The Recursive ISV

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Survived the gale force winds with no issues as all.  Though the wind gusts picked up to equivalent of of a Category 3 cyclone in some parts of Melbourne over night.  Amazing weather!  Thankfully very little damage in general around town.  Seems most of it was high level in most places.

Coded in the 30 Day trial.  Yet to link in the voice over nag.  Setting that for Saturday. 

Now have two builds, trial and full version.  Full version, separate download, can be registered, trial version can not. 

At least in theory. 

Spent most of the day making that smooth and doing UI’s for registration, nag etc.

As of tonight I’ve frozen the code barring major hobble gobbles and of course linking in help topics, after the help file is complete.

Tomorrow it’s into the help file.  I prefer to have this done concurrent to development.  However the 30 Day pace made this difficult as things changed fast.  So quite a bit to do on it tomorrow. 

Phillip, one of the 30 Dayers, blogged today about a great product called Dr Explain.  I’m very familiar with this program, written by smart ISV Dennis Crane.  It’s a great program and it’s on my shopping list for later on.  For this help file though I’ll be doing it the hard way - boot strappers eat your heart out!! 

On Saturday I’ll be going into my “studio” for the first time in a month for the purpose of recording the voice over nag.  This room doubles up for several things, I used to code in it as well, but it contains my vocal booth and I can get the isolation needed for the voice.  Not so long ago I would not have been able to do this task as my voice was still cracking from the flu, that took several weeks to clear.  In the voice over business a mere cold can be devastating.

Once recorded I’ve got to work out a neat way of making sure some Jolly Roger doesn’t just strip it out of the resources or replace it with something else.  I’m thinking CRC at this time in terms of the resource.  Can’t think of anything secure for this.

I think we really do, me included, get very lost in the whole “avoid the cracker” routine to the detriment of what we do best - code applications.  It’s hard to divorce one’s self from this, but I’m determined to give it my best shot. 

Certainly the server log stat’s for this blog that I published some weeks ago, and will update at the end of this month, certainly do indicate a lot of folks out there are looking for the output of criminals. 

A recent talkback radio program in Melbourne had it’s fair share of sycophants ringing in to justify the practice of online theft, not surprisingly none of them could see the point when a guest psychologist reversed the situation as an example pertaining to their property.  But then if they could they’d not be sycophants.  

And there I go again…  

OK.  Hoping to also do a final once over on Saturday and build the installer.  Got some more internal testing to do in VM’s and then, better late than never, get some folks to test externally.

Saw a sneak preview of my website being designed by Sue at Alta WebWorks.  It’s looking absolutely scrumptious.  I can hardly wait for it to be ready to launch!

Been going over the online store at FastSpring.   I love their back end.  It’s so darn elegant and easy to use!

I also have to say I love the support I receive from the guys who own/run/manage FastSpring.  I regularly get emails from my account manager Ken White there asking if I’m ready to roll as he wants to integrate the store to my website.   I’ve never experienced this level of service and I’m blown away. 

Last night the CEO Dan Engel emailed.  For these guys to care about a tiny mISV who’s not even launched yet speaks volumes about how committed they are to looking after their people.  Kudos to them. 

I’m usually leery of direct recommendations, they come rarely from me, but in this instance they’ve earnt my respect because of this and I recommend them to everybody wholeheartedly and without reservation.  If you’re looking for a better deal, are tired of the DR  now we charge you, now we charge you some more, vendor and customer two step  - then these guys are the medicine you’ve been looking for!  Do yourself a favor and checkout FastSpring.

Oh - and no, they’re not paying me for saying that, for the benefit of those who are of the suspicious bent. 

OK.  Enough for today.  Big day ahead in the land of documentation!

Quote of the day:
An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex. - Aldous Huxley

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