A Glimpse Inside: One Year Later
It’s not like me to take a break from working on Flow to write something like this, but I feel that I’ve got to be honest and upfront.
—
Many of you reading have been following the maturation of Flow for almost one year now. If you haven’t been following for that long, here’s the synopsis: I released one small video of a head-to-head speed comparison of Flow and Transmit in around February of last year, and it received (what I consider) a whole lot of attention. People were really excited, not only for the speed, but for the interface, and the idea that there’d be a new kid on the FTP block — a new chance for someone to do things a little bit differently, and most importantly, a new branch of innovation to happen in the market. It was that last aspect — the idea that we could take an FTP client to places it had never been before — that excited me most about the whole ordeal. It’s the reason my whiteboard is never empty.
—
Unfortunately, I was a bit naive a year ago. Flow is (and was) the first piece of software I’ll actually be publicly distributing, and so I was definitely new to all of this — and as a result, I was vastly unaware of how long it took software to actually blossom into something I’d consider good enough for 1.0. If you’re not the type who makes software, I’ll just summarize this epiphany bluntly: Making software is hard. It’s not that programming is particularly difficult, but turning an idea into full-fledged product is hard work. It’s work I love, and that’s why I keep at it, but make no mistake about it — it’s tough.
I’m a stickler for quality, and at the same time, I really wanted to get 1.0 (what I refer to as the “solid foundation”) out the door and into your hands. And so I promised dates I missed by a long-shot, and since then my tactic has been to simply not reveal dates at all. The downside of this is that I’m leaving you guys in dark. I’m not a fan of that.
It’s for this I’d like to apologize. Everyday I feel pressure to move forward at faster rates, and that’s because I feel terrible for showing Flow off (or at least part of it) so early in the development cycle. As I mentioned, back then, I didn’t even know it was early in the development cycle, but what’s done is done. That being said, I’m more grateful than you can possibly imagine to those who have shown their support in the past year. I can safely say without exaggeration that your support is why I’ve kept working on Flow even when I’ve felt I was on the brink of losing it. Again, thank you. There’s a certain contradiction in this situation — I want to keep these supporters waiting as little as I can, and at the same time I want to provide the best quality I can.
So basically, this is a matter of time.
—
If you know me personally (or you’ve googled me), you probably know why time as a deterrent is so gosh-darn obnoxious for me. I’m a student — a high school student. I’ll be graduating in June of this year. While I’m in New York now, by September I’ll either be in California or Massachusetts, attending a university.
The trouble here isn’t, in fact, anything else but time. I’ve got the feedback I need. I’ve got the tools and resources and knowledge I need. What I don’t have is eight hours a day to work on the thing I wake up every morning thinking about. To say that sucks is a vast understatement. Hell, I’ll level with you. It blows.
Many of you will probably wonder why I’ve taken so long to bring up this fact. The reality is that I don’t think it’s something you, as a customer, should need to be concerned about. I still hold that belief. The quality of Flow is in no way dependent on the fact that I’m a student — the rate at which it’s developed, however, is.
—
While the above may have been a surprise to you, it may surprise you further to discover that I’m the only person working on Flow (at all). With the exception of the beautiful icons and website that Sebastiaan de With and Adam Betts designed (respectively) for me, literally everything else that’s been made has been done by me. From the custom authenticated beta-center download system, to this blog, to Flow itself, it’s been my blood, sweat, and tears.
And make no mistake, I loved every minute of it. And thus, for all intents and purposes, Flow is a one-man-show. Personally, I think that’s wonderful. There’s no communication overhead in any portion of the product, and that makes for a tighter delivery. Additionally, a big part of why I develop for Mac OS X is because this type of thing is actually possible with it’s strong development platform. You don’t find that anywhere else. (I’ve checked.)
However, unlike some other companies, this means I’m comparatively slow in terms of development and man-power.
—
To put it simply, I’m sharing this information with you because I think the next best thing to being able to develop Flow as fast as I’d like to is to let you know why I can’t. Rest assured, I’m devoting as much time as I possibly can to Flow (I wake at 6 AM and sleep at 2:30 - 3:00 AM), so by no means do I intend this entry to be an excuse; I simply want to share what’s happening inside the beast.
