Everyone seems to be moving to "web-solutions" for several reasons:
- Your programs, and their settings and data, are available everywhere you have internet access.
- In most cases it works on your PC and on your phone.
- You don't have to worry about backups going sour or crashing hard drives destroying your data.
But there's another point that I never noticed... until this morning when I opened Google Reader and there's was a new button saying "Share with Note". I thought to myself "Hey that's handy. I wonder when they added it..."
And that's when it hit me: If your application runs on the web, you can add little features and updates without telling anyone. You don't have to roll our a whole new version of the software.
Google have(has?) been doing this for years. You would open your GMail account one day, and suddenly that little irritation that was the bane of your mailing was gone... or fixed... or some new feature has appeared overnight, like a new interface with coloured tags. It's probably the one reason I've been using my Google account for so long (5 years). Everytime I see something is owned by Google (or bought out by them) I automatically prefer it over any other service in the same sector, such as this Blogger account. I even subscribed to Google's RSS feed so I can know when something happens.
As a developer it's your job to think of the things other people don't. That's what gets you ahead in this business.
There is one other thing worth mentioning: Auto-updating apps. If you can engineer your application or game in such a way that it updates itself with new features, with small enough downloads that users don't mind waiting, you immediately have an upper hand.
So for the other programmers out there reading this, take it as good advice.
And that's when it hit me: If your application runs on the web, you can add little features and updates without telling anyone. You don't have to roll our a whole new version of the software.
Google have(has?) been doing this for years. You would open your GMail account one day, and suddenly that little irritation that was the bane of your mailing was gone... or fixed... or some new feature has appeared overnight, like a new interface with coloured tags. It's probably the one reason I've been using my Google account for so long (5 years). Everytime I see something is owned by Google (or bought out by them) I automatically prefer it over any other service in the same sector, such as this Blogger account. I even subscribed to Google's RSS feed so I can know when something happens.
As a developer it's your job to think of the things other people don't. That's what gets you ahead in this business.
There is one other thing worth mentioning: Auto-updating apps. If you can engineer your application or game in such a way that it updates itself with new features, with small enough downloads that users don't mind waiting, you immediately have an upper hand.
So for the other programmers out there reading this, take it as good advice.
Words:
"In every project there is always one file that strikes fear into the hearts of all programmers everywhere. These files are usually full of code that could render a battle-hardy coder to complete gibbering tears within seconds and that is just for looking at it – if they have to make changes to the file then they usually make their farewell calls to their loved ones, have a swift drink of something to bolster their courage and run into the battlefield screaming as they go. Somewhere in the world is an honour monument to those who fell."
-Byron, Introversion
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment