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We Can't Offer Less - The Bar Is Too High

By Hervé St-Louis
August 22, 2010 - 16:20

I'm F***** disappointed. Shit happens and it hits you in the face and stuff that is supposed to work - was working - now stops working and everything has to be broken down and started from scratch again.

The temptation to just put that beta - or one of the last working ones out is strong. I just want to get something into people's hands. Many of you are asking me every day in personal emails for when it's coming out. When will it be available. I have other contractual obligations to respect too, concerning the deployment of this app.

It's a mess right now. The two other ComicBookBin apps are extremely well designed and well done.

There's a 2/5 stars rating on the iOS app, and that's because people expect something else from the app. It's not because of quality. People who do use the app on their iPhones and iPod Touches and understand what the app does, see the quality right through it. I'm not making crap up. The Apple reviewer told me on the phone when I was talking with him, before the launch of the first version of the ComicBookBin app for iOS that this app was of far higher quality than most 1.0 apps he had reviewed. He could not believe it was a first version.

I have tons of anecdotes of people using the iOS app and just being totally amazed by it. The app does what it says it does, and it does it f**** well.

On Palm webOS, the app has a more truthful set of reviews. Again, people's complaints are not about quality or bugs, but about stuff they want the app to do, that strays outside of our original project scope. Understanding that some of the features requested would mean a total overhaul of the existing app. But we delivered and again the quality of ComicBookBin for webOS is incredible.

The quality of ComicBookBin for Android is not incredible. I asked on Twitter last Friday if people would be pissed at us if we released the current buggy as hell and not polished beta. I didn't get many answers, but the one that counts says, it would be a problem. You guys don't want us to deliver crap on Android. We haven't on iOS or on webOS. We won't on Android.

There are all these things that f*****ing bug me about this app on Android. It's not sexy. It's a mess. Ultimately, I'm responsible, even if some of the crap is out of my control.

I've decided to start all from scratch. We're dumping the old stuff and we're starting fresh. It f******ing pisses me off because we're scheduled for many cons. We were supposed to launch at Wizard Con...

Baltimore is next week. Ditto FanExpo in Toronto. It would have been great for people to know about the apps - all of them. They are that good. Fuck, if you're on Android, borrow your buddies' iPhone or Palm Pre and check out the ComicBookBin apps. They are that good.

It's not easy to deliver quality apps. It's fucking difficult. I spent my entire weekend working on apps. I spent all my evenings too. I work hard and don't get breaks.

I was working on other stuff besides Android. I paused everything until I can get Android on track. It's not going well. It's a f***ing mess.

Some of that mess, I blame on Google. Yeah, Google. I think Apple is a prick. They have rules and rules and rules and things you can do and things you can't do. But Google is the complete opposite. 3/4 of the apps I download on my Nexus One are crap or of questionable quality. I've never encountered crap on iOS. Some apps are not as cool, but overall, they are solid.

Google and the Android team on the other hand, breed this culture of anything goes and only if it's real bad - read  can affect the security of the user's device - will they pull the switch.

That culture makes for sloppy apps. Apps that work well on iOS and webOS are poor in comparison on Google Android. All Android fans can go on and attack me now. But I know what I'm talking about. I'm on the other side remember. I know this Android phone of mine inside out. I know a freaking lots about making apps on Android - after all that pain, I should. I also know about other platforms where things are easier. And it's not about skills. Coding for iOS is tougher and requires more skill.

It's about frameworks and how stuff is set up. Apple and Palm set developers for success. They clean up the crap. They are not perfect. I have tons of complaints on each of them. But Google, has a laisser-faire attitude and ultimately, it's f***ing hurting the end users who pays a  decent amount of money for a device, but gets shitty apps. Shitty apps exist because standards are low to begin with. People expect less from Android.

I hate that. I want ComicBookBin for Android to be as good, if not better than the Apple and the Palm versions. I don't do crap. But that means that I can't just deliver stuff as fast.

It's not users' faults at all. The buck stops with me, and I take this app for Android very seriously.

I apologize for the delays and missed deadlines. But I'm working hard on this app. I'll be working on this app, until I can deliver a version that is not a beta or full of bugs and that can stand shoulders to shoulders with the other versions for the other mobile platforms.

cheers and sorry for all the swearing.

Last Updated: November 10, 2023 - 14:53