[mv] Preview of Akopia Interchange

[Mike Heins <mikeh@minivend.com>]

******    message to minivend-users from Mike Heins <mikeh@minivend.com>     ******

We have decided on the name Akopia Interchange. And we have been working
hard on producing the first version.

A preview release is available at;

    ftp://ftp.minivend.com/pub/interchange/preview/interchange-4.5.3.tar.gz

	or

    http://larry.minivend.com/interchange/preview/interchange-4.5.3.tar.gz

This is a merge of the Tallyman user interface with Minivend 4. The code
base is Minivend; in theory any existing Minivend catalog should work
on it. Tallyman users will not be so lucky.

Minimate will not work in concert with the new user interface, so you
will need to remove calls to it if you want to keep your minivend.cfg
settings; also you will need to #include lib/UI/ui.cfg.

You will need a/an SQL database to get full functionality. We are working
on making it go with Minivend GDBM/Berkeley databases, and much works,
but a few things (order reports, order deletion) are not quite there.
Mysql works fine. Postgres should work too, but it is not nearly as well
tested.

You must have the Bundle::Minivend modules installed to run Interchange.
Look at the file QuickStart for installation instructions and some
roadmap information.

Highlights:

    -- Order management. Orders can be viewed, listed, deleted, and
       status changed.
    -- Customer management; customers can be edited and new orders
       /customers can be entered via admin personnel.
    -- Item editor with links to inventory and extended pricing.
    -- Merchandising interface, for updating featured products (barry
       demo only). 
    -- Order and traffic statistics.
    -- Affiliate management with reports.
    -- Page editing
    -- File transfer capabililty.
    -- Administrative users management with groups.
    -- Salestax interface.
    -- Shipping mode creation interface.
    -- Payment mode management interface.
    -- Order button builder.
    -- Search link builder.
    -- Report generator.

    Planned:
    -- Site layout manager (present but non-working).
    -- Payment system management, i.e. linking in CyberCash/Signio
       auths/batches/returns to order management screens.
    -- Affiliate menu, for checking orders/traffic, order button
       builder.

The usual alpha warnings apply:

    -- interface may change without prior notice
    -- database structure may change
    -- back up your system and all files before running
    -- don't use for production systems

Personally, I believe this is the start of taking open-source ecommerce
to the next level. 

Akopia welcomes any and all feedback -- this is best sent to
tech@akopia.com or to the list.

Best Regards,
Mike Heins
-- 
Akopia, Inc., 131 Willow Lane, Floor 2, Oxford, OH  45056
phone +1.513.523.8220 fax 7501 <heins@akopia.com>

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
-- Wernher Von Braun
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