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/
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