Posted by Jon Sacks (167.206.217.227) on October 31, 2003 at 06:25:00:
In Reply to: An open Letter to Comet Customers posted by jim guerber on October 30, 2003 at 20:42:55:
Although I understand your direction Jim and don't disagree with the base premise, the benifit to the end user comes in the developer and customer knowing how to maximise the "service".
You don't just build an engine and ship it to the dealer, you provide education, documentation, training and support. I think you need to consider significant and more formal training on how to exploit the tools you have created. This is were the greatest benifit to the end user will come.
Additionally, more utilities should surface as part of the package. The sendmail application is a great example. Although I have been able to exploit this in many ways it is clear that much of the field does not recognize the benifit. The windows libraries that you have created are very good, but I see very little deployment of software that benifits from this except for isolated applications.
I have been focused on creating well rounded "tools" for the system. The XML interface for XAP allowing any platform that can communicate via HTTP to access and update Comet data, an ODBC scripting tool to convert SQL requests to keyed Comet data, the form mail application allowing web based forms to use the XAP platform for communication. These are examples of strong "utilities" that support the platform, they help to foster ongoing development.
I think you would also benifit by more end user input. User meetings that focus on the real core desires of the customers might better help you direct the product (service).
My two cents.
JSACKS<<