DZOIC Review

The DZOIC social networking platform is called Handshakes, and is another commercial software package that is very much like many of the social networking platforms available for sale, with the exception that this company appears to handle marketing and support a little better than most others.  Handshakes also appears to be a somewhat superior commercially available product in terms of aesthetic value, functionality, and also flexibility for developers to customize the platform - as the software is delivered as 100% PHP open source code. 

It is rare for most commercial software products to provide source code to their customers, however for DZOIC - this approach works extremely well.  Since most developers who use Handshakes are highly knowledgeable in PHP, allowing customers to modify or enhance the software with additional features or modules presents a unique development environment that the company itself can benefit from.  This flexible approach is one of the biggest strengths of the Handshakes model

Another significant strength is in how the software is marketed.  For the rather steep price of just over $300, the company doesn't just provide a simple download and call it good.  DZOIC includes a list of bonuses to entice new users to take the plunge.  These bonuses are not insignificant - they are valuable elements to an entire marketing package that any software provider should offer to customers who are willing to spend that kind of cash on their software.  The items provided to customers who order Handshakes software includes:

- Single domain license

- Lifetime Support

- One Year of Free Updates

- 100% Open PHP Source Code

- Free Installation

This list is significant and puts Handshakes above the competition.  Most other products offer limited support and leave installation up to the customer, or charge additional fees.  In offering lifetime support, a free domain license, and even free installation - DZOIC is essentially showing that they stand behind their product.

Handshakes Social Networking Platform

My first impression of Handshakes V3.5 based on the website is that this is another highly commercialized social networking platform.  However, I felt that the items offered as part of the purchase package were significant and at least partially justified the high cost of the software.  Additional justification for the price comes from the list of features that this software provides that rises above most of the free social networking platforms out there. 

The Handshakes V3.5 social networking platform is extremely rich in functionality and features that make the social networking environment for users extremely enjoyable.  Some of these features include a feature rich user end, an advanced administrator console, Flash IM and Chat, Flash FLV and MP3 Players, and even such advanced technology offerings as Video Chat and Audio/Video Recording Components.

In order to set Handshakes apart from other paid competitors, or free products that are available in the public domain, DZOIC has integrated extremely high level technology within the features of this social networking platform, and this integrated technology alone is enough to justify the price of this product. 

Requirements

Most social networking software packages that need to be installed on your web server, such as Handshakes, has a minimum set of requirements for your hosting service.  In the case of Handshakes V3.5, the minimum requirements are as follows:

1. Access to set up cron tasks
2. Minimum PHP version 4
3. Minimum MySQL version 3.23
4. PHP GD Library: GIF/JPEG and FreeType Support
5. PHP Curl Library : SSL support

As shown by this list, the requirements are not very stringent, and the Handshakes software is likely to run on just about any web space that supports PHP and has a MySQL database available.

Major Features

The Handshakes platform is extremely powerful, and very flexible.  The real strength of this platform is in the number of, and quality of, the technologically advanced components of the platform. 

The standard features that are initially installed with Handshakes includes:

•-          Voice and video message recording

•-          Video Chat and blogging

•-          Utility to upload and categorize music

•-          Utility to upload and categorize video

•-          Flash Chat and Instant Messenger

•-          Full profile control

•-          Multiple Blogs per member

•-          Classifieds

•-          Events

•-          Clubs

•-          eCards

•-          Membership or Payment management system

•-          Forums

The heart of what makes Handshakes unique is obviously the integrated multimedia technology. The ability for member to hold video conferences or send each other video private messages is a significant advancement in the world of social networking - and in this way Handshakes is definitely leading the way.

Additional features included in Handshakes includes:

•-          Bulletins

•-          Photo Albums

•-          GPS (Geo-Positioning System)

•-          WYSIWYG HTML Editor

•-          Statistics and monitoring available to members

From this list of features, it's fairly apparent that Handshakes is one of the most innovative and advanced social networking platforms available to developers who want to create a technologically advanced social networking website with features that are hard to find elsewhere on the internet. 

The ability to offer these kinds of innovations to members is a clear advantage for any social networking website - and these features alone make it worth the price of the software package.

Performance

From our trial run of this software, we found that with several users logged into the system it continued to run effectively and with no delay.  The software is very easy to install, and any users who get stuck along the way have access to a full range of customer support options including:

1. Full Knowledge Base
2. Submit a Support Ticket
3. Contact Support via Email
4. Get advice from other users on the Community Forum

All features of this software are extremely simple to install and configure.  Our tests found that this commercial platform ran very fast and performed well.  Considering the fact that it is a commercially sold package - it should definitely hold up well under heavy load.  We did not notice any bugs or any issues with the software during the trial run.  The website also offers very useful full documentation in the form of an Installation Guide, a Quick Start Guide, and an Administration Manual.

Overview

The professional version of DZOIC Handshakes Professional V3.5 is available from the website (http://www.dzoic.com/order.php) for $349.00.  This includes an indefinite license to run the software on your website.  The license includes a full year of free updates, free support, and free installation to your web server.  Additionally, when you buy a license, DZOIC will provide you with a single domain license, all of the source code for the platform, and the Flash and Photoshop source.  If you are a PHP developer - this is an amazing freedom where you can "tweak" the software yourself in order to customize it to your precise needs.  In most commercial software businesses, this option for customers is unheard of.

Overall, this commercial version of a social networking platform is very functional, flexible, and full-featured.  However the real strengths of this platform, and the value that makes it worth paying for, is the fact that the features of this software are so much more technologically advanced than other social networking platforms, and the fact that the company provides the software "open-source" makes this platform a win-win for social networking website developers.