What species of IT bod do I need

[rustybin]

I am currently looking into a new business idea that requires a technical manual that would be sold on disc and needs piracy protection and that can run independently or be run whilst linked to similar looking web content and a supporting web site

I need a techy type to initially just run through the plan with to make sure it is feasible and assist with intial costing and then will need to establish a permanent relationship to design and develop further products and maintain the web side of things.

Problem is I have no idea which skill set I am looking for in this person/company. All the IT services type web sites I have found seem to assume you know the specific species of bod you require and the appropriate set of TLA's.

Sorry it is a bit vague but I don't want to go into to huge detail as to the product as someone who knows what they are doing can then do it quicker than me.

Any advice much appreciated.

[miniman]

Give me a call if you like - mail me for number. I have sold exactly the same product to multiple blue chips (aerospace / automotive / agriculture / utilities etc.)

There are many systems out there that do what you're talking about. Don't want to piss on your fire or anything, but you need to know what the competition is!

>> Edited by miniman on Friday 25th February 07:54

[egoboss]

rustybin said:

I am currently looking into a new business idea that requires a technical manual that would be sold on disc and needs piracy protection and that can run independently or be run whilst linked to similar looking web content and a supporting web site .

i'd have thought adobe would be worth looking at. very powerful tool. try and locate a local adobe guru via the adobe network - www.adobe.co.uk

ttfn

[rustybin]

miniman said:

Give me a call if you like - I have sold exactly the same product to multiple blue chips (aerospace / automotive / agriculture / utilities etc.) There are many systems out there that do what you're talking about. Don't want to piss on your fire or anything, but you need to know what the competition is!

Thanks Miniman for a very kind offer. The product would not be the system but the content. I am assuming you are refering to the LinkOne system?

Incidentally, I have made a note of your number just in case you want to remove it.

>> Edited by rustybin on Thursday 24th February 18:51

[arcturus]

I'll second Acrobat. We use it to publish manuals and it can be made as secure as you need it to be. You can even specify that end users can't even print it if you want, even though they are looking at it on the screen.

[Road_Terrorist]

arcturus said:

I'll second Acrobat. We use it to publish manuals and it can be made as secure as you need it to be. You can even specify that end users can't even print it if you want, even though they are looking at it on the screen.

and bloody annoying that is too....

[miniman]

rustybin said:

Thanks Miniman for a very kind offer. The product would not be the system but the content. I am assuming you are refering to the LinkOne system?

Correct, I have been working with LinkOne for nearly 10 years and it is IMHO the best solution out there. Would be very interested in hearing your plans under a confidentiality agreement if necessary.

Cheers...

[miniman]

arcturus said:

I'll second Acrobat. We use it to publish manuals and it can be made as secure as you need it to be. You can even specify that end users can't even print it if you want, even though they are looking at it on the screen.

Acrobat is very weak when it comes to inter-document linking. The basic problem is that you link to a page number within a document. If you subsequently add a few pages before the page you are linking to, the links can go to crap very easily. You are also somewhat limited on ERP / e-Commerce integration without significant "clever stuff" being done.

[fieldl]

arcturus said:

I'll second Acrobat. We use it to publish manuals and it can be made as secure as you need it to be. You can even specify that end users can't even print it if you want, even though they are looking at it on the screen.

I wouldn't bank my future on the security of PDF documents. There are tools available to break these settings fairly easily IIRC. Unless you are using 3rd party software which has varying levels of security.

[simpo two]

arcturus said:

I'll second Acrobat. We use it to publish manuals and it can be made as secure as you need it to be. You can even specify that end users can't even print it if you want, even though they are looking at it on the screen.

1) screen grab 2) get a camera and photograph the fecker!

[rustybin]

I would actually want the user to able to print. What I don't want is someone to be able to just copy the CD.

Miniman, I will try and get a precis of the idea over to you (mail via your profile?) in the next couple of days (Fee paying work is getting in the way of interesting stuff unfortunately). I would be very interested in your views.

[miniman]

rustybin said:

I would actually want the user to able to print. What I don't want is someone to be able to just copy the CD. Miniman, I will try and get a precis of the idea over to you (mail via your profile?) in the next couple of days (Fee paying work is getting in the way of interesting stuff unfortunately). I would be very interested in your views.

Sure, via profile or james (at) infinno.com.

Getting the CD to run only on one PC is normally done through either a hardware / OS generated id number which converts to a unique licence key or via web activation. You have to balance the benefit of total security against the administrative headache of managing separate licences for multiple users.