> From: Symeon Breen
> Well what a conversation
>
> I think u2 has as much to do with mobile apps as sql
> server does. Completely divorced. As programmers we
> should take an interest in all sorts of technology , I
> don't call myself a picky i am a programmer, what
> language shall i use today ?
What a conversation indeed. Dove-tailing with Symeon's note,
technology is irrelevant, always is, it's the applications that
are relevant. Find some app worth creating, and generate revenue
selling it. That's the bottom line. Many of you are employed to
provide intranet solutions but many of you, or your companies,
derive income by providing solutions to a wider audience. We
earn our income by selling what THEY want. Find out what that is
and sell it to them. If you work for a company, find out what
your management wants, and then provide it. This notion of
trying to come up with an app to sell is kinda backwards -
especially if the only thing you can think of (or know about) are
games.
I haven't responded to this thread recently because I've been
doing some travelling around the country. One of my activities
has been to do demos and get field feedback for a new
SMS/texting-based service I've written backed by MV. (Universe
may be used for international/unicode support.) We're not using
"apps" because I don't want to get involved in the issues
associated with Java or Objective-C, device-specific limitations,
or mobile OS release issues. I need to pick low-hanging fruit.
I'm not even jumping on the HTML5/CSS3 bandwagon yet. With 7
billion people on this planet, there are over 5 billion mobile
devices in use. A significant percentage does not have internet
access. While all the ads are for flashy app-driven devices, I
believe most of the devices used today are very basic, sold
without internet service plans. Most (I'll dare to say) users
and devices make use of SMS/texting, and statistics for billions
of text messages per day worldwide support a focus on that
market.
There are two points here.
First, it all starts with the application, and all of us are
involved with business apps in one way or another. If anyone
here can't come up with a reason to use a mobile device, just ask
"real users". In my recent travels it was hard to keep up with
the ideas that people had for using my software (and they don't
know or care that it's MV or BASIC on the server). As a result
of the feedback, we're planning of kicking off several small
"verticalized" businesses in addition to supporting a more
horizontal consumer offering. Users are in a better position
than technologists to express how they use devices for business.
People in this forum might not be able to come up with
applications for mobile devices, but end-users sure as heck can.
Talk to them! Find out what your users (or prospects) need!
Don't feed people with technology ("how can we use mobile?"), ask
people what problems THEY need to solve and ask if mobile would
help.
Second, if you think more in terms of Data, what you deal with
every day, then the deployment method is totally irrelevant - and
it's subject to change over time anyway. The thing about Mobile
is that it's Mobile, not so much that it's pretty. Focus on the
benefits and dynamics of mobile computing first, and the
specifics of the UI can be discussed after you have designed a
paradigm for retrieving server data from a mobile client. We're
starting with SMS - we might later introduce device-specific apps
as an enhancement, but we're Mobile first and app developers
second.
When GUI first arrived on the scene people in these MV forums
were asking "why GUI?" and "what would I do with a GUI?" Even
now people still ask "how do I create a GUI?". Overall, we're in
the business of Data Processing with a solid engine for
development and execution of business rules, not User Interface
Processing. UI's change continuously over time. Don't ask Why,
just get on the bandwagon and sell what people want, or your
competition will continue to earn the fees that you do not, while
you're still wondering what to do with the newfangled gizmo of
the day.
Regards,
T
Tony Gravagno
Nebula Research and Development
TG@ remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com
Nebula R&D sells mv.NET and other Pick/MultiValue products
worldwide, and provides related development services
remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/blog
Visit PickWiki.com! Contribute!
http://Twitter.com/TonyGravagno
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