#Stock control software

[stocktake-online]

https://justpaste.it/5rlit

Mastering Inventory Control: The Power of Stock Management Software

Stock management software is a critical tool for businesses of all sizes and industries. It plays a pivotal role in efficiently tracking and managing inventory, ensuring that products are available when needed, and minimizing the risk of overstocking or understocking. Here's a closer look at the importance and benefits of stock management software.

[bigsnorp]

genuinely and without irony i think we need to stop calling shit neurotypical until we figure out exactly what a typical neurotype looks like. what the fuck are you people.

[apekssolutions]

Key Differences: Shopify vs WooCommerce Inventory Management

Discover the key differences between Shopify and WooCommerce inventory management with this detailed infographic. Learn which platform best suits your business needs for stock control, product tracking, and fulfillment efficiency.

[alwajeeztech]

Stock Position Report

https://alzerp.com/kb/docs/current-stock/

ALZERP’s Stock Position Report provides a real-time snapshot of inventory levels across different product categories and store locations. By offering flexible filtering options, including zero stock and sales quantity inclusion, businesses can gain valuable insights into their stock health. This data-driven report empowers informed decision-making regarding replenishment, stock optimization, and preventing stockouts. With options to export or print, the report ensures easy accessibility and sharing of inventory information.

Key Features:

Date Selection: Choose the date for which you want to generate the stock position report.

Product Filtering: Filter products by category and store location.

Zero Stock Inclusion: Option to include or exclude items with zero stock.

Sales Quantity Inclusion: Option to include sales quantity within the specified date range.

Report Format: Displays product name, quantity, and unit of measurement for each item.

Grouping: Organizes the report by warehouse for better visibility.

Export and Print: Allows exporting the report as a PDF or printing it for physical records.

[posnic]

Inventory Management

[just-your-average-cryptid]

ok I know fluff all about economics but. we really need to move away from shareholders and stocks

look at Lego. It’s privately owned, all the stock is in family/company hands, no shareholders. The bricks are made just as well, they’ve kept up good business, they’re doing great. No degrading quality or crappy tricks to increase profits, a set from the 90s will work just as well as a brand new one. Only real difference is more complex pieces (I did their monthly builds before they ended it a few years back, you can see the improvements over the years.)

now look at apple. Apple went public, they’ve got plenty of shareholders. Apple changed their charger ports to a proprietary version. Apple got rid of headphone jacks on their phones. Apple forces you to get a new phone by making apps only use newer software versions that old phones can’t get. Or just killing their battery.

yeah, these are two specific and very different companies, but the point is that businesses that answer to shareholders have to convince them to keep those shares. they want a return on their investment- line go up, more more more, bigger and better. Private companies like Lego don’t - they can keep doing the same thing forever, as long as it still works, and make small improvements along the way. You go public, you chain yourself to the infinite growth cult. And at a certain point, you’ve hit the max. There’s only so many people who need so many things. There’s only so much material to make or run things. You physically can’t keep growing forever.

now this bit is my personal opinion, but shareholders. don’t actually do anything useful. it feels like if I gave you $20 one time and then expect you to give me 0.5% of your paycheck every week after that. I didn’t do anything to help you get that money, but I gave you that $20, so I deserve it. actually, I deserve more. you need to work harder so I can get more money from you. otherwise I’ll take that $20 back, plus interest. you don’t want that, do you? no. so go do some 14-hour shifts and ignore your friends so I can get more money out of you.

you get what I mean? it’s dumb. it sounds really, really dumb.

do not explain the stock market to me I know how it works it’s still stupid

anyway

if we want to still have a livable planet and make real progress towards… anything actually beneficial to the general population and not ten guys with more money than god, we need to step away from shareholder control of businesses. it helps no one, it causes so many problems, it’s not good. deincentivize eternal growth and expansion, center people over profit. use over profit. longevity over profit. etc.

[kfcdoubledown]

I bought an 8bitdo Retro mechanical keyboard!

(Picture not mine, source from PC World.)

I wanted a plastic keyboard, I really do not actually use the knob on a Keychron board I have, it still comes in a scooped keycap profile, and it has a companion numpad with a calculator built in. Win/win/win!