—
As I mentioned previously, one of the upsides to Flow being a one-man-show is that you get to talk directly with the guy who writes the code. So when I say your feedback counts…trust me, I mean it. Whether you’re an existing beta tester or you’re just watching from the outside, I’m interested in what you think. If you’d like to make my day, leave a comment and let me know exactly what that is.
Thanks for the continued support,
Brian Amerige.
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January 7th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Great Post! And I have to tell you how great Flow has become over the last couple months!
Good Job with everything!
January 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
booo, I thought there would be pictures of “inside extendmac”. You have to do better next time my friend
January 7th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Hey take your time and make it great I just wish I was in as part of the beta team. Although its nice to see that you are at beta 5 now.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Brian,
I’d just like to take a minute to thank you for all of your hard work on Flow. While I’ve been switching back-and-forth from some other FTP client, and Flow, it’s only because Flow is in its beta stage, and like all beta products, their are a few bugs. Over the last few days, I have really been noticing a lot of issues with those other FTP clients, including crashing, failing transfers, and well, major problems, so I have been enjoying the Flow beta quite a bit recently. I have been interested in Flow ever since I saw the first screencast, but knew it was in its very early development stage, and because of your presence on Twitter, I learned that you were the only man behind Flow, meaning, it could take a bit longer to develop. Hey, at least you aren’t only releasing a 1.0 release, at least we have gotten alpha and beta releases while we are waiting for the final 1.0 release. Thanks again for all of your hard work.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
@EDIT-XTREEM
Thanks! I remember you’ve given some great feedback, and I really appreciate it.
@Niclas
Well, when we get an office I’ll definitely do that. Until then, I’m fairly sure you don’t want to see my office at home. Or do you?
@John
Thanks for the support! We’re coming nicely, and I can’t wait to get 1.0 in your hands.
@Chris
Thanks so much, Chris. It’s great to hear you’ve found the beta useful.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
As a fellow member of the mac development community (I work on Growl, Transmission, and Clutch), I appreciate the amount of work you have put into this. Flow is going to be amazing. Actually, scratch that. It IS amazing. I find using flow I forget which windows are flow and which are Finder. but not in a bad way, I mean in a way that it fits so perfectly into my workflow that I forget I’m using it.
Thank you for all your work. Personally, I don’t care how long it takes for 1.0 to come out. as long as development is continued, and the public is notified about progress and things. The only thing I don’t like are when software takes ages to be finished, And I know it does a lot of the time, but its when we receive no information on the progress on the projects. (My dream app is a HUGE example of what NOT to do)
Your app rocks. You rock. Continue with your great work, and hell man, take a goddamn break. you’re gonna explode if you keep going at this rate.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Wow that’s really impressive that you’re a 1-man show and a high school student. I don’t know that I’ll ever buy Flow (I have a Transmit license, and it works well enough for me, I’m not an FTP junkie), but my hat is off to you. Keep up the good work. Oh, I used to develop software myself, back in the day, so you have my sympathies with the way the process takes a lot longer than it first appears it should.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Flow looks like it will be a really great app. I mean that. That said, I am apparently one of the few people who has experienced a persistent error such that I cannot use Flow at all on my FTP site. This has been reported … I would have said to your “support team,” but thanks to your above post, I now realize this is … to you. But I’m patient, and I hope you’ll get that bug (or whatever it is) worked out soon.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Keep up the great work.
I have already submitted a few bug reports and all of them have been responded too and fixed. I didn’t know a single person was behind it all! Really, you’re doing a great job. Time is always the number one issue with software, I know from experience. But its good to hear that you’re willing to sacrifice deadlines for quality, which I believe is the right choice.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
@Gimp
I appreciate that a whole lot, Gimp. I know we’ve talked a lot over the months and you’ve donated lots of feedback, so it means a lot coming from you.
@Seb Frey
Thanks! As for buying Flow, don’t worry about that. Just promise me you’ll play around with it once it’s released, and that’s all I can ask.
@Michael
Thanks for the vote of confidence. As for the error, rest assured it’s in queue to be fixed. I won’t forget!
