Developers unite blog

I don’t know about your country, but in mine, Malaysia, when you’re looking to buy property of any type, one of the important criteria you would want to look into is - the developer.

The project is important, but you would agree that the developer plays even a bigger role; in ensuring that you’re getting the best property deal in Malaysia.

So, you might want to read on to find out, who would be your ideal developer…

Well, basically, these are the criteria to look for:

1. Reputation and Reliability

Need I say more? You know this already, don’t you? But…

The most important thing is: How do you find out reputation and reliability of a developer, right?

Simple, just ask around residences or owners of previous property projects by your targeted developer! You should be able to get some hints from these neighborhoods.

While you’re there, open you eyes; BIG and WIDE! Observe their workmanship. Would you be happy with the quality of work that you see right before your eyes?

You can also check who their financiers are. Do they owe their contractors, vendors and suppliers? You wouldn’t want to be involve with a bad pay master, would you?

One more thing…

Find out if this is their first project? If they are not from a developer background, you should think again…

2. They should be registered under REHDA

REHDA, or the Real Estate and Housing Developer Association, is the association that keep track of a developer’s records.

Reputable property developers in Malaysia are members of REHDA… and if it is not registered… well, you know what to do, right?

3. Timeliness in Delivery and Quality

While checking out the previous projects by the developer, find out about their timeliness. Are they delaying project consistently? What is their compensation for the delay? Is the compensation fair and following the legal requirements?

4. Credibility, Management Effectiveness, After Sales Services.

These are the normal things to check. A MUST!

When you’re uncovering the background of the developer of property projects in Malaysia, find out about their credibility, their management teams and effectiveness, and what is the quality level of their services?

And now… the most outrageous criteria!

5. License!

Huh? Property developers in Malaysia MUST have a license, don’t they?

Alright, before I go about embarrassing my lovely state… let me explain:

You see, there are certain licensing requirements for properties in Malaysia. And not all property projects are necessarily regulated. Thus, there’s no pre-requisite to have a valid license for certain project types.

Property projects that requires a valid license in Malaysia are any buildings that are intended for human habitation, partly or wholly. Examples, low and medium cost apartments, condominiums, terrace houses etc.

But then again, The Minister may by notification published in the Gazette, exempt any housing developer from any or all of the provisions of the Housing Development (Control & Licensing) Act, 1966.

So, these ‘exempted’ developers may not need any license as well!

Now, you probably would be asking: What else does not require a valid license?

Here’s the loopholes…

If the developer is building less than four units; or the units are only sold after full Certificate of Fitness for Occupation has been issued. No license is required.

Besides that, any approved commercial development, no valid license are required.

Examples, service apartments, commercial buildings, shop lots, shop offices, bungalow plots and/or land, orchard land and/or agricultural land, industrial and/or factory lots, and other types of properties not specified as ‘Housing Accommodation’ under the Housing Act

Ouch!

Now, how are you going to find out about these?

Well, frankly…

Information about these are perfectly rare. You can ask even an average Malaysian, who lives her whole life here - she may not know all these either!

So, the most important task you need to do is to get hold of reliable and information-packed resources to aid your property quest in Malaysia, don’t you agree?

And the good news for you is: There’s such a material now available online for immediate download. Check out the link at my bio-data. It’s a definite valuable resource for investors in Malaysia properties.

One question I get frequently from individuals who have signed a purchase agreement for residential real estate in Florida, such as a condominium, is whether they risk being faced with a lawsuit from the developer in the event they don’t (or can’t) show up for closing. Generally speaking, the answer to this question is not necessarily a simple “yes” or “no,” but there are some key principles of Florida law to bear in mind as a way of anticipating what might happen if a buyer does not close:

1. Many purchase agreements provide that the seller is entitled to a specified amount of liquidated damages as its sole and exclusive remedy should the buyer default, i.e., fail to close. The available liquidated damages are usually established as a percentage or the entire amount of deposits which the buyer paid. Where the contract provides an exclusive liquidated damages clause, the developer is precluded from receiving specific performance of the contract, or any other remedy for that matter. See Hatcher v. Panama City Nursing Center, Inc., 461 So. 2d 288 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985).

