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FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions



1. Q: What happens after the first 12 months of FORESIGHT VIDEO operation?

A: All purchases of our FORESIGHT VIDEO software receive a license to operate the software for 50 years (and it will continue to operate after that). Also, all purchases receive a 12-month registration that entitles the licensee to free product support, free upgrades and free customization.

Should a user wish to continue with registration benefits, the 12-month fee is $395.00. If not, the software will continue to operate with absolutely no interuption. Should a licensee elect to re-register prior to registration expiration, we will allocate 15 months of registration for the 12- month price.

2. Q: Do you offer service 24/7?

A: Yes and No. Yes, because our internal Technical Support section is capable of resolving probably at least 98% of the problems that we see annually. Do we see a lot of problems? I probably get 1 Technical Support problem per week and rarely on a weekend.

You will note as you enter FORESIGHT VIDEO, a small "smiley face" in the upper left-hand corner with an accompanying message "Strike any key for Technical Support." Should you have a problem requiring file re-indexing or file re-construction or perhaps something more complex, this section of our program enable YOU to perform the "repair." Want our guidance? Just call and we will do all we can to resolve the issue, whether it be hardware or software-related.

Should a problem be hardware-related on equipment we did not sell, we do reserve the right to charge a fee, provided we correct the issue. An example might be something involving network setup.

3. Q: FORESIGHT VIDEO is a DOS program. Why?

A: There are many DOS or let's more accurately say text-based programs, most of which are found in the business environments. More are currently being written as one of the more popular development languages, C++, offers a text-based development route option. Windows or graphic-based (GUI - graphical user interface) programs originated with Internet and home game-based applications. By the way, text-based means the developer works with 25 rows and 80 columns, placing 1 character in each "location."

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with a GUI application, but there is also nothing fundamentally wrong with a text-based application. But there are differences. Basically, GUI gives us a different "look and feel." So, what does this really amount to?

Functionality - we have invested over 25,000 hours in the development of FORESIGHT VIDEO. Though reproducing this with a GUI interface would take less time, the time would still be quite significant. I'd suggest 3,000 + hours. All current FORESIGHT users questioned have been very vocal regarding this issue. No one wants to sacrifice functionality for merely a different look and feel. It's questionable whether a GUI interface would really improve functionality, but it would look different. So, is that really a benefit?

And yes, Windows-based software does provide you with simple data migration capture from your POS (Point-of-Sale) system to a spreadsheet or word processor, but really how many of you would use this. FORESIGHT VIDEO already has an output feature for the Movies database to "ASCII Text" (for web-site listings) which can be imported to a word processor.

Equipment - the basic advantage to the GUI "look and feel" is more information on one screen. How is this done? By using smaller character sizes (fonts or typefaces). Smaller characters have resulted in larger monitors. 14" to 15" to 17" and now 19". And these larger monitors take up more counter space, though the more expensive flat-screen LCD monitors can offset that space concern, at a disproportionate cost. Again, on counter space, many graphical-based programs are mouse-driven. This could be a at the very least, an annoyance for a retail counter. Aside from the space for the mouse (and mouse pad), their frequent replacement (or at least cleaning) could become a significant hassle.

And so, do we really need GUI? It's coming; in time we will have it, but we will not rush into it. In the meantime, you have the functionality and reliability of a robust and proven product.



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