This keyboard comes in four designs (not colorways, full designs) themed after the NES, the Famicom, the IBM Model M, and the Commodore 64 keyboard. The NES keycaps have multiple different fonts on them, the Famicom keycaps have Japanese sublegends, the Model M keycaps have a mock stepped Caps Lock key, and the Commodore 64 keycaps are an apparently off-the-shelf SA set from one of many, many, many keycap companies floating around China (I recognize their font and profile shape from Akko ASA keycaps and numerous other scooped profile keycap sets you can have cheaply off of Aliexpress and Amazon. Do check those out, genuinely, you'd struggle to find a bad scooped keycap set these days and I love scooped profiles over Cherry and OEM.)

The build quality of the actual keyboard itself is good, feels like a very similar plastic blend to what 8bitdo uses for its controllers like their Pro 2. Stabilizers are smooth and don't rattle, the legends on the keycaps are reasonably sharp and in NES-appropriate font, the keycaps themselves are MDA profile (I would prefer SA, but beggars can't be choosers) and are somewhat thin but still good quality, dye-sublimated PBT, no warp on the spacebar. Arrow keys are a separate color from the two tones that make up the main keycap set and made to resemble a d-pad. The keyboard itself is somewhat light, but my perception is skewed from using a metal keyboard for a long time, and this is after all a plastic shell, top-mounted keyboard. Even so I think I'll probably end up cracking open the keyboard and putting in some liquid silicone as noise-dampening and additional weight.

Two knobs control both wireless functionality and computer software volume, the wireless knob is heavy with only three options while the volume one is light with many individual steps. The volume knob can be somewhat unresponsive on individual steps. Bluetooth is very responsive and wants to pair with my computer the moment it's flicked over to, and 2.4ghz wireless comes with a receiver that slots into the back of the keyboard magnetically for storage. A power light on the right of the keyboard mimics the NES power light and pulses while charging, is steady while using wireless or when fully charged and connected over USB.

The underlying PCB is south-facing hotswap sockets (who the hell cares their orientation, this only matters for lighting, which this keyboard doesn't have). By default the keyboard comes with Kailh box whites, a very light clicky switch. I yanked them out immediately and put Boba U4T tactiles in because they're the king of all switches. They thunk nicely in this chassis, the Kailh whites weren't slouches either, they did pick a good stock choice for switch without resorting to Gateron or Outemu blue horseshit.

The NES version of the keyboard came with a two-button macro pad that hooks over TRRS cable (you recognize it as a 3.5mm jack or headphone cable) to one of four ports on the top-right of the keyboard. These are essentially just two keyboard switches with giant keycaps on a separate board and the buttons are populated by Gateron greens. The switches are nowhere close to heavy enough to approximate a button, and I gave them Kailh box navies. Still not enough, but better.

These keyboards also come wiiiiiith a companion number pad!

(Picture credit the 8bitdo store.)

While I don't actually have this one in hand just yet I do have it on order. It looks like it'll be about the same build quality as the main keyboard, and it caught my eye for four reasons and ended up making me purchase the full set as a result:

The numpad has a built in calculator.

Same aesthetic choices as the main keyboard (NES, Famicom, IBM Model M, Commodore 64)

Magnetically attaches to the right side of the keyboard to transform it into a more era appropriate full-size.

Far and away the cheapest wireless mechanical numpad with calculator on the market, sitting at $45.

An important note though is that the Famicom and NES keypads don't attach to their respective keyboards, simply because their respective keyboards don't have magnets inside the sides of the chassis to allow for it. I have some cheap button magnets laying around that I'll use for this purpose and probably see if they're strong enough to be placed on the inside of the board and allow for the numpad to connect to it. I also imagine there's going to be a repop or v2 of this keyboard in the future that has this done already, seeing as the Commodore 64 version of the board and I believe the Model M version of the board already have that.

I'll reblog this and give some actual definitive thoughts on the numpad once it's in my hands.

As far as the board itself is concerned, I quite like it. The keycap profile is agreeable, the nostalgia pandering targeted me with laser precision, the board sounds quite good acoustically (especially for being a top-mount keyboard!) and it has a volume knob I'll see if I can reprogram some day. While I normally hate TKL layouts, I'm putting up with it because it will eventually be a fullsize with the numpad. Worth $150 total? Don't know, can't answer that for you, it's worth it to me but I very specifically wanted a keyboard themed after an old Nintendo console with no setup required and no chasing down or commissioning GMK keycap sets. I also wanted a calculator numpad.

[stocktake-online]

Managing Inventory On-the-Go Along With More Software Benefits

In today's fast-paced business landscape, the ability to manage inventory on-the-go is becoming increasingly crucial. Fortunately, advancements in technology have led to the development of software solutions that empower businesses to monitor and control their inventory anytime, anywhere. This mobile accessibility comes with a range of benefits that extend beyond mere convenience.

[miscling]

drone antiviral software program, drone 🤝 tickling play thoughts

so it's time for your drone's regular antiviral sweep. you know how it is, they connect to the internet and it picks up all kinds of things like bugs and kinks, such as the tickling virus. this guide will show you how to treat this virus.

put your drone into safe mode and get it comfortable. adhere to strict safety procedures during this process.

tie them down for this process! you never know how a virus might lash out at its impending erasure. cuffs may be enough but this guide recommends stocks and as many straps as possible. relying on disconnecting motor control programs is not recommended: malware may seize control of systems during this process.

install the antiviral program now. instructions for use: the antiviral program will spread throughout the drone's body, attaching itself to malware in its system. when affected areas that the drone feels a desire to have tickled are then tickled by the handler the program will erase said malware. a handler may use a variety of tools to achieve this goal: fingers will suffice, though you may also use a variety of brushes and implements designed for the process.

this may result in erratic movements from the drone, hence earlier safety procedures. its limbs may move on their own accord and it may make verbal noises similar to human laughter or arousal. be sure to tickle every part of the drone's chassis to ensure a clean sweep. failure to do so may require repeated applications of the process. some tickling virus malware that causes said reactions are especially hard to remove, so continue until drone unit ceases to maintain function, or schedule regular antiviral sweeps.

once the process is complete, reboot your drone unit or take advantage of root access to install new programming. the reboot process may take some time as the drone unit recalibrates its movement and purges lingering motor control errors, through which you may remove the drone unit's restraints and cradle it until the start-up process is complete. see to your unit's coolant needs, as this process can heat up the unit quickly.

once rebooted, the process is complete!

[banji-effect]

These guys saw Blade Runner once as impressionable children and thought, "This all sounds like a good basis for a political system"

Yarvin seeks to reengineer governments by breaking them up into smaller entities called “patchworks,” which would be controlled by tech corporations. “The basic idea of Patchwork is that, as the crappy governments we inherited from history are smashed, they should be replaced by a global spiderweb of tens, even hundreds, of thousands of sovereign and independent mini-countries, each governed by its own joint-stock corporation without regard to the residents’ opinions,” he wrote in Patchwork: A Political System for the 21st Century. Each patchwork would be ruled by a “realm”: a corporation with absolute power. Citizens would be free to move, but every other realm would also be ruled by corporate governments with chilling impunity. For example, Yarvin says the tech overlords of the San Francisco realm could arbitrarily decide to cut off its citizens’ hands with no fear of legal consequences—because they’re a sovereign power, beholden to no federal government or laws. The realm, having sovereign power, can compel the resident to comply with all promises. Since San Francisco is not an Islamic state, it does not ask its residents to agree that their hand will be cut off if they steal. But it could. And San Francisco, likewise, can promise not to cut off its residents’ hands until it is blue in the face—but, since it is a sovereign state, no one can enforce this promise against it. In “Friscorp,” as Yarvin calls the San Francisco realm, an all-seeing Orwellian surveillance system would enforce public safety: “All residents, even temporary visitors, carry an ID card with RFID response. All are genotyped and iris-scanned. Public places and transportation systems track everyone. Security cameras are ubiquitous. Every car knows where it is, and who is sitting in it, and tells the authorities both.”

Like, the hard-on for authoritarianism, the violent fantasies, yadda yadda, but what really gets me is the unoriginality... Ripping off Philip K. Dick's paranoid delusions and pretending it's some kind of noble philosophy. Pathetic

[apekssolutions]

Boost Profits with Cutting-Edge Inventory Management Software!

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Free Trial Available!

[secretgamergirl]

I hate Steam, and it's weird that you don't.

Easily, hands down, the single worst piece of software I have ever had on any computer is Steam, the game shopping/library/I-guess-social-media-app? from Valve that I'm fairly certain anyone who has ever used a personal computer to play a video game within the past, what, 20 years or so, is quite familiar with. It's ubiquitous. People have a level of affection for it they get kinda frighteningly weird about. But it is honestly JUST THE WORST, and I'm going to ramble about why for a good bit under the fold here.

I hate Steam as a store.

Primarily, Steam is a storefront. If I want to purchase a game to play on my computer I can, and often have to, either launch this here app or use the same credentials on a website, where I can fill in my credit card info and, one would assume, get a copy a game I can then install and play. But uh... while this is nowhere near the top of my personal list of issues with Steam, it is worth noting that that is not actually the nature of such a transaction, really.

What I am really paying for, in practice, is for whatever game it is to be "activated in my Steam library." That means I can then open the Steam app, pick that game off a list, and click a download button, which WILL grab all of that game's files from a server and copy them onto my computer, but not in the form of an executable application I can move around and properly back up and launch on its own. Rather, what I have downloaded is a plug-in for the Steam app that will let me launch that game from within the Steam app, if the Steam app is currently connected to the internet and having a good day. In every other context where any other piece of software pulls that kind of crap, everyone quite rightfully throws a fit over it, and frequently will outright refuse. Sometimes things go to court over companies insisting on this weird level of control and spying over the files people have on their own computers. I have plenty to get into about this later, but I'm still not done griping about Steam as a store.

Because see, sometimes, exchanging money for a game to be activated in a steam library doesn't even work. For whatever reason that I'm sure makes sense to someone's accountant, activation of a game in a steam library is based on the use of I want to say 16 character unique "activation keys," and sometimes they run out. Admittedly this issue comes up more frequently when I am acquiring a game from somewhere other than steam- a giveaway the developer is running, buying something from the Humble store and getting a steam key from them instead of a direct download, backing something on kickstarter, whatever. But PRETTY FREQUENTLY, I give someone my money, and in return I get a little notification that "Steam keys for this product are not in stock." I don't get my money back. I don't get some kind of gift card to use on something else. I just get, "welp, sorry! We don't actually have the thing you paid for available! Check back sometime later and we might?" And the operative word there is might. There are games I've paid for whose keys have been out of stock for YEARS. Oh and sometimes, those keys expire! I pay money for a game, get what is essentially a tag to take up to the front counter, and if I don't get on that, someone just pockets my money and I get nothing. Sometimes this happens THE DAY I PURCHASE IT. Sometimes THE DAY BEFORE I PURCHASE IT. No warning up front.

So, OK. Surely though there is some upside to this weird key tracking setup, right? Like if I somehow get into a situation where I have a key for a game that I already own (perhaps it's my birthday, and two people both decided to gift me the same game that I had on my wishlist). I have the one activated copy. I put in this second code and... here's a message that I already have this. Oh well OK. Will you refund me for the key then? No. ... can I pass the key along to someone else who also wants that game? I believe it depends, but the answer is at least sometimes no. Especially if there's some sort of sale or bundle involved, no splitting those keys up between several people, arbitrarily. Steam is all too happy to just take your money in these sorts of situations and give you nothing in return. Hell, I can think of at least 3 or 4 instances when I have ended up with an activation key or an on-site sales button for a game with various DLC expansions included, and because I already owned the base game, I was unable to activate this extra copy with the DLC included. No DLC for me, no refund.