2. It is important to bear in mind that specific performance — which means that a party is compelled by court order to go through with the terms of a contract — is itself an extraordinary remedy. As one court put it, “specific performance of a contract for sale of land will be decreed only if the contract is capable of being mutually enforced with results that are just and practical, the moving party is not guilty of laches and there is countervailing equity against him, and there is no adequate remedy at law available to him.” Hembree v. Bradley, 528 So. 2d 116, 117-18 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) (emphasis added). Accordingly, if the seller does in fact have an adequate remedy at law under the contract, then specific performance should not be available. For example, if the contract permits the seller to collect liquidated damages in the event of the buyer’s breach, then there are solid grounds for concluding that specific performance is not available, because the liquidated damages provision provides an “adequate remedy at law” to the seller — even if the liquidated damages clause is not “exclusive,” as described above in paragraph 1.

3. Buyers may have an additional defense to specific performance, especially given the current and continuing state of the housing market where mortgage financing could be very difficult or even impossible to obtain. (See, for example, the “blacklists” established by some banks for Miami condominium projects for which the banks are unwilling to extend financing.) Castigliano v. O’Connor, 911 So. 2d 145 (Fla. 3d DCA 2005) dealt with a somewhat tangled set of facts involving a condo purchase agreement, and buyers who were seeking specific performance from the seller, i.e., to require the seller to go through with closing. The court noted that, “[a]s specific performance is an equitable remedy, the purchasers should be prepared to show that it will not be unjust or oppressive on the seller to have the contract enforced,” and found that the standard was not met because “the purchasers have failed to show that a decree of specific performance would not require the seller to make extraordinary efforts or expenditures to close on the sales contract.” By analogy, the same reasoning would seem to preclude a developer from obtaining specific performance against a buyer who is no longer able to obtain a mortgage for a real estate purchase and would thus be forced to bring cash by alternative means to closing. And this reasoning would hold true even in circumstances where the contract left open, or explicitly provided for, the remedy of specific performance.

Under the foregoing principles of Florida law, an attempt by a developer to sue a purchaser in an effort to obtain remedies beyond the contract’s liquidated damages provision will ordinarily be on shaky ground, especially if the developer is seeking specific performance. This does not mean, however, that a developer may not use the threat of seeking specific performance as a tactic to coerce the buyer to close. But whether such a threat is credible and could ultimately carry the day in court depends on the facts and law.

If you are software developer or database administrator - we would like to give you the clues on Crystal Report creation for Microsoft RMSDatabase: Microsoft SQL Server or MSDE - this means that you can deploy native SQL driver for connection or use ODBC for flexibility. Tables Structure - it is extremely self-explanatory: Customer, Transaction (invoices, returns, layaways and others), TransactionAmount, Cashier, Tender to give you examples Links - Usually master table has ID column and Transaction-related table links by [Entity]ID column: Transaction.CustomerID=Customer.ID to give the idea. This query will give you customer info of sales transaction: select b.FirstName, b.LastName, a.* from [Transaction] a join Customer b on a.CustomerID=b.ID. Please pay attention to the brackets around Transaction - transaction is reserved word in MS Transact SQL - the Microsoft blend of SQL92 Hints on dataflow/synchronization - Microsoft RMS uses worksheets technology and all the data goes from stores to headquarters database through worksheets. Headquarters database doesn’t create its own transactions - so be careful and do not try this type of data integration. SQL Views and Stored Procedures - yes - feel free to create them directly in RMS Headquarters database and deploy in your Crystal Report. Advanced Techniques - in MS SQL Enterprise Manager you can create Linked Server to all ODBC/OLEDB compliant databases: Ctree, PervasiveSQL/Btrieve, MS Access, ORACLE, DB2, Unidata, Navision (C/ODBC) and using OPENROWSET construction you can create geterogeneus view and stored proc - then you can have the data from multiple systems in your Crystal Report.Happy designing and developing! if you want us to do the job or use our product - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

There are hundreds of different web developers on the internet. Many of them include amateurs, music fans, teenage entrepreneurs, and professionals. With so many competitors, it is almost impossible to stand out. However, what many beginners do not realize is that there are a set of skills that make the great ones shine. It is important to know the skills you are required to have before jumping head on into a career.

