[IOS] v2.0.0 iOS issues

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by samcohen

This mistake was my fault. I knew that it wiped my own library on a test flight and after mentioning it to the team we simply could never get it fixed. I didn’t choose to release this update yet but my development team decided to push it without asking me if I thought it was ready. Overall still my fault because I should have made it clear that we were not ready even though they seemed to think so.

They think that a product that removes the entire library is ready to release? And they (or you) don't think this is important? Sorry, I don't get it. An app that removes user's data is ready to deploy? Talk about customer-oriented approach. I can understand this if you don't know about it, but knowing it?

Originally Posted by samcohen

The subscription model is sort of a negligible price and is only going to be $.99 a month which is less than a can of soda from a vending machine. I think this is very reasonable and most will end up joining us.

What happens if I decide to finish the subscription because the app is not offering new development? Do I lose the app?

[samcohen]

This was supposed to be that nice free upgrade. As you can see there is no subscription model on this upgrade and it should not have been in the notes. It simply was not ready to be released. The app truly is faster but I understand it's hard to tell if no one has books anymore. We're working on recovering from our stumble as I type.

[jehrler]

Originally Posted by samcohen

This was supposed to be that nice free upgrade. As you can see there is no subscription model on this upgrade and it should not have been in the notes. It simply was not ready to be released. The app truly is faster but I understand it's hard to tell if no one has books anymore. We're working on recovering from our stumble as I type.

The issue, at least to me, is that there are no user identifiable benefits to this free upgrade. Yes, it may be faster, but as you note that is hard to tell if it is 86ing your library.

The last free upgrade should have something that is more than just a speed bump on an app that has been in stasis for years. It should have at least one new tentpole feature so people can say, "aha, finally, some thought and effort is being put into this!"

[samcohen]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

They think that a product that removes the entire library is ready to release? And they (or you) don't think this is important? Sorry, I don't get it. An app that removes user's data is ready to deploy? Talk about customer-oriented approach. I can understand this if you don't know about it, but knowing it?



What happens if I decide to finish the subscription because the app is not offering new development? Do I lose the app?

I knew it would happen but I also knew we were not ready. It was a combination of miscommunications between me and the developer. I did not intend on it being released yet.
To use the app you will need a subscription eventually.

[samcohen]

Originally Posted by jehrler

The issue, at least to me, is that there are no user identifiable benefits to this free upgrade. Yes, it may be faster, but as you note that is hard to tell if it is 86ing your library.

The last free upgrade should have something that is more than just a speed bump on an app that has been in stasis for years. It should have at least one new tentpole feature so people can say, "aha, finally, some thought and effort is being put into this!"

We're just doing our best here. Development is expensive. We have plans for many new features.

[jehrler]

Originally Posted by samcohen

To use the app you will need a subscription eventually.

That is not how the iOS apps that I use which have transitioned to subscriptions work.

Look, for example, at how Scanbot has done it.

[jehrler]

Originally Posted by samcohen

We're just doing our best here. Development is expensive. We have plans for many new features.

Trust me, I know. I have run my own company for 20 years and it involves a physical product that had to be designed, prototyped, tooled, produced and made marketable all before day 1 of sales.

But that is what being an entreprenuer (in the real word) is...you have to put in the $$ up front to create something that you can then sell.

[pazos]

Originally Posted by samcohen

We're just doing our best here. Development is expensive. We have plans for many new features.

A subscription model is OK if you add extra value, like:

A reader inside the application that can sync progress with Calibre server. There are free toolkits available (search for Readium or FolioKit). Implementing this in a basic form shouldn't take a month for an iOS developer.

Update the app to include support for the files API on IOS11+

Translate the app to, at least, some common languages like Spanish, Portuguese, French and Dutch.

And yes, development is expensive and should be the main investment way over the purchasing of the assets.

I'm worried about the future on this application in Android, where I cannot found any alternative, but, hopefully, the subscription model won't reach that platform.

[peaceridge]

The Android platform is SO much better than the IOS, even before this screwup. I had given up that the IOS one would ever match the Android - so I guess, I'll give up on both platforms in the future? .99 a month doesn't sound like much to a developer, but to someone on a limited income (like me), .99 means one less apple or orange, which is not acceptable, especially if there are other methods to get my ebooks onto my ipad.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

And that's one of those nice reasons for the end product to have no relationship with the things the customer really wanted (programmer who has talked to the customer here )

Same here, though I will say that negotiating with the customer getting them to prioritize changes can be quite a chore.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

Evidently I was mistaken about
https://www.wikihow.com/Set-Up-Calib...nc-with-Marvin

There appears to be no IOS plug in for Calibre. Perhaps it was renamed? Other options?

The iOS plug in for Calibre to work with Marvin stopped working a number of years ago when an iOS update broke the plugin. The plugin author and Marvin author talked about getting together and coming up with a new way for marvin to communicate directly with Calibre, but they never did.

[LostJen]

Since other users have also pointed out that the Content Server ok button never ungreys, It’s clear this feature was never even tested before the roll out since you CANNOT connect at all.

Was this bug know before released too? I’m sorry but knowingly releasing bad code is something that I would have been arranging firings (personally done this). And if I was just a team member I’d walk out the door (also done this).

[LostJen]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

The iOS plug in for Calibre to work with Marvin stopped working a number of years ago when an iOS update broke the plugin. The plugin author and Marvin author talked about getting together and coming up with a new way for marvin to communicate directly with Calibre, but they never did.

All that is needed is to configure and turn on calibre’s content server or use something like COPS. Then connect Marvin to the OPDS source.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by samcohen

This mistake was my fault. I knew that it wiped my own library on a test flight and after mentioning it to the team we simply could never get it fixed. I didn’t choose to release this update yet but my development team decided to push it without asking me if I thought it was ready. Overall still my fault because I should have made it clear that we were not ready even though they seemed to think so.

My heart sank reading how upset people are about losing their books. I should have realized how important this was. I keep such a small library it didn’t matter to me when I lost the books I simply redownloaded them.

The subscription model is sort of a negligible price and is only going to be $.99 a month which is less than a can of soda from a vending machine. I think this is very reasonable and most will end up joining us.

We are doing our best to right our wrongs. We cannot currently roll back to the old version because the old version is from Xcode 9 so apple has rejected it.

Let me know if there is anything we can do to make things right.

As I developer and have experienced the "Oh, Crap" moment when something escapes into production by mistake, I tend to be fairly forgiving. As I said, CC for iOS is actually a lot faster, so it didn't take quite as long as I feared to reload everything.

My personal take is just learn from the mistake.

I would also say a bit of communication would be a good idea. Put out something about why you are going to a subscription model and what your vision of where CC is going. Do you expect to bring the iOS versions of CC up to the functionality of the Android version? What changes do you plan to do?

I totally understand the need to refactor the code to bring it up to date with the current release of iOS and swift. Perhaps a lot of non programmers don't understand what they get out of it, it's something you really have to do in order to move forward.

My guess is that some people will resist the subscription model and you will never be able to convince them. Just warn them when you plan to implement subscriptions so they can stop updating their app at that point.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by LostJen

All that is needed is to configure and turn on calibre’s content server or use something like COPS. Then connect Marvin to the OPDS source.

Yes, but the question is about the old iOS plug in that Marvin used to communicate with Calibre. That plugin had a lot more functionality than connecting as an OPDS source.