@Joseph Pecoraro
Thanks a bunch! As for the quality vs. deadlines issue, I definitely agree. Setting goals is really important, but I always remind myself that I can’t lose the forest for the trees.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Wow! I am really impressed by this post. Not just the fact that you are a high school student (running the show very professionally I might add) but that you are doing this by yourself, in your spare time. That’s true dedication. That’s something that will get you far in life. I am also VERY impressed with flow (I’m in the beta circle) and the personal, quick, emails I’ve received when submitting issues I’ve found. Keep up the great work, I’ll be waiting to toss you my money when 1.0 comes around.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Brian, thanks for the update. I’ve been following Flow since before you showed off Flow vs. Transmit. The longer you perfect it, the better it will be. I’m fine with that.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
wow man i have lots of respect for you! im a high school student/graphic designer but doing what your doing is waaaaaayy harder jeje well hope you the best man
-manuel
January 7th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I really appreciate the update on the status of Flow. I’ve been following the project for some time now, I think it’s looking great. I also develop a little bit here and there, I developed the application “Image Resize”, it’s nothing special, just an app that easily resizes images. Anyways, coming up with application features and new concepts is definitely hard to do. Trying to do something other people haven’t yet takes allot of skill and I think you definitely are headed in the right direction.
You’re definitely being very professional about it, it’s really good to see updates and to see progress. I do also like being able to directly talk to other developers, I’ve ran into people in the past that were pretty crude to it’s users just because they were inquiring. Sometimes it’s really hard to find the right person to talk to when there are so many actively developing on the same application. Being a one man show is nice sometimes because you don’t have to rely on everyone else to finish what their doing before you can start your magic.
Anyways, I’m just rambling now. I think Flow is looking fantastic, keep up the good work. I’m really looking forward to version 1.0
Good luck!
- ghostshadow
January 7th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I remember signing up for the beta from the get-go, but never invited, oh well. I just wish you didn’t make us want this program so much! haha
As a high school student, trying to get the ropes of Cocoa, I can totally understand how you might be having some trouble with time.
Maybe release a public beta?
January 7th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Seems I can’t edit my last comment, but maybe set a list of what you want to be in version 1.0, and work towards that. And have a separate list of features you want to implement in the future.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Keep up the great work! I’m excited for the 1.0 release. I know it will be the best FTP client available.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Hey, i’ve been keeping a close eye on your product (Flow) since the very beginning when it all started (at the start of last year) and as everyone else I am very please with the progress you are making, keep it up!
January 7th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I know what its like to work through school so dont stress yourself and keep at it. Whenever you get a release ready or want to take in more beta testers dont hesitate to drop me a line. That having said have a good one and dont quit, Flow looks fucking sweet.
Steve
January 7th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
I think what you’re doing is pretty darn awesome and I admire your commitment to releasing a quality product.
Don’t feel rushed. Please take as much time as you need to release a stable product.
I look forward to finally getting a chance to use this someday.
January 7th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
… take your time…
making software in a hurry would be more fatal than letting it grow slowly…
i am really impressed of what you did in this time and how great your flow is…
really good work, keep going!
January 8th, 2008 at 12:11 am
G’day Brian,
I’m sorry I have to admit I’ve not yet given the Flow beta a serious run around the block yet, but maybe that was because a) have Transmit and Fetch, and b) I thought at the back of my mind that extendmac was JustAnotherCompany developing a utility when they’re GodDamnedGood’n'Ready(tm) rather than a brilliant time-starved student who really wants to make a difference. Sorry for making that mistake.
Y’know call me an oldtimer (is 30-something an oldtimer? guess it is these days
this reminds me; a long while back there was this 17 y.o. “kid” who also had a vision of how things could be done better but also faced similar constraints. His name is Raymond Lau. The app? StuffIt. And it turned the Mac world upside down.
When you get the time Brian, go for it, the world awaits. Show us what you can do.
Go champ!
January 8th, 2008 at 12:23 am
I would be glad to help in the development process.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Let me assure you: There’s no need to apologize. As many others, as long as the development continues and we users can see and feel that it’s going on, the release date of the 1.0 is not as important.
And since there are probably quite some students out there in about the same position as you are, involved in some software development while they should be asleep, there is a certain amount of understanding, especially now that you’ve pointed out that you are one of them, too.
So, thank you for the continued development, keep your ideas up and bring em on!
January 8th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Brian, I’m glad you’re so honest with the world, and I wish you all the best luck with Flow and ExtendMac. I agree with you that it’s better to wait for a while and have a great product then to rush out a bad product, and I really appreciate all the hard work you’re putting into Flow.