The most important quality a web developer should have is creativity and a talent for marketing. Without an imagination, an ordinary web developer will never succeed. After all, clients are looking for unique services; anything that will stand out from a competitor. It is also important to know how to market your services. With hundreds of web developers just like you on the web, you need to come up with a way to turn heads. A marketing background or talent will help you get clients and start to earn money as a developer. It is crucial to promote yourself the correct way, without spamming everyone and everything in sight.

Although creativity is important, computer training is even more crucial. A great web developer needs to have an understanding of HTML and CSS. Without this knowledge, chances are no firm or client will ever hire you. There are usually two types of web developers. The first type is computer trained and actually went to school for their knowledge. These web developers know a wide variety of programs from their computer training courses, thus making them easier to work with. On the other hand, there are also other types of web developers. These people are usually self taught and have rarely taken a computer training class.

Although most recommend that you get training, experience will sometimes justify not doing so. For instance, if you have one web developer who has the education but no clients, and another untaught developer who has had clients since he was a teenager, then the firm or company would probably choose the client with the most experience. After all, it is necessary to know how to please a customer. If you have an extensive portfolio, it is very likely that you will get hired.

While there are many different skills needed in the web developer industry, it is important to do what is best for you. If you have computer training, creativity, and are just dipping your feet into the marketing world, you will have great success. It is important to remember that everyone starts off at the bottom, thus it is okay if you do not have hundreds of clients when you start out. As long as you work hard and be prepared for difficulties, you will never have to change careers.

Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular, partly because of Microsoft muscles behind it. Now it is targeted to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. Small companies use Small Business Manager (which is based on the same technology - Great Plains Dexterity dictionary and runtime), Great Plains Standard on MSDE is for small to midsize clients, and then Great Plains serves the rest of the market up to big corporations.

If you are developer who is asked: how do we customize Great Plains with its native programming language - Great Plains Dexterity - read this and you will have the clues on where to look further.

The history of the Dexterity. Great Plains Dexterity - is proprietary programming language and technology, designed back to earlier 1990th with the goal to build platform independent graphical accounting package - Great Plains Dynamics. Dexterity itself is written in C (following popular those days hope - that C will provide platform independence). You can install Dexterity from Great Plains 7.5 CD #2. Obviously it requires a lot of learning / training, but it allows your custom piece be seamlessly integrated with Great Plains interface.

Native Dexterity Cursors. Dexterity was designed as platform independent programming language and so if you want your code to be operable on all currently supported databases - you use Dexterity ranges and loops to manipulate the records

Great Plains Dexterity with SQL Stored Procs Nowadays, most of Great Plains installations are moved to SQL Server - so you can use Dexterity for custom forms drawing only and make the buttons run SQL stored procedures.

COM Objects calls. Beginning with version 7.0 Dexterity supports COM objects - you register them as libraries in Dexterity. Refer the manual. This technique allows you to call such nice things as web services across the internet.

Dexterity Forms - if you like VBA and are comfortable to do all the business logic in VBA - you can use Dexterity as new forms creator/editor. This is OK - but you have to purchase VBA/Modifier and Customization Site Enabler from MBS.

Some restrictions. Great Plains is actually integration of multiple dictionaries: DYNAMICS.DIC, ADVSECUR.DIC, EXP1493.DIC, etc. In your Dexterity customization you can deal with one dictionary - DYNAMICS.DIC. If you need cross dictionaries customization - consider using SQL Stored Procs for crossing dictionary borders and pulling data/making changes in the other dictionary..

Happy customizing! if you want us to do the job - give us a call.

I’d like you to take some time and consider your views on life. Their views on personal development. Especially your views on education. Many of us go to school for years and during the whole of our childhood we study and we read to learn enough information to go move up to big school. Then we read and learn to pass our exams which will enable us to progress onto further education or to get a job.

Some people go to college and they will willingly study, read to learn about their chosen career, or increase their qualifications to get into university where they read and study to learn a specific career to become a doctor or whatever they have chosen to do for the rest of their lives. And at no point did they ever question the education process or the need to read and learn from those who know. How many books did you read at school? I can`t remember either but it was over 100.

