While you have a lot of great points in here Tony. I have to strongly disagree with the "Don't ask why, just get on the bandwagon"
Asking "why" doesn't mean you won't do it. Asking why is fundamental to understanding the real reasons. If you don't understand the real reasons, you are doing no better than providing your own limited interpretation of the users actually want and run the very real risk of providing a solution that you "think" is what they want (for example, it provides a GUI) as opposed to a solution the users really want. Don't just find out 'what' the users want to achieve, understand 'why' as well. That is, unless you have the holy grail of users that are able to perfectly articulate the solution that works for them each and every time. Regards, Dan -----Original Message----- From: u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org [mailto:u2-users-boun...@listserver.u2ug.org] On Behalf Of Tony Gravagno Sent: Wednesday, 1 June 2011 8:19 AM To: u2-users@listserver.u2ug.org Subject: Re: [U2] Pondering recent thread on compact framework > From: Symeon Breen > Well what a conversation > > I think u2 has as much to do with mobile apps as sql server does. > Completely divorced. As programmers we should take an interest in all > sorts of technology , I don't call myself a picky i am a programmer, > what language shall i use today ? What a conversation indeed. Dove-tailing with Symeon's note, technology is irrelevant, always is, it's the applications that are relevant. Find some app worth creating, and generate revenue selling it. That's the bottom line. Many of you are employed to provide intranet solutions but many of you, or your companies, derive income by providing solutions to a wider audience. We earn our income by selling what THEY want. Find out what that is and sell it to them. If you work for a company, find out what your management wants, and then provide it. This notion of trying to come up with an app to sell is kinda backwards - especially if the only thing you can think of (or know about) are games. I haven't responded to this thread recently because I've been doing some travelling around the country. One of my activities has been to do demos and get field feedback for a new SMS/texting-based service I've written backed by MV. (Universe may be used for international/unicode support.) We're not using "apps" because I don't want to get involved in the issues associated with Java or Objective-C, device-specific limitations, or mobile OS release issues. I need to pick low-hanging fruit. I'm not even jumping on the HTML5/CSS3 bandwagon yet. With 7 billion people on this planet, there are over 5 billion mobile devices in use. A significant percentage does not have internet access. While all the ads are for flashy app-driven devices, I believe most of the devices used today are very basic, sold without internet service plans. Most (I'll dare to say) users and devices make use of SMS/texting, and statistics for billions of text messages per day worldwide support a focus on that market. There are two points here. First, it all starts with the application, and all of us are involved with business apps in one way or another. If anyone here can't come up with a reason to use a mobile device, just ask "real users". In my recent travels it was hard to keep up with the ideas that people had for using my software (and they don't know or care that it's MV or BASIC on the server). As a result of the feedback, we're planning of kicking off several small "verticalized" businesses in addition to supporting a more horizontal consumer offering. Users are in a better position than technologists to express how they use devices for business. People in this forum might not be able to come up with applications for mobile devices, but end-users sure as heck can. Talk to them! Find out what your users (or prospects) need! Don't feed people with technology ("how can we use mobile?"), ask people what problems THEY need to solve and ask if mobile would help. Second, if you think more in terms of Data, what you deal with every day, then the deployment method is totally irrelevant - and it's subject to change over time anyway. The thing about Mobile is that it's Mobile, not so much that it's pretty. Focus on the benefits and dynamics of mobile computing first, and the specifics of the UI can be discussed after you have designed a paradigm for retrieving server data from a mobile client. We're starting with SMS - we might later introduce device-specific apps as an enhancement, but we're Mobile first and app developers second. When GUI first arrived on the scene people in these MV forums were asking "why GUI?" and "what would I do with a GUI?" Even now people still ask "how do I create a GUI?". Overall, we're in the business of Data Processing with a solid engine for development and execution of business rules, not User Interface Processing. UI's change continuously over time. Don't ask Why, just get on the bandwagon and sell what people want, or your competition will continue to earn the fees that you do not, while you're still wondering what to do with the newfangled gizmo of the day. Regards, T Tony Gravagno Nebula Research and Development TG@ remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com Nebula R&D sells mv.NET and other Pick/MultiValue products worldwide, and provides related development services remove.pleaseNebula-RnD.com/blog Visit PickWiki.com! Contribute! http://Twitter.com/TonyGravagno _______________________________________________ U2-Users mailing list U2-Users@listserver.u2ug.org http://listserver.u2ug.org/mailman/listinfo/u2-users ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________ ########################################################################################### The information transmitted in this message and attachments (if any) is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed. The message may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 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