Wow! Seth Godin made some great comments about software in his blog post that apply to the sticky situation we face with PrintSmith Classic versus PrintSmith Vision.
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/01/five-thoughts-on-software.html
I especially like his points in #2 and #5:
“2. Removing features to make software simpler doesn’t always make it better. You could, for example, make a hammer simpler by removing the nail puller on the other side. But that makes a useful tool less useful.”
I can’t help but think of the removal of the Report Writer module for a 3rd party substitute, Crystal Reports. If I’m going to spend hours and hours recreating reports, maybe I ought to look at other solutions that are compatible with my iPad and my iPhone which is even more valuable to me.
“5. Most of all, software as a whole just isn’t good enough. …… But given how cheap (compared to cars, building materials or appliances) it is to revamp and reinvent software, and how urgent it is to create tools that increase the quality of what we make, we’re way too complacement.
Fix all bugs. Yes, definitely. But more important, restate the minimum standards for good enough to be a lot higher than they are.
We need better design, more rigor and most of all, higher aspirations for what our tools can do.”
I have a list of things that need fixed in PS that have been on the list far too long. Now would be a great time to fix them, unfortunately, this brings us back to the issue of incompatibility with the iPad and the iPhone. Thus, we are forced to look elsewhere…..
Woodruff Consulting 