DEV Community: MIDAS

Improved Device Detection

MIDAS — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:46:00 +0000

Whenever your user account is logged into from a new or unfamiliar device, MIDAS can automatically alert you by email. This additional security feature helps keep your account secure by alerting you to suspicious logins. An unfamiliar login notification includes details of the browser, operating system, IP address, and – with our optional Geolocation addon – location, of the device that’s just logged into your account.

Until now, MIDAS has been unable to distinguish between more recent operating system versions. For example, between Windows 10 and Windows 11, or between MacOS Ventura and Sonoma.

This is because MIDAS has relied on the “User Agent” (UA) string that’s presented by the browser that’s logging in.

Here’s an example of a browser’s “User Agent” string presented to a web server:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/123.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

There’s a lot of information there, but essentially, from this string MIDAS can derive that it’s a Windows (64 bit) device, and the browser is Google Chrome 123.

Here’s another example:

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:124.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/124.0

From this, MIDAS can derive that it’s a macOS device, and the browser is Firefox 124.

But wait… can’t MIDAS also determine the exact version of the operating system from these UA strings?

Mac OS X 10.15…. Catalina? …Big Sur? …Monterey? …Ventura?

Doesn’t “Mac OS X 10.15” imply macOS Catalina? ..and doesn’t “Windows NT 10.0” imply Windows 10?

Well, that used to be the case, but not any more!

Modern browsers now “clamp” the versions of more recent macOS/Windows operating systems reported by the User Agent string. For macOS operating systems, the User Agent string will report a maximum of macOS X 10.15. For Windows operating systems, a maximum of Windows 10 will be reported. Browsers no longer natively report the specific version of the operating system they’re running on.

This means that a Chrome browser running on either Windows 10 or Windows 11 will report “Windows NT 10.0”. Similarly, macOS Catalina (10.15), Big Sur (11), Monterey (12), Ventura (13), and Sonoma (14), will all report “Mac OS X 10.15”.

So Windows 10 and 11 are the same then?

In an effort to improve user privacy, browsers have decided to no longer reveal the specific operating system version a user is using when visiting a website, in order to make it harder for websites to “fingerprint” users.

“Fingerprinting” is a technique that some websites employ to uniquely identify and potentially track visitors.

So because of these changes to the way browsers report User Agent strings, it’s been difficult for MIDAS to provide a unfamiliar login notification containing details of exact operating system version that’s been used to login to an account.

But advancements in technology mean that we’ve now been able to make improvements to device detection for MIDAS v4.36.

Utilizing New “Client Hint” technology

Client hints are a set of HTTP request headers that provide useful information about the client such as device type and network conditions. This then allow servers to optimize what is served for those conditions.

Unlike the traditional “User Agent String”, client hints provide a more efficient and privacy preserving way of getting the desired information.

A web server can proactively request the client hint headers they are interested in. The browser can then include the requested headers in subsequent requests.

If the web server upon which a MIDAS system is running proactively requests either the “sec-ch-ua-platform-version” or “ua-platform-version” client hint header, MIDAS can receive details of the user’s operating system version.

Unfamiliar login notifications (if enabled) can then provide much more accurate information as to the operating system of the new device which has logged into your account.

Improved Device Detection in MIDAS v4.36

Web Server Configuration

Because a web server has to proactively request these new client headers in order for browsers to respond to them, servers have to be configured accordingly.

All of our cloud-hosted nodes have been appropriately configured. Our client servers now proactively request the necessary Client Hint headers. This in turn means that all cloud hosted users can start to take advantage of these improvements to device detection and unfamiliar login notifications.

For self-hosted customers, a small configuration change to the web server when your MIDAS system is running from is required.

Details of the configuration change you’ll need to make can be found in our KB article, How to configure your server for Client Hints.

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One-Stop Database Cleanup Tool

MIDAS — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 11:14:46 +0000

MIDAS includes a number of handy “Database Tools“.

These tools help system administrators keep their MIDAS systems running efficiently.

The “Cleanup” tools allow for the quick removal of obsolete data within a MIDAS booking system.

Separate tools are provided for removing outdated bookings, invoices, clients, and users respectively.

There’s also an “Optimize Database” tool which runs a series of commands on the underlaying MySQL / MariaDB database to help it run more efficiently.

For v4.36, we’ve added a new “One-Stop Cleanup” tool to the list of cleanup tools. This new tool provides a fast way to collectively run several other cleanup tools.

The actions the new One-Stop Cleanup tool performs are:

Performing a “One-Stop Cleanup” will, in a single action:
Remove bookings that occurred more 5 years ago.
Remove invoices that were paid more than 5 years ago.
Remove clients with no bookings in the past 2 years.
Remove users who have not logged in for more than 1 year.
Optimize the database.

Whilst there are no limits imposed in our software for how long data should persist, without using the Database Cleanup tools, data will persist indefinitely.