- Michael BOutros
January 8th, 2008 at 1:00 am
BRIAN SHOW ME UR RUUUUM!
January 8th, 2008 at 1:44 am
mhm.
i’m not quite sure what your post shall tell me.
of course, i’m very interested in flow (i’m on your mailing list). but unfortunately i was too late to become a beta tester.
so, from my point of view there is no flow. maybe it will come tomorrow, maybe we’ll have to wait five years. that’s ok. i still use a ftp client of course. probably not as sophisticated as flow, but it works.
why should i brood over the features of an application that will (or will not) come eventually in the future?
give it a public beta. you will find me in the first row.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:16 am
I suppose in Flow’s case, the ‘mythical man-month’ isn’t so mythical! Anyway, Brian, as Gimp says, take a break once in a while or the frustration will consume you. And, like PaulNoJustPaul, I have to admit I haven’t given Flow the time that it deserves (since most of my transfers are over SSHFS/FUSE and Amazon S3), but I will definitely be looking at it again. The world doesn’t change because of business as usual; it changes because of the vision of those who would dare to dream.
January 8th, 2008 at 3:00 am
It’s done when it’s done.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:40 am
Hey, just wanted to through my supporting hat in the ring! We really appreciate your work and we understand a students schedule (I graduate college in the spring in fact, I only wish I had something as big as this under my belt by even now, let alone my high-school graduation!!). Keep up the good work, and take your time, we know it’ll be great!
-ALex
January 8th, 2008 at 4:42 am
[...] wrote a post on the Extendmac blog last night recapping the past year of development of [...]
January 8th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Relax young man. You will release the software when you have had the time to develop it. Finishing school, prom, and getting ready for your studies at a university trump software development. Be good to yourself.
January 8th, 2008 at 5:06 am
Hi Brian,
frankly, my Dear — I don’t give a damn whether you’re a one man show or how long I’ll have to wait for a 1.0 release. You have come up with a pretty unique concept of a blazingly fast file transfer client. And you can be really proud of that. Which is the only thing that matters.
Keep up your good work. And take a bit more sleep, might be healthier in the long run. For both you and Flow.
Tnx, Thomas
January 8th, 2008 at 5:13 am
i gota give you credit kid what your doing is hard
January 8th, 2008 at 5:45 am
[...] Amerige of ExtendMac aka Flow has a very humble and interesting post titled "A Glimpse Inside One Year Later" over at his blog. __________________ 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 20" new slim black back iMac [...]
January 8th, 2008 at 6:00 am
I may be on of the persons who has trashed the prog (beta 1 or 2? can’t remember) after some minutes. I use mostly SFTP and was not prepared that SFTP wasn’t included in the first betas and thought: WTF. Since that first try I didn’t install another beta. I have downloaded beta 5 now and will give it another try.
The only thing I can advice you: Slow down! If you can take the pressure - fine. But if not you probably ‘break down’ and this would not help you or the Flow project. I am with Gimp: It’s important that people see there is some progress with the project. And please get it right! Bad example: Disco! Now the developers say it “… is arguably the most discussed utility of its class”! Yes, but for sure not because it works that great.
I wish you the best for your project. Don’t give up. Slow down. Get the power you need. Slash the beast
January 8th, 2008 at 6:40 am
I just started following Flow’s progress via a link on another blog. I was in a similar situation when I graduated high school (I’m 28 now, time really flies!). A friend and I were trying our best to finish up a game. It was our first “big project” and we were astonished at how long it actually took to develop! All told, we released November of that year after thinking we would could get it done before graduation, surely by the time summer was over, and then nearly flunking my first semester of college
I have 3 pieces of advice:
1. This is a REALLY important time in your life for a lot of reasons. You’re going to define who you are professionally, emotionally, socially, etc. You’re going to discover a lot of things about yourself that will surprise you. Don’t have you head burried too deeply in XCode while those things happen or you might regret the result in a few years!
