I think it fits in rather well with my post back in May about the REAL Software beta process.  Mattias’ standpoint as a user of a lot of other IDE’s is well taken.  I really like the idea of polling the beta users about the release.  I wish it was possible to ask about every change but I know that’s not feasible but the number of bugs that were marked as fixed but were obviously not in the past couple of releases is insane.  There has to be a better way!

I would agree with Mattias regarding the beta mailing list.  I find it to be waste of time and energy.  I prefer forum style discussions.

Here is my prediction though, if RS tried to switch to the forums:  Instead of using the forum, the RB “old-timers” will insist upon the mailing list because they feel it’s better.  How do I know this?  When RS tried to kill the NUG mailing list a few years ago the “old-timers” threatened to create their own mailing list and many threatened to stop using RB altogether!  In the long run RS backed down and I lost a lot of respect for RS and the RB community as a whole.  They were being held hostage by a very select and vocal group of users.

For the beta program to get better, RS has to do what’s best for RS – not necessarily for us users.  If the beta program isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing then it’s time to kill it and start over with testers that can do it right.

What I didn’t say in the review (and will probably be in another post) is that the beta process does not appear to be working very well.  A number of minor (to everyone but the feedback reporter I’m sure) issues were marked as fixed and were clearly not.  I can’t complain too much because I didn’t get a chance to do ANY testing for R2 (because I’m crazy busy with RB work).  Ironic, no?

Summary:  Smallish interim release with not a whole lot of new features.  Bunch of bug fixes.  A couple of new bugs introduced that may or may not affect you.

There was nothing earth-shattering in the results.   With a self-selecting group (via the survey name) they found that roughly half of all the respondents participated in the beta program in some form or fashion.    Of those that didn’t participate, most ARBP members didn’t even know it existed.  I’m shocked that people didn’t know about it.  I guess that just shows how long I’ve been part of the RB collective. 

Unsurprisingly, the Non-ARBP folks that were not part of the group, when asked why they weren’t part of the beta program, responded most often with some form of “I’m a newbie.”  It would be nice to get more of these folks into the beta program but given their timidity with RB to begin with I’m not sure they’re confident enough to know what a bug is and what it isn’t.

Just for the record, the way to sign up for the beta program is simple.  Log into your account on the REALbasic website and select “Beta Program” from the menu options.  You have to have a current, valid license for any version of REALbasic.  That’s it!  You then start receiving the beta list emails and get access to any current alpha, beta, or final candidate downloads.

A lot of the survey respondents said they participated in the beta program to test their product before it was released as well as making REALbasic better.  This makes sense as most of the participants are using REALbasic professionally and don’t want to be surprised with a new version and know (mostly) what the current bugs are.

The survey asked a question about having some form of compensation for beta testers.  Among the ARBP members it was 50% yes and 49% no.  Non-ARBP members said no 66% of the time.

I’m the one that suggested this question because I’ve probably logged around 50 RB bugs in the past couple of months.  Some of this because of my high level of interest in the new reporting system and some of it from producing many hours of REALbasic training videos.  I sometimes feel like I’m being asked to do my own job and then RS’ and the only reward I get is a better product (not that that’s a bad thing).  From the mixed results, the professionals have similar issues.

Finally we asked the question, “Do you feel the beta program is improving REALbasic?”  Both groups were overwhelmingly Yes with 70% of ARBP members with 90% of the non-ARBP members.  I think the interesting part lies in the 30% that didn’t say yes in the ARBP group.  What are they unhappy about?

From my own experience in the beta program, too many things are being changed when the product goes to Final Candidate status.  Final Candidate should mean that they think there are no more changes to be made and therefore this build is going to be THE release unless a show-stopper bug is found.  Unfortunately, we saw the results of last minute changes with RB 2009 R5 when a change late in the cycle caused reporting and the database to be broken.  The result was RB 2009 5.1.

So what are your thoughts about the beta program?  Do you like it?  Is it flawed, or is it just the nature of a product that’s always changing?

I’ve been using 5.1 exclusively the past week or so and it seems to be stable so now I can move up from R3.  Thankfully, the huge SQLite bugs introduced in R5 have been fixed in R5.1.  Reporting still has issues though.

Whenever I start talking to REALbasic developers, I get asked, a lot, about finding REALbasic consulting work.  It’s not hard finding work, but it is not always easy finding good projects.

The difference?  One issue that comes up is that because it’s real and it’s basic means REALbasic it must be easy-to-use (read that as cheap), right?  Wrong!  Making a good quality REALbasic application requires some perseverance and some experience.  I can guarantee that the RB apps I make these days are way better than my early RB apps.  Experience counts in software development just like in any other profession.

Good projects aren’t always available.  Maybe you have to do an ugly project for next to nothing to hold you over until a bigger, better project comes along.  With consulting it really is a ‘what is the next project?’ world.

So where do you find work?  The first thing you have to do is set up shop.  Does your website say anything about REALbasic consulting and/or development?  It should because that’s the first way people are going to find you.  You should also have a previous projects page that talks about the work you’ve done.  Sometimes you can’t talk about a project in a lot of detail due to non-disclosure agreements, but you can talk generically about the type of work you’ve done.

In a recent ARBP survey word of mouth and their website were the two highest percentages, by far, of any of the topics.

