[IOS] v2.0.0 iOS issues

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I got wiped out by the update as well. Yea, not happy since my library has around 3700 books in it and it takes a long time to download everything and it's not exactly something you can do in the back ground.

As far as the subscription model goes. I'm a lot more understanding about that. First, Apple is pushing developers to use the subscription model. Second, if you want someone to keep maintaining and updating the program, this is likely the only model that works. Otherwise it's simply a hobby for a developer who either updates it when he or she has time, or perhaps loses interest. $12 a year doesn't strike me as excessive, as long as there are updates, bug fixes and improvements on a regular basis. It certainly beats having to deal with an abandoned App like many apps I've used over the years. Before they announced that the iOS version was being taken over by a new programmer, I had assumed that the iOS version was abandonware and that it would only be a matter of time before I had to figure something else out.

I'm understanding that doing a big rewrite to bring the code of to specs in Swift might introduce some bugs, but generally, that's why programmers do beta testing. Hopefully, this is a lesson learned.

When was the announce of the new developer done? I mush have missed it.

[Deskisamess]

My reluctance to just accept the subscription model for this app is based on the update that was pushed out before it was ready. It will take me hours to get the app back to the way it was on my iPad. Time I don't really have right now.

The "changing of the guard" was announced here in June. Since then, the new developer has posted just 7 times, once to ask users to join another site to keep up with the changes to come. Isn't that bad form? There is a huge user base here already. That should be evident to the new guy.

That leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Why not take advantage of the users already gathered here? Talk to us here.

When I consider that behavior, along with the update mess, AND a new "pay to play" model, it leaves me cold. It's not the cost at all. It's how it is being handled.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

When was the announce of the new developer done? I mush have missed it.

Changing of the guard - 6/29/2019, it's one of the sticky notes.

The good news is that it actually went a lot faster than it has in the past, so there have been some improvements. I was able to download some 3700 in less than an hour, which is a lot quicker than it took last time I had to download all my books.

I do think that the new developer can improve his communication skills a bit and learn how to manage customer. A little advance notice on what changes he plans, why they are needed and when they will occur would have gone a long way to improve the reaction. Of course, if he's never had to manage customers or programing projects, it's a skill one learns over time.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Changing of the guard - 6/29/2019, it's one of the sticky notes.

The good news is that it actually went a lot faster than it has in the past, so there have been some improvements. I was able to download some 3700 in less than an hour, which is a lot quicker than it took last time I had to download all my books.

I do think that the new developer can improve his communication skills a bit and learn how to manage customer. A little advance notice on what changes he plans, why they are needed and when they will occur would have gone a long way to improve the reaction. Of course, if he's never had to manage customers or programing projects, it's a skill one learns over time.

Thank you for the info, and for the thread. I think calibre companion is going to stay "as is" for a bit in my iPad (and in my phone if they push an Android version). Not a stellar introduction, I would say.

[theducks]

A Subscription does not offer me any real benefit. I do not make rapid changes to my environment.

If I need to keep up with OS levels/or the Main Calibre, I will make the update choice then, not automatic allow my wallet to be tapped.

I find the incessant app (various) updates on Android very annoying . I think some of the reasons given are just PR spin to update the AD revenue generation for that AP.
I don't know the details of the CC transfer, but I am not sure change to 'subscription' was considered.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

My reluctance to just accept the subscription model for this app is based on the update that was pushed out before it was ready. It will take me hours to get the app back to the way it was on my iPad. Time I don't really have right now.

The "changing of the guard" was announced here in June. Since then, the new developer has posted just 7 times, once to ask users to join another site to keep up with the changes to come. Isn't that bad form? There is a huge user base here already. That should be evident to the new guy.

That leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Why not take advantage of the users already gathered here? Talk to us here.

When I consider that behavior, along with the update mess, AND a new "pay to play" model, it leaves me cold. It's not the cost at all. It's how it is being handled.

Programmers as a whole tend not to be the best at the various social skills. I tend to take the approach of it's ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.

Yes, I agree that it would be a good thing if, like Charlie, the new guy would check this specific forum at least a few times a week. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of programmers come into a situation and simply arbitrarily set things up the way they want them without thinking how anyone else feels about it. It just doesn't occur to them that someone might object. Unfortunately, the ability to deal with customers without pissing them off is kind of rare in the programming community. That's why most companies don't let programmers talk to customers.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by theducks

A Subscription does not offer me any real benefit. I do not make rapid changes to my environment.