However I have so many conversations with people working their J.O.B (Just Over Broke) who come and ask me questions such as “Your into personal development and your ambitious. I hate my job , I’m always broke. What shall I do?” I will coach them as a friend and I will be honest with them and tell them if they want financial success they need to read books written by successful people and work on their attitude to life. Then I will lend them a book. A book from authors like Og Mandino, Harv eker or Napoleon Hill. A book written by a multi millionaire that will teach you if applied, to become financially free. To develop the traits of the rich and the successful!

Do they read it? Not at all. I will get the book back unread and they will tell me “Its not my cup of tea”. I will try to tell them that surely working for a boss you don`t like or being broke is not your ‘cup of tea’. Surely reading one book a month is worth the price to you? One month down the road I will have the same person tell me that they are broke or sick of their job . I again tell them “You need to read the autobiographies and success books!” They tell me “They know, but it’s not their cup of tea” and they continue with their old habits still complaining and passing life by. To know and not to do is not to know .

Some of These people will spend ?40 on a pair of jeans but they wont buy 1 book a month at a cost of ?10. They can`t afford it.They will continue to moan about their lives, and I will continue to give them the same advice until they are ready to change. Is your future worth the investment of ?10 a month?

I will buy at 2-3 books a month written by successful authors to learn how to be financially successful , a good father, good husband or businessman because the investment is worth it. I write my own E-books from the lessons I have learned and continue to learn but I will always read. Because they are habits that improve my life and help me to grow.

So if you are struggling financially and having a pitty party about how bad your life is, Buy 1 less pair of jeans and buy books and read about success! Invest in yourselves!! It’s not about the cost. It’s a very small price.

Being a software developer is definitely a job which pays very well most of the time. However, at the same time it’s the kind of a job where rules of the game changes every now and then. New people who enter the field of software development often ignores this fact and quickly realizes that even though software is meant to simplify lot of tasks, developing that software itself is not an easy task. It’s important to know what makes software development so dynamic and what we need to do to survive in this field.

The world around us keeps of changing rapidly. This results in change in government policies, increase or decrease in certain demands and eventually the changes in business rules. As software is nothing but a model of the real world, it also has to change along with the change in business rules. Due to this, requirements of the software being developed changes pretty often which eventually forces developers to make changes to source codes quite frequently. While making sure that software satisfy the needs of its user, developers also have to keep themselves updated with the latest technologies.

As software technology is a growing field, there is an ongoing race of technologies in the market. According to the article “Java is becoming the new Cobol” by Bill Snyder, Java is now loosing its popularity due to the competition from other new technologies like PHP or Ruby on rails. Bill also mentions in his article that many developers feel that Java actually slows their software development process. On the other hand, the technology or language that could be used for a particular domain cannot be used for other domains. So software developers have to work hard to keep themselves updated with different technologies. If they don’t do so, then they will eventually end up loosing their jobs.

If you want to grow in your career as a software developer, you should be able to code your software such that it will be easy to modify according to the changes in its specifications. You should also know how to keep yourself updated with the new technologies and methodologies that help you in developing better software application. Regular and active participation in forums related to software development and getting involved in open source projects will help you to develop a better career as software developer.

Reference:

Java is becoming the new Cobol by Bill Snyder (http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/07/12/28/52FE-underreported-java_1.html)

Real estate lawyers take head. Waiting in the tall grass of your client’s real estate development project may be a thorny copyright issue that could cost your client all of the profit it earned on the project, and would probably buy you a serious malpractice claim.

In the course of developing a real estate project, whether it is a residential community or a commercial project, a central component of the project is the architectural plan. Unless the developer (and the developer’s counsel) are aware of how the Copyright laws affects what the developer can (and more importantly, can’t) do with the plan, the developer may find itself on the receiving end of a Copyright infringement lawsuit. Why? Because an architectural plan, as well as other architectural works, are protected under Copyright laws, and these laws govern who owns the plans and what can and can’t be done with the plan.

Scope of Protection Granted Architectural Works

In 1990, Congress enacted the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act (the “Act”). The Act increased the scope of protection architectural works are entitled to under United States Copyright laws. The Act was passed in efforts to make United States Copyright laws more compatible with the Berne Convention For The Protection of Literary And Artistic Works.

