Hi,

i would be keen to know more about this as we are in the process of putting something together here.

Thanks,

Sue Pope

-----Original Message-----
From: List for discussion of issues in museum education in the UK.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Paul Baker
Sent: 04 February 2007 17:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Computer booking system and database


Hi!

Provided you have some in-house programming expertise, I'd recommend going 
for open source software, which is probably as future-proof as anything. 
Some of the commercial database applications are excellent, but the cheap 
and easy ones in particular do have a habit of being retired by their 
manufacturers, often in favour of an expensive alternative.

There are two obvious options :

1. OpenOffice, which now has built-in database functionality.
2. MySql. For this you'd need to run a local Apache web server, writing your 
application in html and php. It involves a steepish learning curve, but it 
has great advantages if you want to network your database. You may well find 
something close to the code you need already written and freely available on 
a php source site.

Best wishes,

Paul Baker
Renaissance Musician, Instrument Maker,
Computer Maestro and lots of other things.
Diabolus in Musica and Midlands Early Music Forum
[log in to unmask]
www.diabolus.org



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Farrow, Esther" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 12:35 PM
Subject: Re: Computer booking system and database


Other museums I have worked in have used Vista (I'm pretty sure that's the 
name), not the new Microsoft but another software company (adobe?).

This email isn't particularly helpful so far I know, mainly because we have 
a similar problem here, we end up just putting things on Outlook Calendar. I 
am hoping to get a bookings system installed here too. I would be very 
interested to hear what other people suggest.

Esther

-----Original Message-----
From: List for discussion of issues in museum education in the UK.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Markland, Eleanor
Sent: 02 February 2007 11:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Computer booking system and database


Since 1996 we have been using a booking system and database designed in 
house using Filemaker Pro. It has served us well linking bookings with 
information about schools, their visits and all the figures. However it is 
now getting a bit elderly and we no longer have the skills in house to 
design a new one.

So I am look to buy a new package to replace it and wondered what other 
people were using and whether they could recommend (or warn us off) what 
they use.

Thank you

Eleanor Markland
Formal Learning Co-ordinator
Luton Museums Education Service


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