If I need to keep up with OS levels/or the Main Calibre, I will make the update choice then, not automatic allow my wallet to be tapped.

I find the incessant app (various) updates on Android very annoying . I think some of the reasons given are just PR spin to update the AD revenue generation for that AP.
I don't know the details of the CC transfer, but I am not sure change to 'subscription' was considered.

From a developer point of view, a subscriber model is the only way to make money, especially for a product that doesn't have a big customer base. A $1 a month per customer can pay the bills, even if you only have a customer base of 10 or 20 thousand. A one time $5 purchase on the other hand, won't go very far unless you have a fair number of new customer every month. The other way is ads, but CC doesn't really lend itself to the ad model like games can.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Programmers as a whole tend not to be the best at the various social skills. I tend to take the approach of it's ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.

Yes, I agree that it would be a good thing if, like Charlie, the new guy would check this specific forum at least a few times a week. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of programmers come into a situation and simply arbitrarily set things up the way they want them without thinking how anyone else feels about it. It just doesn't occur to them that someone might object. Unfortunately, the ability to deal with customers without pissing them off is kind of rare in the programming community. That's why most companies don't let programmers talk to customers.

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 )

[jehrler]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

From a developer point of view, a subscriber model is the only way to make money, especially for a product that doesn't have a big customer base. A $1 a month per customer can pay the bills, even if you only have a customer base of 10 or 20 thousand. A one time $5 purchase on the other hand, won't go very far unless you have a fair number of new customer every month. The other way is ads, but CC doesn't really lend itself to the ad model like games can.

I understand this. However, in my view, it is a bit presumptuous to switch to this model before any real update to the app has occurred. There is no credibility that there will be meaningful updates in the future.

If the developer had posted a decent (and not buggy) update that showed a committment to the product and the capability to move it forward and then announced that future feature upgrades were coming, but only to those with subscriptions, then the reception would be better (at least in my mind). This is a model I have seen on iOS and it makes sense. Those who just need iOS compatibility upgrades get them, those who want new features/functionality will pay for them.

At this point, he has not much credibility to be asking for a subscription model.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Programmers as a whole tend not to be the best at the various social skills. I tend to take the approach of it's ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them.

Yes, I agree that it would be a good thing if, like Charlie, the new guy would check this specific forum at least a few times a week. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of programmers come into a situation and simply arbitrarily set things up the way they want them without thinking how anyone else feels about it. It just doesn't occur to them that someone might object. Unfortunately, the ability to deal with customers without pissing them off is kind of rare in the programming community. That's why most companies don't let programmers talk to customers.

Lets face it. That trait is not just limited to programmers.
The issue is the Customer (user) tends to be at one end of the scale and the Business at the other.
Customer: Free or low cost and the MOST functionality
Business: Maximize revenue with the least additional effort. (Ship and forget)

What annoyed me about Software in the early days (when SW was only delivered on hard media), was Fixes (broken features) were being Sold as Upgraded Features, not free patches to a flawed program.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by theducks

What annoyed me about Software in the early days (when SW was only delivered on hard media), was Fixes (broken features) were being Sold as Upgraded Features, not free patches to a flawed program.

It still happens....

[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?

[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.

[jehrler]

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 mentioned above, the best thing you could do would be to put out a decent, free upgrade, that shows not only that the bugs are fixed but that you are, in fact, planning and doing new development.

Then, tell folks that going forward there would be iOS/system compatibility upgrades of that version for free but that any new features would require subscribing.

I have seen several iOS apps take this approach and it seems reasonable to me. Current buyers/owners get to see that you are actually doing development and new users are safe buying the one time payment version as you will keep it viable going forward. Subscribers get to see and use new features and you get a new, consistent revenue stream.

Edited to add: This also means, btw, that the developer has a clear incentive to provide useful features to induce current non subscribed users to subscribe. Otherwise there is a lot of promising but not necessarily much delivering or delivering on things people really want.

[Deskisamess]

I think I paid $10 for this app just a couple of years ago. I'm not very happy about having to pay to continue to use it, after paying $10 in 2017.

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.

This tells me you don't have a basic understanding of the app or its users. And a wave of the hand at the cost "negligible" doesn't take into account the money users have already spent on the app.

I see nothing in your attitude to encourage me.

we simply could never get it fixed.

What does this mean going forward?