According to a report prepared by the then Register of Copyrights, pre Act copyright laws provided adequate protection for architectural blueprints, plans, drawings and models. However, the adequacy of protection under Berne Convention standards for the constructed design of architectural structures was in doubt. Although the Act, when it was in Bill form, was intended to address this perceived gap, the legislative history provides us with insight into the intended scope of protection accorded to architectural works, including blueprints and plans.

The Act amended the definition section of the Copyright Act (17 USC 101) by adding the following definition of “architectural works:”

An ‘’architectural work'’ is the design of a building as embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings. The work includes the overall form as well as the arrangement and composition of spaces and elements in the design, but does not include individual standard features.

The House Report on the Copyright Amendments Act of 1990 (which includes the Act) (the “Report”) provides a section by section analysis and discussion of the Act. In discussing the definition of architectural works, the Report identifies the elements of a protected architectural work. The Report states that “protection does not extend to individual standard features, such as common windows, doors and other stable building components.” The Report makes clear, however, that the provision is not intended to “exclude from copyright protection any individual feature that reflects the architect’s creativity.”

Commenting on the meaning of “arrangement and composition of spaces and elements in the design” the Report noted that this phrase recognizes that creativity in architecture frequently takes the form of selection, coordination or arrangement of unprotectable elements into an original, protectible whole, and that a architect may incorporate new, protectible elements into standard features that might not otherwise be protectable and create an original, protectible whole.

The Report sets out a two step analysis to be engaged in when determining the scope of protectability for an architectural work.

First, an architectural work should be examined to determine whether there are original design elements present, including overall shape and interior architecture. If such design elements are present, a second step is reached to examine whether the design elements are functionally required. If the design elements are not functionally required, the work is protectible without regard to physical or conceptual separability.

Protection would be denied for the functionally determined elements, but would be available for the nonfunctional elements. The Report states that courts must be free to decide the level and scope of protection, and evidence that there is more than one method of obtaining a given functional result may be considered in evaluating the scope of protection. The Report notes that the Act incorporates the general standards of originality applicable for all other copyrightable subject matter, and the determination of infringement is to be made according to the same standard applicable to all other forms of protected mater.

How Issues of Infringement Can Arise and How to Avoid Them

Poor planning and a lack of understanding can lead to a developer finding itself in hot water with regard to architectural plans. Just because a developer paid an architect to come up with drawings does not mean that the developer can do whatever it wants with the drawings. Granted, case law has held that in certain circumstances the developer may have an implied license to perform the acts that are the subject of the infringement suit. However, defending an infringement claim can be quite expensive. Preventing the situation from arising will be much easier on the pocketbook.

Anytime your client is working with an architect, make sure that there is an engagement letter in place and it is clear on exactly what can and can’t be done with plans or other drawings created by the architect. Also, make sure that the engagement letter is crystal clear on exactly who owns the plans. I have seen engagement letter from architects that state that the architect is the owner of the copyright in the plan and that any contributions by the developer to the plan is a work made for hire and made on the architect’s behalf. As long as the developer understands the implication of these provisions, major problems can be avoided. Representing developers, I would rather have my client own the rights to its contributions. I can just imagine the horror a developer would experience upon finding out that the architect he worked with in developing a completely unique floor plan is now selling the plans to all the other major builders in the area.

Developers can find themselves facing copyright infringement issues if they change architects mid project and continue to use the drawings created by the first architect. To preserve the right to do this, the developer should make sure that this right is specifically reserved in the engagement letter. Usually most reasonable architects will allow the developer this right in exchange for being indemnified against any claims related to work performed by the new architect.

Some engagement letters I have seen from architects allow a developer to freely reuse a plan or other drawing without having to pay a reuse fee as long as it is being used for the same development. If a developer wishes to reuse a drawing for multiple developments, the developer should bring that up as soon as possible and make sure that it finds its way into the engagement letter.

The real estate developer and his counsel should give serious consideration of how to incorporate the requirements of the Copyright laws into the company’s best practices. While hand shake deals are still commonplace in the real estate and construction industries, they just won’t cut as far as the Copyright laws are concerned.

Are you considering selling your product, or any product on line? There are many ways you can get an e-commerce store off the ground. This can be more of a dilemma than you think. This series of articles will help you decide which method is best for you.

The are three basic methods to getting started in e-commerce.