An organization may have a requirement for client and invoice data to be kept for a specific period of time, but it’s unlikely that most organizations will need to keep such information indefinitely.

This is where the cleanup tools in MIDAS become useful.

Performing routine cleanups of very old and obsolete data in your MIDAS help keep your system running efficiently.

Database Tools in MIDAS

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Get Notified On Invoice Payments

MIDAS — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:21:43 +0000

The powerful “Watch Notification” features of MIDAS allow users to configure automatic notifications whenever certain activity occurs within their MIDAS.

Examples uses of Watch Notifications include:

Staff members could be notified whenever they’re added to a booking
Catering staff could receive notifications whenever refreshments are added to bookings
A purchasing department could receive notifications when consumables are running low and need re-ordering
A user could be notified should an unavailable venue/time slot becomes available again

For MIDAS v4.36 we’ve added an additional Watch notification option. This provides the ability for a user to be notified whenever a payment is made against a MIDAS generated invoice.

New Invoice Payment Watch Notification

Now, MIDAS can automatically update invoices in its system when payments are made against them, however this new notification option allows a user to be notified whenever such updates occur.

The “Invoice Payment” Watch notification option is available to users who have been granted invoicing permissions within their MIDAS system.

When enabled, a new Watch Notification is generated for the user whenever an invoice has been paid in full, or when a partial payment is received against an invoice.

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From Blue To Cool: We’ve given the MIDAS UI a makeover

MIDAS — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 12:34:20 +0000

For v4.36 of our booking software, we’ve made a whole host of updates and improvements to the user interface (UI) and the included visual themes.

For many years now, MIDAS has come bundled with a number of visual theme packs.

A range of visual themes for the MIDAS interface are included

Administrators can select one of these themes to change the appearance of their MIDAS system. Additionally, administrators may optionally allow users to select their preferred theme upon login.

One of the included themes is the imaginatively titled “Default” theme. Unsurprisingly, it’s the visual theme that each MIDAS system uses initially by default.

As the “Default” theme is exactly that, many system administrators simply leave their MIDAS software set to use this theme.

In fact, from a random sample of our cloud-hosted customers, 72% of MIDAS systems are currently set to use the “Default” theme.

It’s black and white!

Interestingly though, the next most popular theme in our random sample of customer’s MIDAS systems is the “HiContrast” theme. Nearly 13% of our customers currently have this set as their default theme.

Hi Contrast theme for MIDAS

Now the primary goal when we designed the “HiContrast” theme was accessibility. In other words, we wanted to better cater to users who may have visual impairments.

The “HiContrast” theme is less colorful than our other themes. It primarily utilizes a simple “black on white” concept throughout, ensuring maximum contrast on screen.

Whilst a surprising number of our customers choose this theme, we don’t believe the vast majority opt for this particular theme primarily because of accessibility needs.

It’s all too Blue-tiful(!)

Rather, we believe that many who opt for the “HiContrast” theme do so because they feel that the “Default” theme is a bit “too blue” for their liking.

The previous Default theme for MIDAS

We get it! That’s one of the reasons why over the years, we’ve introduced additional visual themes where blue isn’t the main color.

We also allow self-hosted customers to create their own custom bespoke themes for our software too!

But going forward, we wanted to see if we develop a new default theme that was “less blue” than the existing default theme, while also at the same time being less “bland” than the basic black and white “HiContrast” theme.

Introducing the new default theme…

The most significant UI update for MIDAS v4.36 comes with a brand new “Default” visual theme:

The Booking Grid under the new default visual theme

If you prefer the previous default theme, don’t worry – it’s still available, but is now called “MIDAS (Blue)”.

We’ve also made a number of other improvements to the user interface, as well as minor tweaks to other included themes. Some text and headings are now larger than before, dialogs are clearer, there’s increased spacing between certain elements, and some interactive buttons are now larger and more prominent.

The new default theme for MIDAS

You can try the brand new “Default” theme, or any other included theme, right now by heading over to our online demo.

The post From Blue To Cool: We’ve given the MIDAS UI a makeover appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

What’s in a (Meeting Room) name?

MIDAS — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 23:35:40 +0000

What do you call your meeting rooms? Do they have names? …or are they simply numbered “ Meeting Room 1″ , “ Meeting Room 2 “, and so forth?

Whatever naming (or numbering) convention you use, there will probably be some sensible logic behind it.

Our MIDAS booking software is used by organizations around the globe to manage countless meeting and conference rooms. It’s really easy within the software to change the names of your bookable rooms at any time.

So if you’re getting a little bored with mundane names for your rooms – if “ Conference Room A ” just isn’t cutting it any more, maybe it’s time for a refresh? …perhaps with a fun or humorous new name which will make users smile?

