Just curious to know what everyones opinion is about this software. I for one am not a big fan of it - it doesnt seem to be very friendly towards masters events (although this might be premature)
How come a company or someone has not developed an web based application that utilizes SQL/Php or XML?
Is this company the only game in the marketplace?
What do other clubs use?
2ndly - of you coaches or clubs out there that have underwater cameras in use what type/kind are you using? software?
My biggest objection with Hy-Tek is that they have continued to adopt a very closed system. They do support the SD3/SDIF format, but everyone acknowledges (including USA Swimming) that SDIF is a legacy format and is missing many key features necessary for swimming data interchange.
Hy-Tek created their CL2 ("CommLink") file format, which is nearly identical to the SDIF format, but it adds a two digit checksum at the end of every line. It is trivial to read a CL2 file created by Hy-Tek, but it is very difficult to write a valid CL2 file that Hy-Tek will read, because Hy-Tek will not publish the algorithm for that checksum. (There are some who have reverse-engineered that checksum formula.)
Hy-Tek then created their HY3 file format, which takes their CL2 format, and goes several steps further. One of the biggest things it does is it makes the checksum algorithm much more complex, such that I'm not sure anyone has successfully reverse-engineered it. So again, it is trivial to read a HY3 file, but it is about impossible to write a HY3 file.
USA Swimming also recognized that the SDIF file format was in need of an upgrade, so they developed an XML version of SDIF (I think called XSDIF?). It is a completely open file format, published for anyone to make use of.
The downside? Hy-Tek does not support this standard file format published by USA Swimming.
So, if you want to do any tinkering with external things to interface or interact with a Hy-Tek product, you basically cannot, unless you enter into some sort of licensing agreement with Hy-Tek. (And note that Hy-Tek is now owned by Active.com, so there is a much larger corporate entity there to try to wrangle with.)
So you end up with a software monopoly, but with almost zero third party accessory market because it's impossible to do so.
(And yes, I have had this argument many times with the folks at Hy-Tek, and have never gotten very far.)
As for the software itself? Meet Manager is rather powerful once you get used to it. Running a swim meet is a complex thing, and there are so so so many different ways to approach it, and so many different approaches that Meet Manager needs to incorporate.
-Rick
My biggest objection with Hy-Tek is that they have continued to adopt a very closed system. They do support the SD3/SDIF format, but everyone acknowledges (including USA Swimming) that SDIF is a legacy format and is missing many key features necessary for swimming data interchange.
Hy-Tek created their CL2 ("CommLink") file format, which is nearly identical to the SDIF format, but it adds a two digit checksum at the end of every line. It is trivial to read a CL2 file created by Hy-Tek, but it is very difficult to write a valid CL2 file that Hy-Tek will read, because Hy-Tek will not publish the algorithm for that checksum. (There are some who have reverse-engineered that checksum formula.)
Hy-Tek then created their HY3 file format, which takes their CL2 format, and goes several steps further. One of the biggest things it does is it makes the checksum algorithm much more complex, such that I'm not sure anyone has successfully reverse-engineered it. So again, it is trivial to read a HY3 file, but it is about impossible to write a HY3 file.
USA Swimming also recognized that the SDIF file format was in need of an upgrade, so they developed an XML version of SDIF (I think called XSDIF?). It is a completely open file format, published for anyone to make use of.
The downside? Hy-Tek does not support this standard file format published by USA Swimming.
So, if you want to do any tinkering with external things to interface or interact with a Hy-Tek product, you basically cannot, unless you enter into some sort of licensing agreement with Hy-Tek. (And note that Hy-Tek is now owned by Active.com, so there is a much larger corporate entity there to try to wrangle with.)
So you end up with a software monopoly, but with almost zero third party accessory market because it's impossible to do so.
(And yes, I have had this argument many times with the folks at Hy-Tek, and have never gotten very far.)
As for the software itself? Meet Manager is rather powerful once you get used to it. Running a swim meet is a complex thing, and there are so so so many different ways to approach it, and so many different approaches that Meet Manager needs to incorporate.
-Rick
