FlexTime – Still 1.0

August 19th, 2006

It’s been two days now since I released FlexTime 1.0, and lots of people have contacted me to share their ideas and impressions about the software. The great news is that nobody has contacted me to report a crash or other instability. The biggest fear when releasing software is that, in spite of extensive testing, some surprise bug is lurking. Fortunately I think most of the bugs were washed out in the beta cycles. People are reporting ideas to make it even better, not ideas to simply make it work. While there’s no great shame in a quick-turnaround to release a 1.0.1 version of a product, I admit to taking some pride in the fact that so far, this product lives up to the promises of “release quality software.”

It’s been exciting for me to watch as the world reacts. While many people are contacting me privately to share their thoughts, others are writing publicly on their blogs about their experience.

Luis de la Rosa of Happy Apps was an early adopter of FlexTime. He started using the application to help treat his repetitive strain injuries with a relatively primitive beta version a few months back. Now he’s written a blog entry describing the benefits of using FlexTime during his work day. His decision to use it for this purpose helped in guiding some of the core features such as the “show text” cues. Thanks, Luis!

Luis’s use of FlexTime as an RSI helper is just one of the many “surprising uses” that have come up over the months since I’ve shared FlexTime with the public. Now that I’ve released it to a wider audience, more ideas are rolling in. It’s a real treat to see what people come up with, and I often laugh out loud – not because the ideas are funny – but because they’re deliciously surprising.

I’m excited to share more examples in greater detail over the coming months. People are using FlexTime to “enhance” the activities that already fill their days, be it desk work, cooking, or music-making.

4 Responses to “FlexTime – Still 1.0”

  1. Chucky Says:

    Some helpful suggestions for you. I’d buy your app, except for…

    I don’t like v1.0 apps. If you released v2.0 tomorrow with no additional features, I’d be more inclined to buy.

    I think the app isn’t worth a penny more than $16.95. If you lowered the cost to $16.95, I’d buy 4 licenses, but at the current price, I can’t justify buying a single license.

    The trial period isn’t long enough to fully and properly evaluate the app. Evaluation should be a very, very thorough process.

    Finally, and most importantly, I see you are shipping the app with 128×128 icons. I intend to transition to Leopard next year, and a higher density display eventually, and I won’t want ugly low-res 128×128 icons cluttering up my dock. Because of this, I cannot justify purchasing your app.

    It is quite nice, however.

  2. Jan Says:

    …nice one Chucky :-)

  3. Joe Says:

    I don’t know if chucky’s coming back, but I feel like trying to save Daniel some typing. Not that the guy needs a defender, but he wrote this recently:

    http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/168/the-price-is-wrong

    The issue of the price of the software is not taken lightly around here, as you’ll see if you take the time to read it.

  4. The Perils of 1.0 « Slash dev Slash null Says:

    […] I know I’m not the only one who has experienced this. Daniel Jalkut at Red Sweater Blog had a similar experience with his recent release and subsequent update of his new application, FlexTime. […]

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