To give you some ideas, here are some funny, humorous, real examples that organizations have used to name their meeting rooms:

Google

Google is known for its quirky workplace culture, and they have various offices worldwide with creative meeting room names. For example, at Google’s Mountain View headquarters, you might find meeting rooms named after different desserts like “ Cupcake “, “ Donut “, and “ Eclair “, as a nod to their Android operating system releases.

Facebook

Similar to Google, Facebook is also famous for its playful office environment. At Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, you’ll find meeting rooms named after popular board games like “ Monopoly “, “ Scrabble “, and “ Risk “.

X / Twitter

Before Twitter became “X”, their headquarters in San Francisco has meeting rooms with names related to birds, reflecting the company’s then logo and theme. Examples include “ Ostrich ” “ Hummingbird ” and “ Penguin “.

Airbnb

The vacation rental company Airbnb is known for its themed meeting rooms at its San Francisco headquarters. They have rooms named after different travel destinations, such as “ Tokyo “, “ Paris “, and “ Rio “, adding to the company’s travel-inspired culture.

BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed, a digital media company, has meeting rooms with amusing names related to internet culture and memes. Examples include “ Fail Whale “, “ Cat Video “, and “ Viral “.

Slack

Slack, the popular workplace communication platform, has fun and quirky meeting room names at its offices. Examples include “ Llama Drama “, “ Nerd Cave “, and “ Corgi Corner “.

LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, also has creatively named meeting rooms at its offices. Examples include “ Career Catapult “, “ Networking Nook “, and “ Connection Corner “.

Groupon

The online deals company, Groupon, gets creative with names like “ The Fountain from Friends ” (referencing the show’s iconic hangout spot), “ Disappointment Beach ” (perhaps for giving feedback sessions a lighter touch), and “ Tiny House for Big Ideas “.

Etsy

The Etsy online marketplace for crafts and handmade goods uses playful food-music combos for their meeting rooms, like “ Fleetwood Mac ‘n Cheese ” and “ Wu Tang Clams “

These are just a few examples of organizations that have embraced humor and creativity in naming their meeting rooms, adding a touch of personality to their workplace environments.

If you’re feeling inspired to now do the same with your meeting rooms, it’s easy to change your room names in MIDAS.

Simply login (as an administrator) and go to MIDAS Admin Options → Manage Venues. On the Manage Venues screen, select the room you wish to rename, enter a new name for it and click “Save Changes”. Voila! Now your bookable space has an exciting and fun new name.

Now all there is to do is to get new name plates and signs made up for the actual doors themselves!

…or you could also consider our “Digital Signage” addon. This addon allows you to display upcoming bookings on display devices outside each of your rooms. If you update the name of a room within MIDAS, it will automatically be reflected on your digital signage screens!

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Proposal to drop TLS 1.2 support in early 2025

MIDAS — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 12:44:22 +0000

Transport Layer Security – or “TLS”- is a cryptographic mechanism to facilitate secure connections and communications across the internet. For example, the connection between your web browser and secure websites or applications, like MIDAS.

Several incarnations of the TLS protocol have been developed over the years, the most recent being 1.3:

Protocol	Released	Current Status
TLS 1.0	1999	Deprecated
TLS 1.1	2006	Deprecated
TLS 1.2	2008	In use since 2008
TLS 1.3	2018	In use since 2018

TLS Protocol History

TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 are now considered “legacy protocols” and “weak” by today’s cryptographic standards. That’s because they’re susceptible to several vulnerabilities. Modern web browsers automatically default to preferring more secure TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 connections. In fact, browsers may even display warnings if connecting to a website that only supports the now obsolete TLS 1.0/1.1 protocols.

As security standards have evolved over the years, we have too! We’ve previously dropped support for TLS 1.0 connections to our network in 2017. We then subsequently dropped support for TLS 1.1 connections in 2020.

As part of our continued commitment to security, we’re now proposing to also drop support for TLS 1.2 connections to our client servers in early 2025. Going forward, we propose to only support TLS 1.3 (or later) connections.

But wait.. isn’t TLS 2.0 still considered secure?

In the past few years, researchers have discovered cryptographic weakness in the ciphers and algorithms that TLS 1.2 uses.

While TLS 1.2 can still be used, it is no longer considered the most secure option. TLS 1.2 is only considered “safe” when weak ciphers and algorithms are removed.

On the other hand, TLS 1.3 supports the latest modern encryption with stronger encryption algorithms and more robust authentication mechanisms. At time of writing, it currently has no known vulnerabilities, and also offers performance improvements over TLS 1.2.

What impact would disabling TLS 2.0 support have?

Most modern browsers and operating systems support TLS 1.3.

Therefore, the vast majority of users will be unaffected by our proposal to switch off support for TLS 1.2 in early 2025. However, if you’re using an older web browser or operating system, you may need to take action.