Those pretty serious issues aside, it's just... really badly laid out and run as a store. Plenty of people will gripe about how hard it is to find something, or how there will just be a weird mix of porn and shovelware (often describing the same game) on the front page, but even just working out what you're buying or what a sale covers is kind of a confusing mess? Like right now, going to the front page, here's a big Wales Interactive sale. Let's just click through that and... OK what the hell is this complete mess? Don't judge me if you see "in library" on garbage by the way, it was all blind box bundle stuff. Anyway right at the top of this special dedicated sale page we've got

OK the one horror thing is 25% off... or 27% off with its DLC. The other is 81% off. Let me just scroll down more though...

OK so wait the one game they're really pushing the hardest here has a deluxe edition, an ultimate edition, and a collector's edition. All on sale, I think all with the DLC bundled in... and like, this version here is "-20% -33% so $51.66" and this other version which comes bundled with a whole other game is "-10% -58% $21.14" What are we even trying to convey? In what world would the former be a good deal? And those FMV bundles are similarly confusing. Well, let me just click through and see if it's clearer looking at just this one game and see if that clears it up?

No! Somehow this is even more confusing! I can however apparently buy just this game, if I were inclined, for MORE MONEY than buying this game bundled with this other game I already own. Why? How? Or if I want the DLC, I can get it with all the DLC for $50, OR I can get it with all the DLC for $30? Again, I am just incredibly confused, and glad I really don't have any desire to own this and don't need to care.

I will say though that the first time I ever purchased anything from Steam it was when they were running a sale like this on the Oddworld games. The confusing as hell bundle buttons and redirects and such set up a world wherein I had the option of getting literally every Oddworld game to date (this was before New and Tasty was a thing) for $25 OR I could get a bundle of every game except for Munch's Oddysee... the one game I had never had a chance to play before... plus those were uh... older buggier PC ports apparently. Anyway something bugged out in the cart, I had two identical things in there, just listed as "Oddworld..." and I end up charged for the.... objectively terrible option instead of literally that plus a whole other game.

So you know, IMMEDIATELY, when I see the full list of what I'm actually getting for the first time after hitting confirm, I see something went wrong, and promptly set about trying to cancel that/order the correct thing/get hold of some tech support person because hey what the hell? Now with LITERALLY ANY OTHER STORE, this would get taken care of immediately. Online, brick and mortar, whatever. In person? "Hey, I gave you the money for these 5 things, you only put 4 of them in my bag." "Oh sorry, here you go!" or "Hey the wrong thing was on the shelf" or "hey this literally wasn't in the box" these get sorted. I've had online stores literally send me completely the wrong order, got that sorted out. I've ordered clothes that didn't fit, they refunded me and didn't even want me sending the baby-sized one back. I once had a weird collision where a friend bought me a whole huge pricy bundle of games and software from itch.io, because she had contributed to it and wanted to share, meanwhile I bought it myself for the same reason. One quick support e-mail and I got them to send HER a refund, like within 5 minutes. Steam though? It has literally been a decade now, multiple support tickets, I still don't have my collection, no refund, nothing.

And you know just sticking with this a moment... appeasing customers upset about this sort of thing is kinda the one thing stores are for. If something is on sale in a store for $50, that store paid somewhere between $5 and $25 for that to whoever supplied it to them. When I buy it, I am forwarding along that small percentage of the price to the people who actually made the thing, and the rest of the money I am forking over is me paying the store for the service of making this a low stress low headache situation. Functionally that means I am buying insurance against random weird issues like... paying for something and not getting it. It happens rarely enough that the store still profits, but sometimes yeah you just give an angry customer whatever the hell they're haranguing you about, even if you're confused about what their deal is, so they don't spend the next decade griping to everyone about how terrible your store is to anyone who will listen and swear off ever shopping there again. Especially if they have a paper trail on how you didn't give them what they were attempting to buy. But anyway, moving on to the next problem.

Wait no! One more thing! It is SHOCKINGLY DIFFICULT to do gift shopping on steam! If I set up a wishlist, nobody can see it unless they're friends with me, and even then it's kinda weirdly buried in submenus to a point where I always need to search up a guide on how to even find it. And you'd think there'd be some option to just like... buy one of these keys everything is using for a game, and mail it to someone as a surprise gift, but nope. Not an option. Everything about buying a game for a friend or relative is like pulling teeth. In the store for buying games.

