Stress. We all know what it means right? If your client expects you to do incredible work overnight, because after all, the software does it for you, it makes your work so much better doesn't it?......
I'd just like to give my opinion on this communication issue and also on the development.
On development, it is hopefully clear that as you add features to a software, the release cycle of that software will not be the same as it was in that softwares alpha days. With more features added, you have to make sure those new features work correctly together and there are also a greater number of bugs that need to be fixed. With every new feature added, since you are adding it to a more complex construction, you have to be more careful how you add it, and test it thoroughly. It takes more time. Some new features although seemingly simple have a profound impact on how the rest works.
You also have two groups of people, one inclined to see more features as soon as possible, the other wants the developer to first concentrate on fixing existing ones. In reality you can't concentrate exclusively on one group. So in each update you will see a mix of the two.
On communication. Ofcourse the wishlist and bugs are being looked at, many wishes make perfect sense and they would be a great addition to Maxwell. These things don't go unnoticed, neither do the bugs and I hope that's pretty clear from the recent improvements in many of the plugins, and the continued support.
I mean how much reassurance is necessary? I think now we are seeing frustration because nothing is mentioned on Maxwell itself. But do you really think that forum wishes are being ignored? I don't think you do, but you need to know exactly what is being worked on? This won't happen, for obvious reasons. When a new version of Maxwell is ready to be announced, it will. But there won't be a trickle of information each week about what feature x is in the plans, bug x is fixed, feature x is improved...
If this is the source of your frustration then you must be very frustrated with all software developers, sooner or later.
Perhaps even more examples need to be given to completely reassure you that your concerns don't go unnoticed. But what is a better reassurance for you? A semi-automated "Thanks for the feedback" message from a developer, or seeing the results in the plugins for example?
Personally I want to see results, that is what reassures me, I prefer a developer who doesn't spend half their day talking to people on forums, basically repeating the same thing "Thanks, we'll look into it", "Thanks, we'll take it under consideration". I don't want politics, I want results. So I let the developers work in peace. They are working as fast as they can, me breathing down their necks isn't going to improve anything.
There are many posts here each day, don't get too upset if your particular bug post doesn't get "official" recognition, sometimes they have time to be more responsive, sometimes they have 10 minutes just to read the posts and not just on your plugin, or your problem, but everything.
And please, try to be more courteous to people who are just trying to convey to you the information given to them, and they have no authority to give anymore than that. It seems some people want a more open, casual atmosphere but are acting in a way which inspires the exact opposite.
- By Andreas Hopf