Here’s a list of browsers and devices that will be affected when TLS 1.2 connections are blocked:

Internet Explorer: All versions of Internet Explorer do not support TLS 1.3. This should not impact any of our users, as our MIDAS software has not been supported in IE since 2019.
Edge Legacy: Versions of Edge Legacy prior to April 2018 do not support TLS 1.3. Users would need to update to a newer version of Edge or a different browser.
Safari on macOS 10.12 Sierra or earlier: These older macOS versions do not support TLS 1.3 in Safari. Users would need to upgrade their macOS or use a different browser.
Very old versions of other browsers: Browsers that haven’t been updated in several years might not support TLS 1.3.
Older Android devices: Devices running Android 9 (and earlier versions) do not support TLS 1.3.
Older iOS devices: Devices running iOS 12 (and earlier versions) do not support TLS 1.3.

Web browsers and devices that do support TLS 1.3:

Microsoft Edge (current versions): Supported since April 2018 (Edge 79+)
Google Chrome: Supported since April 2018 (Chrome 70+)
Mozilla Firefox: Supported since October 2017 (Firefox 63+)
Apple Safari (on macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later): Supported since September 2018 (Safari 14+)
Opera: Supported since April 2018 (Opera 57+)
Android: Android 10 (or later)
iOS: iOS 13 (or later)

Important Information For Hosted API users:

If you’re a cloud-hosted MIDAS customer utilizing the optional MIDAS API you may need to take action before TLS 1.2 connections are disabled in early 2025.

You’ll need to ensure that your applications and the underlying programming language you develop in can support (and are correctly configured for) TLS 1.2 connections.

For instance Java 7 (1.7) (and lower) and .NET 4.7 (and lower) languages don’t support TLS 1.1/1.2.

If your applications/programming languages do not support TLS 1.3, your MIDAS API calls will begin to fail in early 2025 once we disable TLS 1.2.

Please refer to the vendor of your programming language if you’re unsure whether it supports TLS 1.3, or for assistance enabling such support in your development environment.

Remind me again.. when is this all happening?

Currently, we are proposing to drop support for TLS 1.2 connections in early 2025.

We have not fixed a specific date in 2025 for this as yet (as we want to hear from you – see below).

However, anything can change over the course of a year. Should new vulnerabilities be discovered in TLS 1.2 during 2024, this may prompt us to bring our plans to drop 1.2 support forward.

We Want To Hear From You!

We are currently only proposing to drop support for TLS 1.2 connections in early 2025.

However, we’re open to feedback from you our users in the meantime.

If you feel you have a particular usage case that would require continued reliance on TLS 1.2 support, please reach out to us to discuss.

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Optimizing Code with AI

MIDAS — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 20:24:24 +0000

Often in the release notes for our MIDAS room scheduling software, you may see the entry “Code Optimization”.

What is “Code Optimization”?

Code optimization is the process of refining our software code to make it execute more efficiently, consume fewer resources, or improve its overall performance. It involves strategically modifying code whilst at the same time ensuring the new code still produces the correct results.

Key goals of code optimization:

Enhanced speed: Executing tasks more quickly
Reduced resource consumption: Using less memory, CPU cycles, or power
Improved scalability: Handling larger workloads effectively
Maintainability: Making code easier to understand and modify

Some common code optimization techniques involve:

Algorithm optimization: Choosing more efficient algorithms
Loop optimization: Reducing loop iterations or overhead
Memory optimization: Minimizing memory usage and allocations
Input/output optimization: Streamlining data reading and writing
Caching: Storing frequently used data for faster access
Compiler optimization: Leveraging compiler features for automatic optimization
Profiling: Identifying performance bottlenecks to focus optimization efforts

Code Optimization in MIDAS

Over the years we’ve been developing MIDAS, all our code optimization work has been done manually.

This work has involved attempting to simplify and rewrite parts of the code to be more efficient.

Code Optimizing with AI

In our latest release, MIDAS v4.35, for the very first time, a small section of code has been optimized with the assistance of AI (or Artificial Intelligence).

We did this as an experiment to see whether AI could potentially be used to aid our development processes in the future.

We chose a small “subroutine” from our software and asked an AI if it could optimize it for us.

A “subroutine” is essentially a small block of code which can be re-used and “called” repeatedly during a program’s execution.

The subroutine within the MIDAS software code that we asked an AI if it could optimize for us was basically a function which converts dates to “epoch” time.

Epoch time is the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 (midnight UTC/GMT).

How did the AI do?

Our original subroutine was 15 lines of code long. AI was able to optimize this down to just 9 lines of code.

However, the intial code that the AI generated for us did not just work “out of the box”. In fact, it didn’t work at all!

But using this AI generated code as a “template”, our team was able to modify the generated code so that it worked and produced the correct results.

Our team then extensively tested the new subroutine to ensure that it consistently produced the same expected output as the original subroutine.

