Your words were well said and not too long at all. I for one have been using a competitor's product for quite a while but have been holding out hope that Versions will again be the svn GUI of choice. I actively watch for progress whether it is in what is said on this list or in new releases. What you said was encouraging. I will continue to look to come back if and when Versions meets my needs better than the competitor's product. I have been down the road of trying to support what ended up becoming abandon-ware (ZigVersion), and I am glad to hear that Versions is far from that.
Rob On May 27, 2012, at 5:22 AM, Daniel Pasco wrote: > I realize that this may seem like a disproportionately long response compared > to the comment that spurred it, but we've been talking internally for quite > awhile about this situation is and what we can do about it. My previous email > was effectively a brain dump of what we've been discussing within our group. > > -Daniel > > On May 27, 2012, at 5:20 AM, Daniel Pasco <[email protected]> wrote: > >> We bought this software to continue updating it and make it even greater >> than it already is. >> >> Unfortunately, disclosing our product roadmap is not an option. Jack is in >> the unenviable position of being the public face for this product - please >> at least divert your frustration to me personally, because he is just >> conveying the message that our team members have all internally agreed to >> stand by: we give a damn what people think, our product group is very busy, >> and we can't talk about when we'll release products or what will be in the >> those releases until they have shipped. >> >> If people are upset about that, it's understandable. All that I can say is, >> we didn't acquire this product to kill it or sit on it. >> >> The gist of this is as follows: >> >> * We can't miss a deadline we don't announce (on at least one product, we >> would have missed our proposed deadline multiple times if we'd kept telling >> people when we planned to ship. Unfortunately, really producing a polished >> product takes a lot of time, and we agreed internally that we'd rather take >> longer to make something better than just push something out the door that >> would make people upset). >> * If we don't announce the features in our next planned release, we can't >> get flamed for postponing support for that feature in the release if it >> looks like it's not ready to make it into the build yet). >> * Our competitors (and there are many out there) - can't jump the gun on us >> if we don't announce an upcoming feature before it goes live. >> >> All three of these factors are important, and the last one may only be >> important to us, but it's a critical one: our product team is young and >> totally buried working on applications - if we lose market share simply >> because we announce something before it's ready, and someone else is capable >> of responding to the announcement before we ship, it's going to really hurt >> our ability to even break even on what we're working on - which means that >> it will become even harder for our team to ship great updates to these apps. >> >> My personal focus for almost the last year has been on putting absolutely >> all of my energy into our product team. These apps are large, complex, great >> things, and we're committed to doing great work on everything we ship. Since >> our product team currently consists of about five full time developers and >> four full time designers, and we have taken on five different applications. >> Moving forward with these apps *and* doing a great job on them takes time. >> >> Our company is investing heavily in the product group, currently at a net >> loss. Hopefully, at some point in the future we will at least break even on >> our work. At the present, please try to take the following points to heart: >> >> * We are crazily in love with our apps >> * We are working our butts off >> * We have already turned down offers to acquire our company, as well as >> offers to acquire individual products, because we want to see these apps >> *ship* and we want them to be amazing. >> * We are absolutely not sitting on these apps and happily collecting revenue >> from them - we're using the revenue to pay for the work our product team is >> doing and our company is sinking considerably more than those apps are >> making into the product group in order to pay for the other people that the >> direct revenue doesn't cover. >> >> At this point, as I've told Jack (who has expressed support for our stance >> of silence, but also really been uncomfortable with the fact that it doesn't >> leave him in a very good position on the support front), the only thing we >> can do is shut up and ship something great. Which is what we're trying to do. >> >> If we lose customers in the interim, those are lumps we will have to take. >> Hopefully as our apps do ship, they will be compelling enough that people >> will be interested in trying them out. >> >> I wish we were big enough that I could just throw 30 people at these >> projects and ship them on an expedited pace. Unfortunately, this is why >> being indie is a double-edged sword: we have complete creative control over >> our apps and can take the time to make them the best they can be, instead of >> being beholden to some investor that wants us to ship a shitty product as >> quickly as possible to meet their bottom line, or outright kill a product by >> selling it to someone that *would* just sit on it to make a quick buck. >> >> Really, the only sources of pressure we have to ship something before it's >> ready are our own finance people, who would love to see the revenue coming >> in so they could stop pouring money into the product team and put some >> capital away for our own security, and our existing users, who are >> understandably frustrated and impatient with the realities of how long this >> is taking. >> >> Everyone else in our own group is beating themselves senseless on our work >> and would prefer to keep it unreleased until it is ready. >> >> We've talked about writing a blog post about this, and we probably should. I >> don't know if this will make a bit of difference to anyone reading this, but >> we're working hard, and we truly give a shit about our customers and what >> we're working on. >> >> In any case, as I said, if people are upset about it, feel free to reach out >> to me directly. I'm the CEO and I'm the responsible party for these >> decisions, not Jack. >> >> -Daniel Pasco, CEO >> Black Pixel >> >> On May 27, 2012, at 4:46 AM, Christian Pleul <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> That support really sucks! Why did you guys ever bought this software... >>> >>> Christian >>> >>> >>> Sent from my iPad >>> >>> On 25.05.2012, at 23:26, "Jack (Black Pixel)" <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi - sorry for the delay in responding. >>>> >>>> Unfortunately, I don't have any information to share regarding 1.7 support. >>>> >>>> Jack >>>> >>>> the Versions team >>>> versionsapp.com >>>> @versionsapp >>>> >>>> On Friday, May 18, 2012 10:19:24 AM UTC-7, William Chu wrote: >>>> When is Subversion 1.7 support coming to Versions? It's become a real >>>> hindrance and I've found myself gradually using Versions less and less >>>> given this limitation. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "Versions" group. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msg/versions/-/wW6C4UDoQ8UJ. >>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> [email protected]. >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/versions?hl=en. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Versions" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/versions?hl=en. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Versions" group. 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