2. Decide what you want to excel at: business or software development. Either can bring you great happiness and fortunes, but they are very different paths. It’s not about choosing a major because I’ve seen a lot of CS students run good businesses and a few business people develop software. My suggestion is to either Open Source the software and lead the project or keep at it and start putting thought into how to take some market share from Panic. Open sourcing it will thrust you into a whole new level of software development because you’ll learn from a wide variety of people (not necessarily those that commit code, but from the whole community) and learn how to plan software development (the most rare and valuable skill in this field). It will also get you ready to be hired in a snap when you graduate! If, on the other hand, you love software but you love the idea of running a good business even slightly more (I’m about 55% business, 45% software) then don’t feel like it’s a race. If you spend another year on it before release, then spend a year getting the name out there, the third year making version 2.0 and making huge market share boosts, then you’ll be getting yourself set up to have an awesome business ready to go for graduation. Don’t even think about outpacing school and quitting early because you can’t close your dorm room door due to all the Benjamins rolling in… That will either happen naturally or it won’t. You can’t plan it out - at least not the first time
3. Balance your life. I know this sounds touchy feely and it’s almost impossible to understand how this affects software development when you’re a young man. I couldn’t get my head around it and I suffered for it. The wrong way to do this is to take a week off to get “recharged” and then go 24/7 for a few months. If you can manage to fit software development into an overall rewarding day, then you’ll develop WAY faster than you ever have. Every day can have time for studies, romance, leisure, development, and sleep. The key is to plan it out, focus on non-software when you aren’t at a keyboard (clear your mind) and get rest for your mind. 1 hour of highly focused, unstressed, well-rested and un-interrupted development time is more productive (especially in the long run) than 4 hours when your mind is in that “I can’t go to bed, I’m too far behind” mode. Remember, software development isn’t about what you get done today, it’s what you get done this week and this month… Sometimes you have a really unproductive hour or two working on your project one day but that leads to a crazy inhuman productive hour the next day.
Number 3 is the most important and it’s the most often ignored by developers because it’s really hard. I get the impression you’re not afraid of “really hard” though. If you want to be great at this then tackle this challenge along with the others. Otherwise, the world can always use another really knowledgeable programmer!
January 8th, 2008 at 6:46 am
I think you’ve outlined in a post not only a regrettable thing (that you’ll have less time to work on this great project) but also the achievement that Flow is; it’s such a competitive app in FTP, that impresses anyone I sow it to. It’s an exemplary piece of interface design and application development in one. As said here in the comments, as a loyal tester, I don’t give how long you take to develop this, because I know whatever will come out in the end will be worth any wait. Very nice post to read through, and I wish you lots of luck in Uni!
January 8th, 2008 at 6:49 am
I’m impressed - not just by the Flow demo (I don’t have the beta) and what it promises, but also by your letter: it’s rare to see such thoughtfulness in someone expressing themselves and considering the issues involved. The fact that you haven’t even graduated HS and still have this overview of things is testament to the human genius. Even if Flow weren’t so technically promising, I’d say YOU, as a developer were one of the most promising ones I’ve encountered to date: the kind I dream of working with.
Cheers
January 8th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I’m totally surprised and impressed that you’re doing this as all alone – and that you’re still in high school. I’ve dabbled a very tiny bit with programming and such, but never felt I had enough time to really learn and develop the knowledge it’d take to get some of my ideas into real software. However, after reading your post it’s given me a little inspiration that it CAN be done. While I’m not a beta tester, I’ve been watching from the sides a little for the last few months and I’ve REALLY been excited for Flow. It looks to be a very nice product that can compete with the best FTP clients out there - and probably be better than them. It’s refreshing to see that even a high school student can make a piece of software to give a major player a run for their money. And it reminds me how awesome the Mac community is!
Thanks for your hard work, and I know you’ll continue to put out great software. And as has been mentioned before, the communication is KEY. You’ve done a good job of keeping the community (those inside and outside of beta testing) informed so that we know things are actually being worked on (as has also been mentioned, you’ve done EXACTLY what My Dream App hasn’t, communicated).
January 8th, 2008 at 7:49 am
I just wanted to let you know I appreciate you explaining all of this and being so open. I follow quite a few announced sites/apps/projects and it’s very frustrating when you never here from them again. I’m still looking forward to the release, Flow looks very promising and from what I can tell from what’s out there it looks like it wil suit me more than any other FTP app available right now.
Take your time, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Nice read. Not that you had to but many people do appreciate it.
I love flow and it works beautifully. Sometimes I am wondering what the hell you are still doing with a program that works so rocksolid already. I guess I’m so used to betas being released as finals that I expect nothing else anymore.
Thanks for being so critical about your own work. It will pay off I’m sure.