Once we had a working subroutine that we were confident in, the next step was to “benchmark” the new routine against the old one. After all, there would be no point in using the new routine if there were no performance gains to be had, or indeed if the new code performed worse than the original.

To test this, we ran each subroutine 10,000,000 (10 million times), and analyzed the results:

Our Original Subroutine:

30 wallclock secs (30.28 usr + 0.00 sys = 30.28 CPU) @ 330229.18/s (n=10000000)

AI Optimized Subroutine:

27 wallclock secs (27.09 usr + 0.00 sys = 27.09 CPU) @ 369085.41/s (n=10000000)

To explain the above results, over 10 million iterations of each subroutine, the new AI-optimized subroutine was more efficient. It ran (executed) quicker, and used less processing (CPU) power to achieve the same results as the original subroutine.

On our test server, the optimized subroutine was able to run 369,085 times in the space of one second, compared with 330,229 times in the space of a second for the original subroutine.

Ok, so the original subroutine was pretty quick and efficient to begin with – but with the assistance of AI, we were able to improve its efficiency by almost 12%.

Where do we go from here?

Firstly, don’t worry, AI is not about to take over the development of our MIDAS software!

MIDAS has been – and will remain – coded, developed, and maintained by humans.

But our experiment – on a very small part of our code – has shown that AI tools may be able to assist our human developers to write ever more efficient code.

The result of such carefully applied optimizations is that our software can in the future potentially run faster, use resources more efficiently, and provide a better overall user experience.

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Generate Quotations For Prospective Bookings

MIDAS — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 15:41:42 +0000

MIDAS v4.35 introduces support for generating “Quotations” for prospective bookings.

Generate quotations when making tentative bookings

Used in conjunction with the “Tentative Bookings” feature, you can generate quotations for clients when making tentative bookings for them.

Should the client accept and pay the quotation online, their “tentative” booking(s) automatically convert to regular “confirmed” bookings.

A number of configurable options are available with the new Quotations feature, including:

Automatically Update Booking Type

When a quotation is accepted and paid online, MIDAS can automatically update the corresponding booking’s “type” to be any confirmed booking type you’ve already defined.

Choose whether bookings become confirmed if their quotations are partially or fully paid

You can control when a “tentative” booking automatically converts to a “confirmed” booking based on how its associated quotation is paid.

Automatically change a booking’s type when a quotation payments are received

MIDAS can either “confirm” a tentative booking on just a partially paid quotation, or only confirm the booking once its quotation has been paid in full.

New Quotation Template

“Templates” in MIDAS allow an administrator to customize a range emails, invoices, and more.

There’s already separate templates available for regular, deposit, and cancellation invoices, as well as receipts and credit notes.

v4.35 adds a further template now for your Quotations.

New customizable Quotation template

The default quotation template is very similar to the default regular invoice template, but introduces some new “placeholder” template variables too.

An example of a new placeholder variable available for the quotation template is “%QUOTEEXPIRES%”.

This special variable is substituted (at time the quotation is printed or emailed) with the date and time that the quotation expires.

By default, a quotation expires when its corresponding tentative booking(s) would expire in MIDAS.

However, there’s a further option available….

Variable quotation terms

As mentioned above, quotations by default are only valid up until the expiration time of their corresponding tentative booking(s).

So as an example, let’s say a tentative booking is made to commence at 9am on a Monday. The tentative booking settings are set to expire the booking if it’s not confirmed at least 2 hours before it is due to commence.

If the tentative booking hasn’t been confirmed by 7am on the Monday, the booking will automatically expire and be removed from the system.

In essence, a quotation generated for the above booking would remain valid until 7am on the day of the booking.

After this time, the quotation (and tentative booking) will have expired.

Now one of the new quotation options allows MIDAS to convert a tentative booking to a confirmed booking is only a partial payment has been made against the quotation.

In such instances, we’ve included an option to allow you to update the quotation’s terms to be the same as your standard invoice terms (i.e. for example 30 days).

Change a quotation’s terms upon partial payment

This means that as long as a client pays something towards the quotation, they will then have longer to pay the remaining balance, just as if they were paying a regular invoice.

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Are Fax numbers still relevant in 2024?

MIDAS — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 18:30:43 +0000

In a previous article, we talked about the various default input fields included in MIDAS as standard. One of the standard client input fields is for their “Facsimile” number (more commonly know as their Fax number).

We’ve included Fax as a “standard” client field since we first started MIDAS over 17 years ago. But our previous article got us thinking…. are fax machines still a thing in 2024?

We’ll admit, here at MIDAS HQ, we can’t remember the last time we received a fax. In fact, we can’t recall ever having sent one either!

What is a Fax Machine?

Now, it occurs to us that some reading this article may never have come across a fax machine! (Yes, we’re showing our age!)

