MacHeist

Recently, I've had a pretty bad case of Application ADD, but I'm now in extensive therapy and with the help of proper "meds" I will soon be back on track.

In all seriousness, AppZapper 2 is coming along well and I'm excited to get it out.  Stay tuned.

austinsarner wrote:

Recently, I've had a pretty bad case of Application ADD, but I'm now in extensive therapy and with the help of proper "meds" I will soon be back on track.

This might be funny if Disco had received even a blog post since almost a year ago. I remember thinking when I got Disco, that receiving free updates until 2.0 would be nice, but instead there were just two bug fix releases and then nothing. For all the spiels about evolutions and next steps, it may as well be dead.

smells like abandonware. i was on the brink of buying it, but i found out exactly what you guys are talking about.

I think he was a bit burned out post Disco release... I know I was too, after MacHeist I. Especially while in development, and working towards a release, these things tend to suck the life out of you.

Anyway, he's certainly not abandoning it. While I was over at his house, he was putting in some crazy hours into AppZapper 2, and working on a Disco update and support emails, so for what it's worth, I'll vouch for him.

austinsarner wrote:

... Application ADD...

If you go to this website you find comment 5:

Now, instead of nurturing the projects they've already got going or at least fulfilling promises they've made (MyDreamApp!), I hear they're working on [REMOVED AT REQUEST OF PHIL RYU].

interesting to read...
Sadly it was to late for google cache to read what has standed there before

---

How many "What is your favourite ..." threads do a forum need?

CTYankee wrote:

phillryu wrote:

I think he was a bit burned out post Disco release... I know I was too, after MacHeist I. Especially while in development, and working towards a release, these things tend to suck the life out of you.

Anyway, he's certainly not abandoning it. While I was over at his house, he was putting in some crazy hours into AppZapper 2, and working on a Disco update and support emails, so for what it's worth, I'll vouch for him.

Frankly thats not worth much.  That blog linked above put it best...hype and sales are what you guys do very well.  Thats not good business and the lack of development of these apps as well as the MDA projects is very unprofessional.  In light of the promises to update and improve the projects one could say its unethical.  As young coders, thats fine, but as soon as you put a commercial spin on the project it takes on a whole new life and excuses are just that...and they don't fly in the real world.  Burned out?  Good grief.  If I told my boss thats why I had not worked much in months he'd laugh me out of his office (of course the reality is I'd have been fired long ago).  Burned out is just a reality you'll need to learn to live with and persevere through. 

I imagine the Mac community may be up for one more try at these apps, but frankly if the same hype and hide cycle happens I expect it to be the last chance you'll get.  Others more capable will have learned from you what works and be able to provide what is lacking to steal the show.

The burnout factor is more than valid. I've been doing software development for over 25 years and there were periods where I just felt like I needed to get out for a while. Sometimes those periods lasted months, sometimes *years*.

Austin had been doing nonstop dev for several years and he was clearly burning out last year. I encouraged him to take some time off and just enjoy life for a bit. And I had several projects in the works with him at the time but peace of mind takes precedence over almost anything else, otherwise there's no point in doing this.

Gladly, the time off served him very well. He's been in full-force on AppZapper 2 and many other projects and everything's turning out fantastic. It's great to see him totally motivated and passionate about Mac software again.

And he, Phill, and I all have some potentially great things in the pipelines (both together and separately). Things generally take longer than we want them to but we're working hard to get them all out and make them turn out spectacular.

Sure, we hype the hell out of things and this pisses some people off (especially competitors). I'll never deny that our brand of marketing is "louder" than most but we have a fantastic time with it. And by the number of people who stick around here and buy our stuff, we're confident that you all enjoy it too. I'd been doing "traditional" marketing for my apps for a long time and comparing what I do now to what I've done then... well, there's just no comparison. I wouldn't change what I do for the world as this point.

We're having a great time with everything and we hope that you'll all be sticking around for what's on the horizon, as there's surely MUCH more fun stuff to come...

jpdyson wrote:

you just can't count on people who buy your products to know you or your life. this is why i like seeing developers who are transparent with their customers - who let them know the reasons behind the delays. there's a reason disco and cookbook and cha-ching are getting the rap they're getting - there's nothing to show for our patience.

I generally prefer to keep my private life private. This is why I don't have a personal blog, Flickr, Twitter account, etc.

