Hey Jim,
I think you're really going above and beyond the call of duty when it
comes to 'dogfood', so thanks! .. I think part of the notion that we're
trying to express with 'experimentally useful dogfood' is that this
really is dogfood. And dogfood... well, it will certainly sustain you
but it still tastes like crap :) Most people I know wouldn't 'dogfood' a
product they weren't working on, so kudos for your efforts.
When you're dumping all of your personal information into chandler,
please do remember that we're only at a 0.6 release. Think of that as
being 60% of a full product.. and as you've pointed out, when it comes
to a PIM, 60% is probably not enough for a hardcore PIM user, no more
than 60% of Photoshop would be good for daily use by a graphic designer.
So our dogfood goals right now are based on very simple calendar use
cases, and built around the notion that you could loose your data at any
time.
All of this being said, we are working on some of the lower-level issues
around being able to migrate your data from one version of chandler to
another (you may see discussion about 'schema migration') - part of work
for this will include some backup/restore mechanisms. Some time after
the 'schema migration' is ready, we'll be able to expose the
backup/restore functionality to the user..
It would also be helpful for you to file bugs against specific problems
you've had. I think the more general product feedback you've given to
the list is really helpful, but if you have very specific problems, like
a reproducible way to make chandler crash, or a state that you get stuck
in with a stack trace, etc, please do file bugs.
https://bugzilla.osafoundation.org/enter_bug.cgi?format=guided
So anyhow, the take away is 'don't worry, we're working on that too" -
but please keep in mind that we're still a long way from a 1.0 product
and we can use all the feedback we can get :)
Alec
Jim Sowers wrote:
Hello All,
After a frenzy of activity, I hit a wall. Ran into some issues that
have precluded me from using Chandler. I have received some
well-intentioned emails, however, some of the proposed solutions
assume that I am involved at a level much deeper than as simply an
end-user (e.g., requiring the use of Cygwin to do command-line stuff
etc. -- I didn't even know what Cygwin was when I started).
I know Chandler is in the very early stages, but having worked at a
few software companies myself (including as a sales engineer at
Interwoven in the very early days), I would like to make an important
point about "dogfood".
Eating one's own dogfood, i.e., relying on the software that you
write, is one thing when you're talking about say, a graphics package.
But when it comes to a PIM -- which is intended for the least
technical of computer users, and on which people will plan and run
their lives -- IMHO, there should be a different standard and priority
list.
More than anything, someone must be able to recover (all but the most
recent) data that has been entered. Server, repository, and
installation issues should be given the highest priority. It should
never take a high level of sophistication to have the option of
resetting and reinstalling. But if it comes to that, then it should be
easy and bulletproof. (That's where I'm at -- I have an .ics file
waiting to be imported ;-)
I'm sure I will get Chandler back on track soon enough, but this is
really more of a gut check for a broader testing release.
I realize I am the unusual user who will try all the functionality
advertised (and some that isn't) -- multiple shared collections,
syncing to multiple machines, etc. But, as much as I'd like to think
that I am unique, I am not :-)
Anyway, I don't mean to sound critical or frustrated. I like
Chandler, was starting to rely on it, miss using it, and can't wait
for the next release + Scooby!
(Dog)Food for thought.
Jim
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