So, if you’re not familiar, a fax machine – short for “facsimile machine” – is a technology used for transmitting documents over a traditional telecommunication (phone) network. It allows the near-instantaneous reproduction of text and images (all be it at low resolution) at a distant location.

A Fax Machine

The History Of The Fax Machine

Early Conceptualization (19th Century):

The concept of transmitting images over long distances actually dates back to the 19th century. In 1843, Scottish inventor Alexander Bain received a patent for his idea of a “Copying Telegraph” that could transmit images using a series of synchronized pendulums.

Pantelegraph (1865):

In 1865, Italian inventor Giovanni Caselli developed the “Pantelegraph,” which was the first practical fax machine. It used a rotating stylus to scan and transmit handwritten messages and images over telegraph lines.

Facsimile Transmission (1920s):

During the 1920s, advancements in radio technology led to the development of early versions of fax machines that utilized radio waves for transmission. These machines were primarily used for newspaper photo transmission.

Telephotography (1930s):

In the 1930s, “telephotography” systems emerged, allowing photographs to be sent over telephone networks. However, these systems were expensive and not widely adopted.

Xerox LDX (1964):

The first commercialized fax machine was the Xerox LDX (Long Distance Xerography), introduced in 1964. It used the then-common electrostatic printing technology to transmit documents over long distances.

ITU Standardization (1980s):

In the 1980s, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) developed standardized protocols for fax transmission, which facilitated interoperability between different fax machines and networks.

Thermal Transfer Fax Machines (1980s-1990s):

In the 1980s and 1990s, thermal transfer fax machines gained popularity due to their lower cost and improved printing quality.

Internet Faxing (1990s):

With the rise of the internet, fax technology evolved to include internet faxing or “fax over IP,” which enabled faxes to be sent and received through email and online fax services.

Decline and Legacy (2000s-2010s):

As digital technologies like email and document scanning became more prevalent, the use of traditional fax machines declined. However, fax technology continues to be used in some industries, especially in areas where secure document transmission is essential.

Modern Fax Services (Present Day):

Today, faxing has largely transitioned to digital platforms and online fax services. These services use internet protocols to send and receive faxes electronically, eliminating the need for physical fax machines and allowing for more efficient and secure document transmission.

Though the traditional standalone fax machine’s popularity has waned, the concept of faxing lives on in digital form, offering a reliable means of transmitting documents in various professional settings.

Do people still use fax machines?

The number of people using fax machines has declined due to the increasing adoption of digital communication methods like email, cloud-based document sharing, and secure messaging platforms. As a result, faxing has become less common in many regions, especially in developed countries.

While some specific industries and regions might still rely on fax machines for certain purposes, it’s safe to say that the number of people using traditional fax machines globally has significantly decreased. Online fax services and digital communication in general provides a more efficient and convenient way to send and receive documents these days. The traditional fax machine has become far less relevant.

Getting The Facts on Fax!

As MIDAS includes a field to enter a Fax number for each client record, we were keen to understand how – and indeed if – our customers use this field.

In August 2023, we took an anonymized random sample of 190 of our cloud hosted customer’s MIDAS systems. Between them, this sample of MIDAS systems contained a total of 213,887 individual client records. Here’s what we discovered…

90% of MIDAS systems have the “Fax” field enabled

We were quite surprised that this was figure so high! However, it should be noted that the Fax field is actually enabled by default in all fresh installations of MIDAS. Therefore, only 10% of customers have taken action and disabled this field.

Of the 90% of MIDAS systems where the “Fax” field is enabled, not a single system has been configured to mark this as a “Required” field.

Only 0.44% of clients have a fax number

We found that only 0.44% of client records within our anonymized sample of cloud-hosted MIDAS systems we host, contained an entry in the “fax” field. It’s also possible that some customers actually use the “Fax” field to record other client data – like an additional cell/mobile number. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that less than 0.44% of clients have an actual fax number.

Facing The Facts on Fax!

So what are our key takeaways from these facts? How can we use this information moving forward?

Despite 90% of MIDAS systems having the Fax field enabled, this field is utilized by less than half a percent of clients.

It’s fair to say that the “Fax” client field isn’t really used! For all intents and purposes, it’s obsolete.

Our first takeaway from this is that the “Fax” field probably shouldn’t be enabled by default. By initially “hiding” this field, it will simplify the editing of client records.

We’re taken this one step further for MIDAS v4.35. In this software update, we’ve actually removed “Fax” as a standard MIDAS client field all together. Instead, if customers do wish to capture client fax numbers, they could easily create a custom client field for this purpose instead.

Existing customers still using the previous standard “Fax” client field need not worry! We’ve ensured that the software update process to v4.35 automatically migrates your client fax data over to a custom client field with the same name.

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Are Fax numbers still relevant in 2023?

