FW Editor: Can you tell us a few words about yourself? When did you start to work as a software developer? Is software development a passion?
Kevin Perryman: I started programming when I was 11 years old on a Commodore Vic 20 computer. Moved on to Timex Sinclair, Apple and TRS-80 machines. Wrote a quality control statistical program for a Chemistry Analyzer at the local hospital where my dad worked when I was 13. Software Development was fun for a long time, then windows came along and programming became tedious. I hacked in C/C++ for a while, but grew tired of having to write routines for even the most simple data manipulation. For a long time I worked exclusively in Foxpro and Clipper developing and enhancing accounting, law enforcement and medical record software. Today, I focus on data extraction from software systems that do not provide an adequate array of reporting features. I have also started working with 3D graphics and implementation of Massive Multiplayer Games. I do both overall game mechanic designs along with level designs.

FW Editor: Envelope Printer is not your only application. Can you tell us a few things about MouseLoc as well?
Kevin Perryman: MouseLoc is a programmers/macro writers tool. It displays the X and Y coordinates of the mouse cursor anywhere on the desktop. Basically the need came around at an office I worked in that required multiple logins to different systems. Instead of login into the 4 or 5 different systems, I wrote a program that allowed me to enter a protected password and then automatically logged in all my accounts. Part of this process is moving the mouse over a Desktop icon, double-clicking, waiting for the program to start, move the mouse to the Username field, click to select the field, type the Username, move the mouse to the Password field, type the password, click on the "Login" button, wait for the system to log in, move the mouse to the minimize icon, left click the minimize, move to the next icon, rinse and repeat. So MouseLoc was born to help gather the data for writing the macro script to accomplish this. I have thought about releasing a generic version of the script/macro executing program, but just have not gotten around to cleaning it up for public release.

FW Editor: You are currently working on several important projects (Check Printer, Check Register, Income/Expense Reporter and 1099 Tracker and Printer.) Can you tell us a few things about these incoming applications?
Kevin Perryman: Those are actually all going to be one product or more likely one product with optional add-ons. As part of the US Healthcare Reform law that the US Government in its infinite wisdom passed, some very stringent rules regarding 1099 reporting. As a small business owner I have used Quicken, Quickbooks, Manage My Money and Peachtree Accounting. All of these systems have their pluses and minuses. However, all of these systems are just to costly to continually maintain. I don't think end users should be forced to spend several hundred dollars every year for upgrades and hundreds of hours maintaining a simple checkbook. What I am trying to do is make a Check Register type program that is as easy to use as the Envelope Printer software. The program will allow for printing single and recurring checks, importing check register information from bank websites and balancing. The first add-on will be a Simple Income and Expense report for use at tax time. Basically, the end user will select the type of business they are structured as, ie. Schedule C Business, partnership, Corporation, S Corp. They will assign each check to an appropriate Expense/Tax Line. The Income/Expense report will print-out linking the amounts to the appropriate tax form line number so it is just a matter of copying the numbers over from one place to the tax form. The second add-on will be the ability to track and print 1099 forms. Basically, a entity/business database will be maintained. Each month a report will be generated listing all of the businesses that will potentially exceed the $600 threshold for 1099 reporting. From this list the user will be able to gather from the web or by phone calls the Tax ID numbers required to file the 1099. At the end of the year the system will generate and print 1099s for mailing to each entity and the IRS.

FW Editor: Envelope Printer is a simple and easy to use tool. What inspired you in developing such a software?
Kevin Perryman: The primary driving factor in the development of Envelope Printer was the fact that I was unable to find a decent solution that already existed for a reasonable price. Several products I found were fantastic but the author wanted $30-$75 which is way out of line for this kind of product. Other products that were free or low cost were either very cumbersome to work, did not work well consistently or were resource hogs. When I set out to make Envelope Printer I was looking at addressing the issue of printing envelopes as being a repetitive task that should be quick, simple and minimalistic. I wanted an application that requires the end user to accomplish the task with the fewest mouse moves/keystrokes and to not have a lot of bloat graphics/buttons/fields. I hate having to sit and wait for programs to load. If a program can not load in 10 seconds or less, there is something wrong with the programming (in my opinion). I also hate seeing programs take up 2-3 gigabytes of hard disk space and then another 10-100 megabytes of memory to do simple tasks. With Envelope Printer I was wanting to get nicely printed envelopes in the same time or less that it took to hand write the address. For me with my office setup I can grab an envelope, click to start envelope printer, turn in my chair to load the envelope in my printer, turn back to the computer, type in (or lookup) the address and click print in 15-20 seconds. I end up with a nicer end product then my hand written envelope and it took less time in most case than if I had done it by hand. In my opinion (biased of course) I think I have accomplished the goals I set out to achieve.

FW Editor: Currently, the addresses from Address Book are sorted by name. Do you have any plans to add more sorting methods (by date for example or based on their importance)?
Kevin Perryman: Recently I added partial name lookup to the search function which has reduced the need for sorting on other fields. Because Envelope Printer was recently reviewed in the Tech Scoop Section of the Bangkok Post I have received a lot of request for handling international addresses. Again, the original product was a tool for me in my office. I do not do international mail so I am investigating the requirements/regulations for appropriate addressing. I think this feature will be of use to more end users than sorting on different fields. However, if I get enough request for other field sorts then of course I will work it into the program, provided the program can remain simple to use and not a lot of coding or complexity is added. Every change I have done so far has been to either reduce the number of lines of code, was requested by multiple users in a short time period or improved the original functionality.

FW Editor: So far you have released several freeware applications. When do you plan to release your first license based application?
Kevin Perryman: Now after the fact, I wish I had release Envelope Printer as Trialware with a limit of 30 addresses and then charge a $4-6 fee for unlimited use. I never dreamed that this program would have gotten the coverage it has so far, nor the number of downloads it has experienced. Going forward, the Check Register/Printer program will be released as a pay-for use product, probably in the range of US $5 -$10. Each add-on will be another $5-15. There will be discounts if the base program and add-ons are purchased at one time. Pricing will be very competitive to help support future development and keeping in compliance with changing tax laws. The volume of support required by end users will also be part of the pricing model. I do not plan on charging separate support fees for the product. I want to be able to continue offering support via email at no charge if at all possible.