What you don't know about me is less likely to scare you.

jpdyson wrote:

you just can't count on people who buy your products to know you or your life. this is why i like seeing developers who are transparent with their customers - who let them know the reasons behind the delays. there's a reason disco and cookbook and cha-ching are getting the rap they're getting - there's nothing to show for our patience.

This pretty much sums it up.  Its one thing to have a slow development pace.  That is to be understood with small developers.  The issue I have is not the method of marketing.  I can really respect how well you guys market.  I have no issues with how you conduct your marketing.  What I take issue with is that the marketing implies active ongoing development.  Its one thing to advertise a product and sell it as is.  Its altogether different to promise updates, new features, support, and respond to customer feedback and then vanish.  This lack of follow up to the marketing message is the rub, not the method of the message. 

AppZapper, Disco, Cookbook, and Cha-ching to a lesser degree are such examples.  Lots of hype of what the future will hold.  Most of these were sold with that message and since that message has gone out....(cue crickets).  Its hard to think they hype was anything but a lot of noise to get sales, then ditch the product, rinse, repeat for more profit.  Sorry, but the way these apps have been marketed and developed disproportionately is a very good way to erode your customers trust.

I can understand needing to maintain a good work life balance, but telling people who work 40, 50 or 100 hours a week that you are 'burned out' and taking a few months off won't elicit sympathy.  If people paid money for a product, you promised more and then don't deliver...shame on you.  Either suck it up and get to work, find someone who will, or take your lumps.  Don't ask for sympathy from people just as burned out with work who paid you for something you are not interested in providing any more.

CTYankee wrote:

This pretty much sums it up.  Its one thing to have a slow development pace.  That is to be understood with small developers.  The issue I have is not the method of marketing.  I can really respect how well you guys market.  I have no issues with how you conduct your marketing.  What I take issue with is that the marketing implies active ongoing development.  Its one thing to advertise a product and sell it as is.  Its altogether different to promise updates, new features, support, and respond to customer feedback and then vanish.  This lack of follow up to the marketing message is the rub, not the method of the message. 

AppZapper, Disco, Cookbook, and Cha-ching to a lesser degree are such examples.  Lots of hype of what the future will hold.  Most of these were sold with that message and since that message has gone out....(cue crickets).  Its hard to think they hype was anything but a lot of noise to get sales, then ditch the product, rinse, repeat for more profit.  Sorry, but the way these apps have been marketed and developed disproportionately is a very good way to erode your customers trust.

I can understand needing to maintain a good work life balance, but telling people who work 40, 50 or 100 hours a week that you are 'burned out' and taking a few months off won't elicit sympathy.  If people paid money for a product, you promised more and then don't deliver...shame on you.  Either suck it up and get to work, find someone who will, or take your lumps.  Don't ask for sympathy from people just as burned out with work who paid you for something you are not interested in providing any more.

The four apps you mentioned *are* currently in active development. Austin's back on AppZapper and Disco. As Phill recently mentioned, Cookbook is new being developed by the YummySoup guy. And Juan's been busting his ass for months on a major new update to Cha-Ching.

slow-to-be-updated-ware ≠ abandonware

And as far as AppZapper goes, it does it's job extremely well. If there was never another update to it again (so long as it still worked on future versions of the OS) it'd be acceptable, IMO. There's good reason it's one of the best selling Mac apps ever.

Austin's been very dedicated lately to making some significant improvements to the app and considering that app upgrades for it are free, that's a very good thing to existing customers. And again, it's not because the app needs it... he's gotten excited and enthusiastic about it and as a result, you're going to be soon seeing some very sweet new things in it.

Now as far as the 40, 50, 100 hours thing goes, you apparently have no clue how much time some of us put into what we do. Whether I'm working on my apps, MacHeist missions, or whatever, I put in a ridiculous amount of time. And the people I know and work with in this field do similar. This is because we love what we do. On the contrary, when I've worked "real jobs" I couldn't even stand to put in the minimum time required for my job. I simply don't fit into a regular job.

So I'm ecstatic that I'm able to do what I do and not have to answer to anyone (except for the countless pissing contests that I get into with Phill... I'm just glad that I get final say on Macheist decisions ). And when I get burned out and need to either switch gears and jump to a more interesting project or even just take some time off, I'm not going to make any apologies for it, nor am I looking for any sympathy.

