Workgroup Messaging?

Displaying my ignorance asks: "We have a small workgroup running on Windows XP Professional; we do not have a domain server. We use Peachtree accounting software which is supposedly multi-user. Unfortunately, multi-user does not translate into allowing two people to be in the same module (i.e., accounts receivable) at the same time. Because the users are in different buildings they often crash Peachtree because they don't know that someone else is already in that module. These crashes result in the loss of data since the last backup. I am therefore trying to locate software, compatible with Windows XP, which would allow a user to create pop-up messages for display on the remote screens. It needs to be a pop-up, not just a flag in the system tray; ideally it would be a flashing neon sign which fills most of the screen [grin]. Because we do not have SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Messenger appears not to be a solution. Any suggestions?"

Comments

Jabber

[ptaff]

You could easily run a jabber client, there are free (as in beer) versions and the main server is running inside your network, so no unfortunate export of precious information.

VMware + VNC

[hey!]

Create a virtual machine for each module, e.g.

(1) AR.mygroup.mydomain.com

(2) AP.mygroup.mydomain.com

(3) GL.mygroup.mydomain.com

Install the appropriate modules and instruct users to click on the icon that will launch to that virtual machine. Watch for a few seconds, and if somebody's entering a transaction, try back later.

This should work, but it is relatively speaking a cheapskate solution.

You probably could do something with Windows Terminal Services and license management that would work more slickly, but I haven't worked much with it so I can't tell you how well they'd work. Probably better than the above solution.

Try Jabber

[Gadzinka]

I mean it. It's free, it's interoperable and it even allows you to access your buddies on different IM networks (like aim, msn, icq etc).

Go to Jabber Software Foundation and look for server that will work on your system. There are free servers for POSIX systems and I'm sure that there are at least several servers for Windows. As for clients, there are dozens clients for every major OS, and most of them have the feature to automatically popup messages on the screen. I'd suggest Psi and Miranda.

Robert