January 8th, 2008 at 9:18 am
[...] A Glimpse Inside: One Year Later [...]
January 8th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Hell, I can’t even remember what Flow is at this point. I don’t even remember signing up for email announcements. With that said…
I’ve never read a more proactive and honest letter from any company. To top it off, you’re young. Probably twice as young as me so it’s encouraging to see that you’re fundamentally sound. It’s doesn’t matter what you’ll knowingly or unknowingly achieve in life, true successes will come to you as a result of high core values; one of them being honesty (always and and at the earliest opportunity). I’m reminded of a quote I just read a few weeks back…
“A good conscience is a continual Christmas.” –Benjamin Franklin
…it’s so true.
So keep up the good work. Persist despite. And now I’m off to check out what Flow is all about. Congrats, you’ve got a future customer.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Brian,
I commend you on the great effort you have put forth in developing Flow. I also commend you on not letting it supersede you education. Bravo!
And yes, I was surprised to hear your a HS student yet… wow.
Thank You for you generous efforts.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Thanks for the note and good luck on development! It’s hard to keep up with school, projects, etc. all at once.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Wow! What an amazing response from all of you. I’m literally blown away. This support really means the world for me.
Also, a few of you mentioned some tactics of time management, and I definitely agree. Thomas Edison once said “the best thinking is done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.” Tonight, if nothing else, has demonstrated exactly that. I had about an hour to work on Flow today, and with total silence, no distractions, I got a surprisingly large amount of work done.
I think the reality here is that multi-tasking itself is really a sham. You can either do one thing at a time and do it well, or you can do two things in a half-assed fashion. I prefer the former!
January 8th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Brian,
You should be so proud of what you’ve already accomplished, and proud of your knowledge and skills being so young, and proud of the simple fact that you have aspirations. Personally, I’m impressed, and not at all worried about the fact that the software isn’t done. Quality is worth waiting for. Keep up the excellent work, sir.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:54 am
i am so anxious to flow, i can*t wait, BUT if you need more time, take it! it is more important for you that you finish your shool.
keep up your excellent work, but think about your future!
January 10th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Nice post. What a learning experience I’m sure this is for you, and what a testament to the OS X frameworks that a single bright individual can craft such a project on his own.
If you’d be interested in having a hand with the web stuff (design or coding), let me know. I’d be willing to donate some work and perhaps hosting to help a budding young entrepreneur get off the ground. Sounds like you have all teh mad skillz you need, but time is always an issue, isn’t it?
Good luck, and I look forward to trying out Flow when it’s ready!
*muttering* wish I were in the cool beta group *mutter*
{love},
{ryan}
January 10th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
brrriaaan!
Flow is simply amazing. School obviously is going to get in the way, but it’s also (semi) important. Just think, a couple more months you’ll be free and you can do whatever it is you desire. Don’t hurt yourself for showing people flow, the earlier that you showed it the more publicity it has, and obviously that’s going to mean pressure. For a kid who can master an application like this out of his own basement has to have some crazy skills, and trust me–if i weren’t the person to know that I don’t know who would ;). Keep doing what it is you do best, and don’t forget we’re always here for you!
-aley
January 16th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Flow looks gorgeous and I will buy it the instant it comes out. Amazing work.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
[...] « A Glimpse Inside: One Year Later [...]
January 26th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Great work on Flow, and I definitely relate man– I’m a senior in high school as well, and TuneConnect’s taking way more of my time than I have to give. I was expecting to be able to release around November, but I said February to be extra-safe: glad I did, I’m just now at beta quality.
Time is a bitch, and developing software in a one-man operation is tough, but you’re definitely right about one thing: interfacing directly with users, and being able to take public opinion and change the direction of your code without having to go through anyone else for “permission” first is an amazing feeling, and what makes it all worthwhile.
It’s good to be dev’ing on OS X too– the community is great, especially the graphic design community (like Adam, cool guy).
Anyway, keep up the good work on Flow.
I’ve switched to the beta from my old FTP client, and I intend to buy a copy when it’s released.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:13 am
[...] didn’t intend to (or want to) keep Flow in beta for so long, but due to time constraints (see http://blog.extendmac.com/a-glimpse-inside-one-year-later/ for what I mean by “time constraints”), I really had no choice. It’s my policy to [...]