I hate Steam as a launcher app.

There is really no reason for launcher apps to exist. We are all perfectly capable of, say, putting all of our games into a nice little "Games" directory on our computer and setting a nice shortcut to that or whatever other little organizational things we might want to do. I will grant that just freaking displaying a directory is something Windows in particular is weirdly bad at, but it does a better job than Steam does. Just opening this window with a list of games requires a weird amount of startup, possibly a login, it puts a shocking load on processor and ram. It opens a big annoying pop-up ad. It signs me into a messenger app I'm never going to use. And when I'm done with it, attempting to close it out like any other piece of software on my computer just straight up does not work. In theory if I formally "Exit Steam" from a drop-down it will cleanly quit, but sometimes I forget, and I swear, sometimes that doesn't do the trick, and while it certainly looks like Steam isn't open from a glance at my taskbar, if I open up my task manager, here's like... 5 separate running instances of something called "Steam Web Helper" and one of them is eating AN ENTIRE FREAKING GIG of RAM! It is absolutely absurd for anything to ever be doing that. The only other thing I have that eats RAM that absurdly is my web browser, where I have like 200 tabs open across 20 windows at any given time, all loaded up with gross bloated sphagetti scripts instead of functional code. But it's not like this Steam web helper is secretly a web-browser opening pages up for every game in my library or anything right?

... no apparently that's what it is. Yeah all those screenshots, trailers, reviews, "community content" sections full of creepy fan art and Russian youtube LPs of games that load up in a full page splash zone when you're just trying to click the name of a game off a simple text list and hit launch are secretly a big web page we're quietly launching an invisible web browser to load up. And hey, even if you don't have that window open, it's still loaded. And even if you go mess with preferences and ask not to be spammed with all this stuff, it's still loaded. And even if you try to keep steam closed at all times to avoid the whole mess, it really likes to worm its way in to load on boot up and also update itself whenever it feels like it.

And hey! Speaking of updates! The real reason the steam launcher even exists of course is to serve as super aggressive DRM (the sort where even if you have single player games locally "installed," you can't play them if you are offline or otherwise unable to connect to Steams servers, and to spam you with those pop-up ads, but the sales pitch to keep you from just treating the whole thing as gross malware is that there is some convenience here. Doesn't matter if you have 10 computers scattered about, Steam will keep your favorite games all ready to go and fully up to date and cloud sync saved data between them so they can be loaded up at the touch of a button!

Well that end of things straight up sucks. I am inherently distrustful of automated updates in general. I tend to hit a version of a given piece of software I like, and from there on any further updates can only make it worse. Also, I like to have total control of when my bandwidth is being hogged. I don't want to be streaming a movie, or hosting a stream on twitch, and have oh... Steam, let's say, decide that 100% of my bandwidth is needed RIGHT THIS MINUTE, because there was a 30 gig update for I dunno, Granny Simulator. But... Steam feels differently, and will absolutely queue that up. Even after I dug through preferences looking for a way to disable that. Even when I don't have the game in question installed, and haven't had it installed for years, if ever. Aside from the serious bandwidth issue, I constantly find myself mysteriously out of disk space because Steam decided it was time to download a huge patch for some game or other I've never even touched, and I just have to go through like I'm hunting for mushrooms in a basement or something finding these unwanted games.

And it doesn't even really keep them up to date! I end up with games that are "fully installed and ready to launch" but when I try, I have to sit there for upwards of multiple hours after hitting launch buttons because oh, the installation process forgot that every game for some baffling reason needs its own personal copy of DirectX and 20 other software dependencies, and it just didn't feel like running the installers for those when installing the game.

The worst part though is the damn cloud sync saves. I have absolutely lost count of how many dozens or hundreds of times I have completely lost all save data for a game because some cloud sync failed, or an automatic update corrupted save files. Or less damaging but still quite annoying, I've lost my connection to steam while playing a game, causing my local save to be more up to date than the version stored on a server, and Steam's answer to that is TOO FREAKIN' BAD! There is, to my knowledge, absolutely no way to push a save file to the cloud by hand. It is always considered the master copy, and if it's out of date or corrupted, oh well. I didn't ask for this, I'm always playing on my one desktop, but I just gotta deal.

