade from Autolib. From reading a few threads I'm best off suggesting buying Eclipse 2 (Is this still possible?) over Eclipse .Net? What does Eclipse 2 not offer, the Librarian is extremely enthused with the web search, VLE integration etc. Are these .Net only possibilities? Is Eclipse2 Server/Client based? Cheers for any help Edited February 26, 2008 by mortstar
Ric_ Posted February 26, 2008 Posted February 26, 2008 @mortstar: Eclipse 2 is the standard client/server version of the software - using an Access database. IIRC ther is an Eclipse Enterprise that allows you to use a proper database. Eclipse .NET is a web-based and uses SQL as its database. It is very shiny and behaves most of the time... it just needs a little more time to mature IMHO. The web-parts are an additional component. 1
apinnard Posted April 9, 2008 Posted April 9, 2008 We have just bought Eclipse.net for our librarians. They were wowed by the online demo. Setting up is easy, migrating from Alice not so bad if you know a little of SQL. The only problem is that the current fines do not migrate from Alice. Since installing it we have noticed the following problems: - Fines are not calculated, even for new books issues AFTER the migration - Books are not recognised when scanned, the masks do not work. Apart from that it's quite a shiny system. Feel free to arrange with Aaron if you want to come and have a look. Alex
Paul_L Posted April 9, 2008 Posted April 9, 2008 My Wife is head librarian at one of our local secondary schools and upgraded to Eclipse.net about 6 months ago having used Eclipse 2 and thinking that was great. Since upgrading it has been an absolute nightmare!!!!!! Data input is the biggest issue, when cataloguing it takes anything up to 2 minutes from the point you click submit before it then allows any further action and when you get a new book order in it takes days! As to the customer support, she has always said it was really good, but now I think they are getting as fed up as she is! Not sure if this helps, sorry! PS. She would go back to Eclipse 2 without an hesitation!
Paul_L Posted April 9, 2008 Posted April 9, 2008 Since installing it we have noticed the following problems: - Fines are not calculated, even for new books issues AFTER the migration My wife (a school librarian) says she had/has a similar problem and found that it’s because of the calendar, apparently Eclipse.net every once in a while completely clears all her calendar settings and she has to go back in and set up all her weekends / bank holidays and school holidays. Hope this helps
GrumbleDook Posted April 9, 2008 Posted April 9, 2008 We have had to put the move away from Alice to Oliver or Eclipse off for a year ... limited pot and other priorities ... a shame though.
Kyle Posted April 10, 2008 Posted April 10, 2008 We looked at it but we have one final ingredient missing at the moment........................a librarian.
scotty10 Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 Our school has been trying to get Eclipse.net installed and working properly on an RM network; so far, after several weeks and many attempts, it only issues resources (Circulation) onthe server, not on the librarians' machines. (I'm one of the unfortunate librarians who has been stuck with recording hundreds and hundreds of loans manually in an A4 notebook for the last 5 weeks; we are rather fed-up to say the least....it's even more fun when you have to seach through all the previously-transcribed loans to delete them when the books get returned!) Neither Microlibrarian nor RM seem to be able to resolve this problem and we are left rueing the day we switched off Alice! Has anyone else had similar problems and been able to resolve them? Surely we are not alone in experiencing this problem... and maybe someone has a solution, other than to keep buying A4 spiral notebooks. Wonder how many notebooks you can buy for £1500?
Kitkatninja Posted October 13, 2009 Author Posted October 13, 2009 Our school has been trying to get Eclipse.net installed and working properly on an RM network; so far, after several weeks and many attempts, it only issues resources (Circulation) onthe server, not on the librarians' machines. (I'm one of the unfortunate librarians who has been stuck with recording hundreds and hundreds of loans manually in an A4 notebook for the last 5 weeks; we are rather fed-up to say the least....it's even more fun when you have to seach through all the previously-transcribed loans to delete them when the books get returned!) Neither Microlibrarian nor RM seem to be able to resolve this problem and we are left rueing the day we switched off Alice! Has anyone else had similar problems and been able to resolve them? Surely we are not alone in experiencing this problem... and maybe someone has a solution, other than to keep buying A4 spiral notebooks. Wonder how many notebooks you can buy for £1500? Just wondering, has your techies tried to install on a the librarian client software on a machine that hasn't been RM'd? This may help discover if it's a RM issue or not. -ken
scotty10 Posted October 13, 2009 Posted October 13, 2009 They said this was definitely an option but not a very acceptable one; the package we bought ought to work properly not try and settle for a 'lash-together' job with a new system! Think there were also other issues with not being on an RM machine... One or two promising developments today, maybe things are looking up?
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