Ok, back to my casket for a few months... but only after I update my blog, Flickr, and Twitter.

johnred wrote:

CTYankee wrote:

This pretty much sums it up.  Its one thing to have a slow development pace.  That is to be understood with small developers.  The issue I have is not the method of marketing.  I can really respect how well you guys market.  I have no issues with how you conduct your marketing.  What I take issue with is that the marketing implies active ongoing development.  Its one thing to advertise a product and sell it as is.  Its altogether different to promise updates, new features, support, and respond to customer feedback and then vanish.  This lack of follow up to the marketing message is the rub, not the method of the message. 

AppZapper, Disco, Cookbook, and Cha-ching to a lesser degree are such examples.  Lots of hype of what the future will hold.  Most of these were sold with that message and since that message has gone out....(cue crickets).  Its hard to think they hype was anything but a lot of noise to get sales, then ditch the product, rinse, repeat for more profit.  Sorry, but the way these apps have been marketed and developed disproportionately is a very good way to erode your customers trust.

I can understand needing to maintain a good work life balance, but telling people who work 40, 50 or 100 hours a week that you are 'burned out' and taking a few months off won't elicit sympathy.  If people paid money for a product, you promised more and then don't deliver...shame on you.  Either suck it up and get to work, find someone who will, or take your lumps.  Don't ask for sympathy from people just as burned out with work who paid you for something you are not interested in providing any more.

The four apps you mentioned *are* currently in active development. Austin's back on AppZapper and Disco. As Phill recently mentioned, Cookbook is new being developed by the YummySoup guy. And Juan's been busting his ass for months on a major new update to Cha-Ching.

slow-to-be-updated-ware ≠ abandonware

And as far as AppZapper goes, it does it's job extremely well. If there was never another update to it again (so long as it still worked on future versions of the OS) it'd be acceptable, IMO. There's good reason it's one of the best selling Mac apps ever.

Austin's been very dedicated lately to making some significant improvements to the app and considering that app upgrades for it are free, that's a very good thing to existing customers. And again, it's not because the app needs it... he's gotten excited and enthusiastic about it and as a result, you're going to be soon seeing some very sweet new things in it.

Now as far as the 40, 50, 100 hours thing goes, you apparently have no clue how much time some of us put into what we do. Whether I'm working on my apps, MacHeist missions, or whatever, I put in a ridiculous amount of time. And the people I know and work with in this field do similar. This is because we love what we do. On the contrary, when I've worked "real jobs" I couldn't even stand to put in the minimum time required for my job. I simply don't fit into a regular job.

So I'm ecstatic that I'm able to do what I do and not have to answer to anyone (except for the countless pissing contests that I get into with Phill... I'm just glad that I get final say on Macheist decisions ). And when I get burned out and need to either switch gears and jump to a more interesting project or even just take some time off, I'm not going to make any apologies for it, nor am I looking for any sympathy.

Ok, back to my casket for a few months... but only after I update my blog, Flickr, and Twitter.

I can vouch for John, Phill and Austin. They are all extremely dedicated, and are some of the few people that will reply at the craziest hours. Who needs 40, 50, or 100 hour work weeks when you are that dedicated, I don't think anyone should criticize John and Phill anyway after such a great project (macheist).  John, Phill and Austin are not only dedicated, but they also do a great job with their projects and apps.

So what if AppZapper 2.0 is not out today, tomorrow or the next day? If AppZapper 2.0 was released after 2 months of coding, would it really be any good? I don't get why people expect these apps to take such little amounts of development time. Do you expect the next great app to be made overnight?

Sophia wrote:

hoyaman wrote:

What's up with http://ilikeolives.com/?

I'm still coding the the app ... you can give me crap for being slow at coding if you like.

At least you know how to code! lol.

I don't think anyone deserves crap for being slow, my theory is that the longer it takes to develop it, the better it will be.

spyker3292 wrote:

EDIT-XTREEM wrote:

So what if AppZapper 2.0 is not out today, tomorrow or the next day? If AppZapper 2.0 was released after 2 months of coding, would it really be any good? I don't get why people expect these apps to take such little amounts of development time. Do you expect the next great app to be made overnight?

+1!!

Thanks

spyker3292 wrote:

EDIT-XTREEM wrote:

At least you know how to code! lol.

I don't think anyone deserves crap for being slow, my theory is that the longer it takes to develop it, the better it will be.

That's obviously Nintendo's theory as well. But it's true.

LOL.