ianmjones

Always developing

  • Switching blogging platform.

    I have had a few problems using Blogger.com, it’s proving to be a little too slow for me, and quite often I’m getting errors back when submitting data, whether it’s changing config items or posting. I’ll probably get an error when I submit this!

    I’m also a little paranoid about my data being held in someone else’s system, I guess at heart I’m a bit of a control freak (maybe that’s the highest contributing factor to me wanting to be a micro-ISV).

    So, I’ll be switching blogging platforms in the next day or so to something where I control where the data is stored, and that if it all goes wrong it’s more likely to be my fault.

    I love the template I’ve used via Blogger.com, I’m a great fan of Dan Cederholm who created it. But, I guess I’ll just have to start tinkering with my own template, I must admit that I will enjoy that, even if I am rubbish at web design.

    So, my next post will be via WordPress (probably), I’ll start with their default template and work from there. This does however mean that the feeds will probably get mangled, but they should settle down after the initial upset. I’ll be pulling across my first few posts via this powerfull medium, and hopefully the comments attached too.

    Fingers crossed!

    ianmjones

  • But you’re a 4gl guy!

    It’s true, I currently make a living (and hope to for some time) writing database applications in IBM Informix 4GL. But that doesn’t mean I’ve always done that, and doesn’t mean it’s all I can do.

    Like many people of my age who were dragged up in ol’blightly, I started programming in BBC basic, on the Acorn Electron and the BBC micro, many, many years ago. I also had a little play with Commodore C64s in my school’s computer lab as a teenager.

    Later on I migrated to MS Visual Basic, which was a complete shock, the speed that you could write software was quite staggering to me, and a real eye opener. At uni however, I started playing with ANSI C, much to the annoyance of my lecturers, who couldn’t read what I wrote, it was their own fault for not specifying what language to use for solving our engineering assignments! And yes, my code was beautifully commented, so they did get some clues as to what was happening 🙂

    Since then I’ve dabbled in this and that, tried Java (yuk), tried Python (interesting), stayed well clear of Perl (double yuk), even spent quite a bit of time with Objective-C and WebObjects (where’s the job market?). But always harked for the simplicity and speed of MS Visual Basic, where I truly felt productive.

    So, you’re probably saying, so go use VB already! Well, you see, even though I have dabbled with VB.NET in the last couple of years, when it comes to developing desktop apps, it’s got two rather large flaws as far as I’m concerned.

    1. That bloomin’ huge runtime, I hate it. I want to create easy to install “all in one” executables. What I give to the customer is all they’ll need (apart from a computer and a basic install of their OS that is, and, ahem, one other little server side app for my program to link up with).
    2. It’s not cross platform.

    Many people would agree with me on my first reason, even Joel Spolsky has miss-givings, so I’ll not dwell on that. But some might argue with my second reason, highlighting that the desktop app is all about the Windows platform, that’s where the market is.

    Well, I agree, but it doesn’t mean I like it, and it especially sticks in my throat as my preferred desktop is my Apple PowerMac, running the best UNIX ever, Mac OS X.

    So, how am I going to get the same productivity as VB, but using my Mac as my main development platform, and still capture that huge Windows desktop market, with REALBasic, that’s how.

    ianmjones

  • What’s this all about?

    Well, once upon a time, when I was asked “what do you do?”, I would answer, “I’m an IT Consultant”. Now this is kind of non-descript, and I wasn’t really happy with that answer. So, I changed my answer, I would instead say “I’m a freelance contractor specialising in bespoke database solutions in Informix 4GL”, which generally received a blank stare.

    What I really wanted to say was “I write software”, a nice, clean and simple answer, and most people understand what this means, even if they have no idea on how to go about it. A high percentage of people that I talk to have a computer, or at least use one at work, they know what software is, they’ve had to have software installed on their PC, they’ve seen the box, the CD, and the crashes!

    Now, I could say, “I write software”, because I do, day in, day out, and have made a reasonable living out of it for more than eight years, but it doesn’t quite ring true. I have this nagging feeling in the back of my head that I can’t quite say it until I’m writing software that people can buy, even though my clients are effectively buying the software I write by paying for the time it takes me to implement whatever it is they contract me to write. I want to be able to point people to a website where people can see details of what I’ve created, download it, fall in love with it and (hopefully) then pay for it. I want to be an ISV (Independent Software Vendor).

    And this is where the story starts, I’ve come up with an idea for a desktop application that I think there is a small market for. It’s no killer app, and the user base will always be fairly small, but I think it’s a sustainable market, although it does depend on another application continuing to be profitable.

    I want to get my feet wet, in fact I want to get soaked from head to toe, but I’m under no illusion that what I’m planning is going to pay the mortgage. Instead, this app is going to be the springboard into the world of software development and marketing for desktop apps. It’s going to take a lot of work, I probably haven’t even a clue as to how hard it’s going to be, but I want this new career to take off, badly, a belly flop isn’t even a consideration.

    So, in the same vein as Lachlan Gemmell I’m going to write up a few notes as I walk along the long road to releasing my first piece of software to the public. Lachlan has quite a long release plan for his software, probably because his software sounds as though it may be quite a complex beast, even though he’s looking to target a market segment with simpler needs than usually expected for his kind of product. But I intend to get my product out as quickly as I can, in a reduced format, so that people can start using it and telling me what they would like to see in its future.

    However, like Lachlan, I’m not going to spill the beans just yet on what I’m developing, until I’m closer to market I’m not comfortable with letting people in on the idea. Not because it’s some revolutionary product, it isn’t, but because it’s something that many developers could develop, and I don’t want someone with more desktop experience coming to market quicker than me. That would mean I would be at best second to market, and it’s most definitely best to be first, as the first law in The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing contests.

    ianmjones

    ,

  • Out with the old…

    To anyone who has linked to any of my previous articles, before I changed to Blogger, sorry.

    I’m sure you’ll understand that things change, people move on, sites get obliterated! It’s not like anyone actually read anything on my site, I’ve had maybe a couple of links in the years that I’ve had this domain, so I don’t honestly think anyone is going to miss it. But if you desperatly need any of the old content, you can find it at http://old.ianmjones.net/.

    ianmjones