Do you self promote yourself in the RB Forums and the NUG list?  If not, you might be missing out on some work.  By answering some questions on the forums and NUG (for free) you can get some free exposure and people get to know your name.  Do you think it’s a coincidence that regular columnists/writers for RB Developer magazine are mostly consultants?

Are you listed in the ARBP consultants list?  You should be.  It costs nothing other than signing up for their limited membership (i.e. free).

Finally, the REAL Software Consulting Referrals Program is a great way of getting leads.  People who think they want a REALbasic developer to contact them fill out a web form and you get an email.  It’s then up to you follow up on the lead.  It is somewhat pricey at $1000/year but one good project and will pay for itself.

In fact, I would call the program a bargain.  In 2008 REAL Software changed the program and nearly doubled the price to be part of the program.  I criticized them at the time and still think it was a bit heavy-handed but the quality of the leads has gone up and so has the frequency of leads.  I contact most of the leads twice.  First when I first get the lead and in a couple of weeks afterward.  Most of the time they tell me they only have one or two replies to their original post so this says to me that there are not a whole lot of people in the program.

Look folks, if they’re filling out a form asking for REALbasic work they’ve already sold themselves on using REALbasic.  You don’t have to sell the merits of RB – they’ve self-selected themselves!  It’s like shooting fish in a barrel from a sales perspective.

Do you talk about what you do?  You should because you never know who you’re talking to.  I went to an NFL training camp this summer and while having a drink at a bar where the players sometimes hang out I had a great conversation with someone that happened to work in software industry.  While it hasn’t resulted in any work – yet – it might in the future and isn’t that what marketing is all about?

So that’s it.  There’s no secret to finding REALbasic work.  Have a great Thanksgiving and happy coding!

ARBP members should log in to the members site and choose the survey under the REALbasic menu.

Non-ARBP members can use this link.

One of the more interesting questions, I think, is the “what are the biggest challenges in being a REALbasic consultant?”  Not surprisingly, Finding Work is a high issue and mirrors the 2008 survey results (which we did not publish in its entirety).   Bugs and Perceptions about REALbasic were also not significantly unchanged from the 2008 survey either which is somewhat of a concern.

For me, I was happy with the quality of REALbasic 2009 series until Release 4.  For many of our projects, though, we’re still using Release 3 simply because the new Reporting tool has too many bugs and the Build Automation was essentially useless for us.  Are you using R4 for production releases?

My question to you, dear readers, is if you feel that RB’s quality is better, worse, or the same this year than last?  Do you feel that the ratio of bug fixes to new features is right or should new features have a higher or lower ratio to bug fixes?  As an established user of REALbasic, do you feel that you are a valued more or less than a new users?

Finally, do you think the new Feedback application is going to help us shape RS’ priorities for 2010?

I don’t disagree with his assessment though I do have a few more types to add to his list:

Type 3:  The I’m-Too-Busy-To-Think-About-Helping developer.  Personally I think this is a cop out.  We’re all busy.  Volunteer organizations, which ARBP is, is totally dependent upon volunteers.  We all have some quick and dirty proof-of-concept code that we could share.

Type 4:  The I-Don’t-Care-Because-It’s-Not-My-Responsibility developer.  That’s called apathy.  For the REALbasic community to succeed more of us need to care and actually do something.

Honestly, this list isn’t much different than any other volunteer organization I’ve belonged to.  This includes my college fraternity, several churches and even Habitat for Humanity projects:  Most work is done by a very few, highly motivated, people.

Here are the facts.  ARBP has been a part-time job for me.  In 2009 I’ve tracked all of my time (using Task Timer, of course) and I’ve spent 15% of all my working hours working on ARBP.  That’s nearly a day a week that I take a away from paying work.  And that doesn’t count the emails that I’ve answered in off hours.  Since we don’t get paid that’s tough to justify in the long run.

Any criticism you have of ARBP is okay.  You probably have some justification.  We’re all volunteers.  We need more help.  We need more examples in the source code repository.  We need more writers.  We need more training video’s.  We need a Joomla! expert.  We need someone to help coordinate next years ARBP Summit.  In other words, if you volunteer I guarantee that we can find something for you to do.

The RB community needs you!  Help out where you can.  Not only will you feel good about sharing your knowledge and experience but you’ll be helping the community out as well.

We are sorry to inform you that the REAL World Regional Events have been cancelled.  Though we had a lot of initial interest, we found that a number of people who intended to come are not able to due to schedule conflicts and other reasons.  While we are selling more licenses this year than last and the REALbasic community is growing, we have concluded that the reality is people are still watching their expenses more closely due to the economy.

Wow.  I’m not even sure what to say about this.  I was supposed to speak at the REAL World Chicago event.  I’m so glad I was procrastinating in figuring out travel plans.

From an ARBP standpoint I’m very ticked off because people canceled their reservations to the RB Colorado Summit because they were going to the regional events.  This took the wind out of the ARBP conference and cost us attendees.  I know this because more than a few attendees pulled out just after RS’ announcement.

What are your thoughts on this?  Why do you think they canceled the events?  Was it because of the lineup?  Was it not technical enough?  Was it the cost?  The economy?  What does this say about their commitment to the RB community?