Was: URGENT: MergGoogle no longer works on iOS: CLIENTS VERY UNHAPPY

[Curry Kenworthy]

Mike:

 > The most recent hit to my pride was the loss of ability
 > to self transfer into my walk in tub

Ah, a fellow traveler indeed! I haven't been able to use my own 
insurmountable tub yet, still doing sponge baths.

Sean:

 > I certainly don’t feel right putting in my invoice for
 > the 3-4 months work for this stage of the app as it didn’t work
 > when they actually needed it.

Always invoice monthly. It's better for everyone. Invoices actually help 
clients see the progress and the work involved, and stay on budget.

I've had at least $12,000 USD but probably closer to 15K in nonpayment 
over the years. That's hard to stomach! Especially when you're seriously 
handicapped, and the blood/sweat for every hour of work is more 
substantial than people realize. There are some people who deliberately 
avoid payment to increase profit or experiment with other people's 
money, but others misunderstand the dev process or just have cashflow 
problems themselves. I try to be understanding of others as they are 
understanding of me. (To paraphrase a famous saying.) But oh yes, it has 
an impact.

Things don't always work out perfectly behind the scenes either. One 
time (FieldTrip) I was delayed for weeks just trying to get a piece of 
info. LC had advised me of a certain upcoming feature that would impact 
addons, so to use the project funds wisely I wanted to make sure that I 
coded it right the first time and took advantage of it. I wanted to wait 
on that before starting the code. But for some reason I could get the 
actual info, no matter who I asked. It was weird; usually info comes 
readily and speedily from LC, precisely the opposite! An unfortunate and 
mysterious fluke. Finally I gave up on getting that info, but then had a 
big health issue and a change in the project partnership/funding, so the 
project timeline and my rep both took a hit, people were disappointed. 
Not fun. Sometimes these things just happen.

But life goes on! The world as a whole is not a terribly gentle place, 
but good people make ALL the difference. And we have some incredibly 
good people here.

 > Certainly, my trust in third-party add-ons has gone
 > and I will never again rely on them.

LiveCode started as an addon, didn't it? A very welcome one at that! No 
matter where you go, you'll find that all code products tend to draw 
upon other code. The big boys too? Oh yes.

Working over the years with Microsoft Office products I've come to 
understand not only how much code libraries are used, but also how often 
even the "standard" and open-source ones have issues. People who idolize 
Apple, OpenOffice, Google, or Microsoft don't realize the flaws in the 
code bases, but yes, they have bugs and limitations, sometimes in their 
own code and sometimes in the libraries they use. I've had to work 
around Apple and OO bugs/limitations.

One general problem is that backward-compatibility has been abandoned 
and even politicized/demonized by some of the big players. (Hello Mr. 
Jobs.) BC is actually just part of a bigger concept. I don't have the 
correct word for that concept handy (Richard?) but when we build upon 
other frameworks (like FB, Google, or LiveCode itself), it helps if the 
APIs and keywords do not change rapidly. A sound foundation. That way 
"middle" code can be designed to last. If the big guys wantonly break 
code, it's an incredible waste that the consumer (or someone, sometimes 
us) has to pay. I know, this is not what you're hearing from everyone, 
it's not trendy, not the buzzword, but there it is. A well-designed API 
can be relatively stable even as the code behind it constantly evolves. 
We're going to keep seeing a lot more headaches and financial impacts of 
this upside-down and possibly unsustainable approach until some of the 
more well-connected in the tech world decide to change the trend again.

Best wishes,

Curry Kenworthy

Custom Software Development
LiveCode Training and Consulting
http://livecodeconsulting.com/