MIDAS — Tue, 15 Aug 2023 18:30:43 +0000

We’ve included Fax as a “standard” client field since we first started MIDAS over 17 years ago. But our previous article got us thinking…. are fax machines still a thing in 2023?

We’ll admit, here at MIDAS HQ, we can’t remember the last time we received a fax. In fact, we can’t recall ever having sent one either!

What is a Fax Machine?

Now, it occurs to us that some reading this article may never have come across a fax machine! (Yes, we’re showing our age!)

A Fax Machine

The History Of The Fax Machine

Thermal Transfer Fax Machines (1980s-1990s):

In the 1980s and 1990s, thermal transfer fax machines gained popularity due to their lower cost and improved printing quality.

How popular are fax machines today?

Getting The Facts on Fax!

As MIDAS includes a field to enter a Fax number for each client record, we were keen to understand how – and indeed if – our customers use this field.

We took an anonymized random sample of 190 of our cloud hosted customer’s MIDAS systems. Between them, this sample of MIDAS systems contains a total of 213,887 individual client records. Here’s what we found…

90% of MIDAS systems have the “Fax” field enabled

Of the 90% of MIDAS systems where the “Fax” field is enabled, not a single system has been configured to mark this as a “Required” field.

Only 0.44% of clients have a fax number

Facing The Facts on Fax!

So what are our key takeaways from these facts? How can we use this information moving forward?

Despite 90% of MIDAS systems having the Fax field enabled, this field is utilized by less than half a percent of clients.

It’s fair to say that the “Fax” client field isn’t really used!

Our first takeaway from this is that the “Fax” field probably shouldn’t be enabled by default. By initially “hiding” this field, it will simplify the editing of client records. It’s therefore likely that we’ll make this change for fresh installations of MIDAS in the near future.

In the future, we may also consider removing “Fax” as a standard MIDAS client field all together. Instead, if customers do wish to capture client fax numbers, they could easily create a custom client field for this purpose instead.

If we do take the decision to drop the standard “Fax” client field in a future update, existing customers still using it need not worry! We’ll ensure that our update process automatically migrates your client fax data over to a custom client field.

The post Are Fax numbers still relevant in 2023? appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

Custom Validation For Required Fields

MIDAS — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 12:08:22 +0000

MIDAS ships with a set of standard booking and client input fields. These input fields allow you to capture specific details about a client and their bookings.

Standard Input Fields In MIDAS

Now some of these fields will always be required. For bookings, a minimum of a date and a venue (room/bookable space) is required. All other booking fields can be set to be optional. Likewise, for clients, a minimum of the client’s name is required. All other client fields can be set to be optional.

Here’s a list of the standard fields which are included in MIDAS by default:

Default Booking Fields	Default Client Fields
Date	Client
Times (Booking)	Organization
Times (Setup / Breakdown)	E-mail Address
Venue	Mailing Address
Client / Organization	Telephone Number
Attendees	Fax Number
Booking Type	Cell/Mobile Number
Booking Notes	Client Notes
Resources

MIDAS also allows you to “turn off” fields that you don’t need. So if you don’t need to capture a client’s fax number, you can disable that field.

But that’s not all – in addition to the standard “default” fields, you can create additional custom booking or client fields in MIDAS.

Adding Custom Fields

A range of different types of custom fields can be created, including:

Checkbox – A “tick box” field.
File – Allows uploading/attaching of files and documents to bookings or client records (self-hosted systems only)
List (Single Select) – A drop-down list of pre-defined items from which a single item may be selected.
List (Multi Select) – A drop-down list of pre-defined items from which multiple items may be selected.
Number – A field that will only accept numerical input.
Range – A “slider” control allowing selection of a numeric value within a defined range.
Text – A single-line text field.
Text Area – A multi-line text field.
URL – A navigable web link to an external resource.

As with standard fields, custom fields can also be set to be “required”. This means that an input is required in the custom field each time it’s shown.

New Validation Feature

For MIDAS v4.34, we’re extending the capabilities of marking custom number, text, text area, and URL fields “required”.

Let’s take the example of a custom single-line text field. Marking this as a required field would ensure that a user would enter something into the field. However, MIDAS wouldn’t check what they’d actually entered. Just entering a single character, or gibberish would be enough to allow you to proceed.

From v4.34 onwards, when setting a custom number, text, text area, and URL field as “required”, you can instruct MIDAS what values are considered “valid” for the field. A user would then need to enter a “valid” value in order to proceed.

