Software Made Simple

The time has come. On Monday, February 25th, I resigned from my day job at AMS Services. Soon, I’ll be working full-time for my MicroISV, LogicalVue Software. My last day as an AMS Services employee is March 14, 2008.

This has been a long time coming and I’m very excited about the change. I formed my first company in 1993 when I was writing shareware for the Atari ST, but that didn’t last very long as the Atari ST market disappeared pretty soon after that. I knew then I would someday want to own my own company, but it wasn’t until 2001 that I started seriously looking into it again. In 2002 I formed LogicalVue Software and in 2003 I incorporated. I knew that LogicalVue would focus on creating software using REALbasic, so I spent the following years attempting to increase my visibility in the REALbasic community:

• I created several open-source REALbasic products
• I write for REALbasic Developer Magazine (since its inception in 2002)
• I founded RBDevZone as a community portal for REALbasic developers
• I am the community evangelist for REAL Software
• I am presenting at the REAL World conference for the second straight year

I had always had a blurb on my web page about doing REALbasic consulting, but I never really did anything significant. Late last summer, I decided to more seriously investigate doing some REALbasic consulting. The response was phenomenal. I’ve since created solutions for many clients and had a lot of fun doing it. But the last couple months, I’ve been inundated with consulting work. So much so, that I’ve really had trouble keeping up while only working nights and weekends. That’s one of the reasons I felt I needed to make this change now. I feel I’m starting to not meet my client’s expectations so I really need to pick up the pace on my consulting work. And it certainly wasn’t fair to AMS Services for me to not have my head “in the game” there.

Another thing that I’m really excited about is to get back to working on my MicroISV product, Pharmacaid CMS. Consulting is fun and pays the bills, but to be a MicroISV, I really need a product. I’ve been thinking and planning this product for some time, but I really need to get it out the door to test the market. I’ve worked a lot with the pharmaceutical industry and I think this product will help fulfill an important need. I also think the B2B market and this particular industry makes sense for my skills, experience and contacts. And of course, I’ll be using REALbasic to build this product.

To commemorate all this, I will be launching an all-new web site design in March to better focus on my new product and services. The current web site is out-dated and doesn’t reflect what I’ll actually be doing. I expect I’ll drop several services and add a couple others. Stay Tuned!

And I’m sure I’ll be looking for more clients in the coming months. If you’re looking to have your software made simple, please let me know.

In closing, I have some people to thank:

First and foremost, I have to thank my wife for supporting me, as best she can, in this decision. No time is ever perfect for a change like this, but she realizes this is something I really have to do. Thank you, dear! I love you!

I want to thank my kids for helping me realize what’s important in life. They get such joy from simple things and it’s a pleasure to watch. We should all strive for a little joy in our lives. Thank you, Laura and Lucas!

Next, although I’ve never met or spoken to her, I have to thank Pamela Slim for her inspiring blog Escape From Cubicle Nation. Her writing struck a chord with me and made me realize I can do this. She inspired me to make the jump. Thanks, Pam!

I also want to thank AMS Services. They have been completely supportive of this and also realize that I needed to make this change. We’re leaving on good terms, and if all goes well we may even continue our relationship with some consulting. Thanks, Dave, Mike and Vance!

And lastly, I have to thank REAL Software. I was getting burned out working with complex technologies like Java and .NET but REALbasic has invigorated my desire to write software. Without REALbasic, I don’t suspect I’d have been able to make this jump. Thank you Geoff, Aaron, Mike, Mars, William, Dana and anyone else there I’ve not mentioned!

Wish me luck!

My brother-in-law’s laptop recently died. He’s a chiropractor and the laptop contained the database for the application he uses that stores back scans. Of course, he did not have a current backup so he came to me for help. I was able to easily remove the hard drive from the laptop (it was a Dell) and hook it up to my iMac (using a USB to IDE cable) and get the data off. Or so I thought.

On his new laptop he had been using this application on new patients. When I inspected the laptop, I noticed that the database files were being stored in the Program Files folder for the application. Not good, because I hadn’t copied any Program Files data from the old hard drive.

Luckily I still had the hard drive and was able to get the data off of it. We still have the problem of how to merge the two database into one (they’re both Access databases), but for the time being he can at least switch between the databases to see older information.

The moral of the story: your application data should be stored somewhere separate from your applications so that it is easy for the user to find and backup. On OS X, this usually means use the Application Support folder. On Windows XP, use the Application Data folder; on Vista the AppData folder. Unfortunately, AppData is hidden by default on Vista which might make it hard for some to backup. I’m sure Microsoft has a good reason for that, though I don’t know what it could be.

And of course, if you use REALbasic then just use the ApplicationSupportFolder function to get a reference to the folder you should be using for the platform you are working with.

Today I attended the South Portland Maine Democratic caucus, which is the first caucus I’ve ever attended. I have to say, I never really understood the whole caucus thing. It seems to me that a primary makes more sense. And now, after having attended a caucus, I am even more convinced that a primary is the way to go. Perhaps a caucus makes sense in really small towns, but even in a small city like South Portland, with a population of about 20,000 or so, it seemed to me that a caucus is just not very efficient. I can see why a lot of people don’t bother doing it.

According to official totals, there were 1,052 people that voted.

I found the whole thing rather chaotic and confusing. It was hard to hear what the speakers were saying and even the “leaders” seemed confused about things at times. And the extreme time commitment also doesn’t make this something everyone can easily do. I don’t know how to get it changed, but I’d really like to see Maine switch to a primary instead.

Oh, yeah: Obama won.