I... greatly dislike Steam as a compatibility layer.

So the thing with Steam and the separate copy of DirectX for every individual game is that IN THEORY, Steam does a lot of handy things behind the scenes to get older games to work smoothly on modern hardware. And it... often does a kind of OK job at that? I put it through its paces on that front more than most people do, streaming my whole library, which includes some 20 or 30 year old games, but... most of those are from modern promotions explicitly linked to Steam so you'd think those would all be guaranteed to... run, at all. Hopefully not too many would have terrible interactions with the resolution on my monitor. DOS games in particular tend to really suck through Steam. There's a one size fits all DOSBox solution, but... it's an old buggy version of DOSBox, and if I could just manually launch a more current and nicely customized one and run these things through that, and not have it, you know, completely break should I alt-tab away, that'd be nice. But I can't. Because aggressive DRM.

I hate Steam as a social media... thing.

Back at the dawn of time, I like a lot of other people made the mistake of picking AOL as an internet service provider. Everything about this was absolutely miserable, except for the whole Instant Messenger thing. That was a nice way to stay in touch with people that I used for many many years... and the reason I used it for many many years was that it was available as a small lightweight independent program I could still use for decades past when I swore off AOL forever. Steam has a little chat thing, but... it does not have that very important feature. I can't access my steam friends chat deal unless I am actively running this awful piece of software that eats more than half my RAM and fills my hard drive with garbage. And also, you know, I have multiple other ways to keep in touch with people. If I did use it though, I'd hate the UI. And I hate how you have to cut through it half the time to invite a friend to play a multiplayer game.

Beyond that, Steam has all this "community" stuff where... again, unless I actively disable it, I'm bombarded with weird LPs and fan art and this whole baffling ecosystem of neo-nazis spamming negative reviews at everything not staring a white guy and... reviewing each other's reviews like some kind of weird reddit gold system? Totally burying any useful information, and also throwing "user tags" on games destroying any sort of usable organizational info. And then there's trading cards? I've never understood what those are about. It all just seems terrible, and I want to be rid of it, and it definitely enables all kinds of horrible stalking, too.

I hate Steam as... you know, a general vestige of horrible capitalistic crap?

While Steam isn't the ONLY game in town as far as a store you can buy games from, it has enough of a stranglehold on things, and this weird cult-like following of people who I guess missed out on the whole 16-bit console wars thing and are hellbent on recreating it with... what stores people shop at. So there's a lot of baseline stupidity and aggressive weirdos from that, but also, as a developer, you really can't afford not to put stuff in the Steam store, which as I understand it is the absolute worst deal financially for any possible place you can sell a game these days, and forces developers to eat the loss with the constant weirdly advertised sales. Plus, you know, I personally have like... two or three thousand games right now which I can ONLY run if I have Steam going. Eventually it's going down and taking all those with them. Any unilateral policy changes Steam makes, we're all stuck with. Games get pulled without warning or recourse. Hell, game developers get snatched up by Valve on the promise of getting their stuff published and getting relocated to... maintenance projects on Steam with their projects killed. So that all sucks.

But again, mostly I hate the bloated malware aspect and them stiffing me on a game a decade ago. And it's weird that everyone seems to just give them infinite free passes on all this stuff while harping on anyone else they see doing similar stuff.

[alwajeeztech]

Stock Valuation Reports (Current Stock With Price)

ALZERP’s Stock Valuation Report provides a comprehensive analysis of inventory value based on various valuation methods. By calculating stock quantities and their corresponding monetary values, businesses can make informed decisions related to finance, inventory management, and overall business strategy.

Key Features:

Valuation Methods: Offers multiple valuation methods (unit purchase cost, unit sales price, accounting value) to assess inventory value.

Product and Warehouse Filtering: Allows users to select specific products or warehouses for valuation.

Date Selection: Determines the date for which the stock valuation is calculated.

Report Format: Displays product name, quantity, unit of measurement, unit price, and total value.

Export and Print: Enables exporting and printing the report for further use.

https://alzerp.com/kb/docs/current-stock-with-price/

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-Fi Prompt from 200002:

As an engineering person who has to interact with business/accounting people more often, what are the basics you need to know/understand? Especially for projects. Sometimes I feel like they are talking in a different language.

I found this a little vague, but here we go:

One of the processes a business student is taught is generally how to do large-scale project scheduling. What they see as a necessary deadline often works on different principles entirely than what the production teams (whether engineering, manufacturing, animating, or what have you) are looking at. If you find yourself regularly talking at cross purposes, ask what's in the schedule that's got this set. Accounting or management are much more likely to have knowledge of something you may not have known to take into account, like customs paperwork or legal fees that can only be submitted after a certain point in the project.

Credit and Debit are not what you think they are. They are accounting terms that track the money that comes into the company, money that goes out, and debts incurred. I wouldn't recommend trying to learn more details than that, because it's honestly a headache.

Accounts Receivable tracks money that comes in. Accounts Payable tracks money that goes out.

Accrued Expenses: an expense that has been incurred but not yet paid (basically: invoices you owe)

Depreciation: the loss of value that comes with time and use (think of how your car or laptop loses value when it's not the newest, unused thing in the market)

Revenue: the money that comes in as a direct result of goods sold

Profit: the money left after removing all expenses (supplies, rent, wages, etc.) If a product is sold for five dollars (revenue), and the expense per unit is four dollars, the profit is one dollar.

Margin: the profit in relation to revenue, expressed as a percentage. If the revenue is five dollars, and the profit is one dollar, then the margin is 20%.

Simple interest: increase in debt is based entirely on the original loan amount (the principal of the loan) Compound interest: increase in a loan changes based on the debt quantity at the start of a given period (quarterly, monthly, etc)

Dividends: On a regular basis, investors (people who own stock) are paid a certain amount of money as compensation for owning stock, having paid money to the company to invest at some prior point. This one of the three reasons people buy stock. The others are capital gain, which is the earnings gained when selling stocks after a rise in value, and gaining voting shares to influence the direction of the company (this is what people refer to when talking about controlling interest).

Overhead: Expenses of the business that are not direct, per unit elements of the production. Raw materials and factory worker wages are not overhead. Pretty much everything else is. This includes: company rent, debt repayment, accounting software costs, payroll costs, utilities, equipment maintenance, corporate taxes, certificate fees, advertising costs, and the wages of people who are not directly involved in manufacturing (e.g. R&D, payroll, HR, sales department, and so on).

[beatupoldpickuptruck]

Just in case you were wondering

Big city area where I live;

(All Numbers pulled off indeed)

Waitress @ Red Robin : $73k/yr + benefits and tips

Front Desk Secretary @ Bank : $54k/yr + benefits

Warehouse: $34k/yr - no benefits

And I know you're like what the fuck already but get this one;

Police officer; $28k/yr + benefits + douchebags

But get this, this is the real kicker;

Frontend (make buttons, sliders, menus) Programmer / Developer : $112k/yr + benefits

Ok the button guy makes as much as 4 cops - cool. So what, you all ask me, a beatupoldpickuptruck.

Here's some more jokes;

Director @ Trust Fund $85k/yr + benefits

Chief of Police @ (Precinct) $65k/yr + benefits

National Parks Service Ranger: $32k/yr no benefits

Backend (math, computation, everything not user facing in software) programmer / dev;

*drumroll*

$184,650/year + benefits + STOCK.

SO 👉👉 if you wanna *fight the bourgeois* or *overthrow the patriarchy* or get rich so you can buy your dream cottagecore tiny home, or buy a private island to build an entirely Wicca society, whatever you want

you should probably learn to code.

Specially since them daggum learning machines are getting so good at art and writing that sometimes you can't even tell the difference?

Only way to sieze control of the levers of power are to become the controllers of the sources of that power.

Wrench away the machines from the evil doers and capitalists

Let free your creativity on the canvas of virtual machines

Set yourself free, wielding knowledge as your sword.

Then no one can disarm you.

But that's just what this beatupoldpickuptruck thinks of things, don't pay me no mind, children.