Custom Field Validation Using Regular Expressions

A Simple Example

As an example, you could make it so that a user has to enter the word “YES” into a custom text field in order to proceed. If the custom field doesn’t contain the word “YES”, the user will be prompted to correct their entry:

Require Valid Entries In Custom Fields

The Power Of REGEX

Regular Expressions (REGEX) can be used to create more complex validations for your custom fields too. We’ll cover REGEX in more depth in a future article. In the meantime, as a brief introduction, here are a few simple yet useful REGEX’s for validating entries into your custom fields:

Description	REGEX
Value must start with the letters “BOOK”	^BOOK
Value must end with the letters “ING”	ING$
Value must contain “BOOKING”	BOOKING
Value must be exactly “BOOKING”	^BOOKING$
Value must contain a number (digit)	\d
Value must not contain a number (digit)	\D
Value must be exactly “BOOK”, followed by two single digit numbers	^BOOK\d\d$

You’ll find further examples together with detailed explanations in our KB article: How to use Regular Expressions for custom input validation.

How To Use

Custom field validation can be setup via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Fields.

On any custom number, text, text area, or URL fields, right-click (or long press on touch screens) on the field’s “Required” box.

You’ll then be able to set or modify the Regular Expression that should be used to validate entries to the field.

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Almost a third of software vendors don’t publish pricing

MIDAS — Thu, 11 May 2023 17:46:56 +0000

In our recent study into how long a software’s free trial should last, we analyzed numerous software dev companies who also offer room booking, scheduling, and appointment software.

As part of our research, we were quite surprised at the number of vendors who didn’t display pricing information for their software anywhere on their websites.

In fact, out of the 72 vendors we analyzed, 31% of them didn’t display pricing on their websites.

Of the 22 vendors who didn’t publish pricing, 10 actually made no reference to the cost of the software they develop at all!

The 12 remaining vendors encouraged those interested in purchasing or subscribing to their software to instead contact them for a price.

Why do some software vendors not display any prices on their websites?

There are a number of reasons why a software vendor might choose not to display prices on their website:

Their software is customized for each customer and the price will depend on the specific requirements of the customer.
The software is sold through a network of resellers or distributors, and the final price will depend on the specific terms and conditions agreed upon between the vendor and the reseller.
The software is offered on a subscription basis, and the price will depend on the length of the subscription and the number of users.
The vendor is trying to create a sense of exclusivity or scarcity around their product, and they believe that by not displaying prices they can generate more interest and demand.
The vendor gives different pricing deals to different customers. If they think they can get away with charging certain customers more than others for the same product/service, they won’t publish pricing on their website.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these…

The software is customized for each customer

All of the software vendors we looked at offered standard “off the shelf” software solutions. By this, we mean that the exact same software product is supplied to multiple customers. Whilst some vendors may offer additional one-off bespoke customizations, there were no indications that any vendor supplied each and every customer with bespoke software.

Here are MIDAS, we don’t understand therefore how this could be a justification for not displaying prices.

Whilst we ourselves occasionally do the odd bespoke customization for customers, any such customization is an additional cost. It does not affect the basic price of our software, and doesn’t prevent us from displaying prices.

The software is sold through resellers

Out of the 72 software vendors we analyzed, we could only find one who didn’t sell their software directly to customers through their own website. Instead, for this vendor a “How to buy” link on their website led to a “Find a local reseller” form.

All other vendors sold directly to end-customers themselves.

Therefore, aside from the one vendor who sells through resellers, this shouldn’t be a reason for other vendors to hide their prices.

The software is offered on a subscription basis and has different pricing tiers

Some subscription based software is offered at a fixed monthly or annual price for all customers. Other vendors may adopt a simple “tiered” approach – offing perhaps a very limited “Basic” package to start with. Followed by “Standard” and “Pro” packages at increasing cost.

Other vendors may offer a wider range of prices based upon specific criteria. For instance, when it comes to booking or scheduling software solutions, the price may depend on the number of bookings that can be made over a given period of time.

However, even if there are multiple pricing points, this shouldn’t be a barrier preventing a vendor from displaying prices. If pricing is dependent upon the number of bookings, users, spaces, etc, it’s not that difficult for a vendor to provide a calculator on their website. That way, customers can see the price they’ll pay for their specific service configuration.

Creating a sense of exclusivity by not displaying prices

By not displaying any publicly visible prices, prospective customers are then forced to make contact with the vendor. This initiates a dialog to between prospective customer and software vendor. During the dialog, the vendor can employ sales tactics to “hook” the prospective customer and convince them that their software is both right for them and they’re getting a great deal.

Giving different “deals” to different customers

Some software vendors may even “inflate” their prices depending upon the type of customer. For example, if a vendor thinks that a particular organization is likely to have a big budget, they may feel that they can get away charging that customer more for the same product that they typically charge another customer with a limited budget.

If the vendor was to display pricing on their website, they wouldn’t be able to arbitrarily charge different prices to different customers.

By not displaying any prices, this gives the vendor the ability to vary the price of their software at will. The customer has no “base price” to reference the price they’re quoted back to.

Ultimately, the decision to not display prices on a website is primarily a marketing and sales strategy. Software vendors may have a variety of reasons for choosing such this approach.