1. Using an All-In-One method (This will be discussed in part one of this series of articles)2. Hiring a website developer and webmaster to install, modify and run your e-commerce store (Which is what we will discuss in this article) 3. Doing it yourself (This will be discussed in part three of this series of articles)

While there are many more methods for starting an e-commerce store these are the three basic solutions. You can also combine some of these to suit your needs as you feel best. For instance some people may feel that they have enough technical expertise to install, set up and run their e-commerce store but will leave the design portion to a good website developer.

In this article we will look at and discuss hiring a website developer and webmaster. A website developer is a person that will design a competent and good looking website for you for a fee. Some will obtain hosting and install the software for you as well. Usually it is at this point that they hand off the website to you and thank you for giving them your business. Some people feel perfectly comfortable with this arrangement and will go on to add their products and begin to run their online business. Many, on the other hand still are not sure enough of themselves and want someone to upload their products and run their site for them. This service is usually known as a Webmaster. A Webmaster can be the same person that developed the site or can be a different person or company. The Webmaster will handle the day to day operation of your website and can do as much or as little as your contract calls out for.

You can pay a web developer/webmaster to do everything for you. This is the probably the most expensive way to go and may or may not take a long time to get up and running. For those of you who know nothing and don’t want to learn anything about selling online then this is probably going to make your online presence look professional but will be the most expensive solution you can use. A good solution for you? It could be a good solution but be aware that all of these services are VERY expensive and your online store has to make a large enough profit eventually to cover the costs of running the store. Be sure that you take all of your costs into consideration when choosing this method. It is best that you request bids from numerous freelance developers/companies because you will get a wide range of prices. It is usually best to not pick the lowest price unless all of the bids are close. This is in part due to the fact that most good developers are probably already busy. So they don’t need to low ball a bid just to get work. It is the developer that has little to no work that usually low balls the bid in hopes they get the contract. Just remember whoever you choose is going to be building the website that you want customers to visit, shop and purchase your items from. Anything less than perfect can mean the difference between poor sales and great sales.

In my half-decade plus of marketing on the net, I’ve seen my share of trouble. DDos attacks (distributed denial of service), Viruses, Forums full of trolls, software that didn’t work as advertised, tools that came with no documentation, and even less actual support. What was the one, unchanging weapon that steered me through all this? My ROCK? It was my PHP developer.

“What the heck IS a PHP developer and why do I need one?” a freshly-minted Internet Marketer might ask. PHP is an acronym that describes a type of coding language, used almost exclusively in web-based server environments called Hypertext PreProcessor. Don’t ask me why it isn’t HPP…maybe Hewlett-Packard had something to do with it? Or the SOUND of PHP is better…FUN like the old amusement park in Santa Monica, CA - POP (Pacific Ocean Park)…

PHP is a rival to the Microsoft server scripting languages such as .ASP and the .NET framework. Because PHP is open source, the development cycle is global, and occurs at a furious pace. It is not only relatively easy to learn. It’s cheap (free) and the installed base of teaching tools, tutorials, and development libraries are as extensive as the worldwide developer community.

Unless you REALLY want to take a walk down the path less traveled, and embrace a OOPL (object-orient-programming-language) such as ROR: Ruby On Rails, just find yourself a great PHP developer you can communicate effectively with and settle in for a long and profitable ride.

Two bonuses I discovered in my own developer that are often missing among the developer mindset: Graphics skill and understanding marketing logic and tactics. If your developer is “stick-figure-impaired” you might want to keep looking. If you mention the phrase 2TAS (short for two-tier-affiliate system) and they look at you like you are from some other planet, it might be time to move on.

The other really critical skill is knowing how to have one’s way with MySQL databases. PHP is just the instruction set that manipulates the data inside the database. And databases are funny animals. Get someone who isn’t afraid of them. Someone who can make them DANCE. Once these skills are manifested in a reliable member of your marketing team, all the roadblocks to success just melt away. The web morphs into an infinity of possibilities, instead of a nightmare, just waiting to happen. Your web sites, your weapons, your tactics: all get dialed up a notch…often by an order of magnitude.

One last caveat: you get what you pay for! Get someone who speaks your native language. If your project comes back with all the database tables developed in Greek, or Russian, maintaining them in-house or with a new developer is going to be impossible, or at least prohibitively expensive.