Webthoughts

A week ago today, the final release of iHam on iRye 2.0 was released. Overall, initial reviews have been fairly positive.

There have been a large number of downloads of this software, indicating some pent-up demand. This is especially impressive to me considering that, for some reason, the majority of news sites that received the official press release didn't post anything (the fact that the press release went out late Friday afternoon probably had something to do with this).

I'll point out that, despite the positive reviews, there have also been a fair number of suggestions for improvements, which I think is great! It's important that, if you have something you really want to see added or changed in iHam (or any other of my software titles), you let me know about it. I love hearing from the users. SearchWare Solutions prides itself on producing software that in many respects is shaped by user-requests. Let your voice be heard as well!

I received yet another e-mail this morning about a Windows version of iHam on iRye. Just quick-like: a Windows version of the iHam client is coming. I'll go more into depth later...

iHam on iRye has been out for over a week now. As I've mentioned before, it appears to have done fairly well for itself. I'd like to comment on a few things that have been brought up in some of the feedback that I've received so far.

I should point out first, however, that don't take anything I say here as a concrete promise of anything. Any future features or other changes to the software that I might mention below should be taken with a grain of salt. Also, I really have to ask that you don't e-mail me asking when a particular feature will be included. My answer to that would be: when it's included.

1. Windows Client
Aside from one other comment (which I'll talk about just a bit later), the most common question I've been asked is "When will the Windows version be available?" To answer this, I must first let people know what will not happen. There will never be a Windows version of the iHam on iRye iServer or iAdmin applications. The main reason for this is that there is no Windows version of iTunes (nor will there likely ever be). It would be totally pointless to have a Windows version of the iServer and iAdmin when there is nothing for them to control on the Windows side of things.

That being said, there will be a Windows version of the 2.0 iClient. Many of you may remember the early-Alpha release of a Windows client that was posted late last year. It was not finished software by any stretch of the imagination and contained many bugs. But, overall, it worked. However, the changes to the 2.0 iServer broke the Windows iClient (and the Mac 1.x iClient too, for that matter), so the software has been pulled from the website.

However, I can tell you that a Version 2.0 iClient for Windows is currently under development. I contains all the functionality of the Mac iClient and has worked really reliably in my tests. There are a few more things that need to be done before it's released to my testing team (this one will not have a public testing period), but it's in a usable state right now. It will be available as a seperate download from the rest of the iHam package when it is released. So, it's coming, I just can't say yet how soon.

2. Speed
Speed issues have also been a popular subject. Yes, the iHam on iRye 2.0 is slower than iHam 1.1.1. I'm sorry. Remember that iHam 2.0 is dealing with a lot more information than 1.1.1 had to. The number one request in the 1.1.1 days was to add the ability to view more information about tracks (rather than just being able to see the title). To do that, more information has to be worked with. This slows things down.

For those of you who didn't try the Public Preview releases, take heart in the fact that the final release is much faster in many respects than the early Public Preview releases were (much thanks goes to a couple of very dedicated testers who went out of their way to spend time helping me to track a couple of those speed issues down). In some respects, iHam 2.0 is much faster than 1.1.1 was (especially when it comes to changing tracks).

I plan on continuing to work to improve speed in future releases. It's an important issue to me as well (since I am also an iHam user). I will probably be able to talk more about this in the near future.

3. DonationWare?
The most common comment I've received for the iHam 2.0 release however is the switch from pure freeware to donationware. It's important that users understand what DontationWare means (at least in the way I offer it).

If you want to use iHam on iRye free of charge, you are more than welcome to do so. You are under no obligation, whatsoever, to pay SearchWare Solutions for iHam on iRye. However, keep in mind that it takes a lot of my time and resources to put out software like this. In these times, I'm feeling the crunch pretty badly. I am simply asking that if you use iHam on iRye on a regular basis, consider making a $5 or $10 donation to help cover some of my costs.

Many of you have made donations, and for that I am very grateful. For those of you who haven't, please consider it (information can be found on the iHam product page). For those of you who don't want to donate anything, that's fine too. Enjoy iHam on iRye with my blessings.

Summation
Last of all, SearchWare Solutions is very committed to iHam on iRye. It is a wonderful tool that has drawn great reviews. We are very, very grateful to everyone who has written to us letting us know exactly what they think about the software. iHam has a bright future and I really thing people are going to like what they see in that future.

Well...so much for that!

Along with its new online music store and the new iPod, Apple today also released an update to a little program it calls iTunes. Perhaps you've heard of it?

As most of you probably know, iHam on iRye is remote control software for iTunes, allowing the user to control iTunes from a remote computer. And, up until this morning, it was pretty much the cat of the walk.

Along with many other new features in iTunes 4 comes the new ability to play tracks from an iTunes library on a remote computer. Not only is this a streaming solution, it also allows the user full control from within the iTunes interface. A streaming solution was pretty much the number one request from iHam users. Now, Apple has provided it built?built into iTunes.

If I believed that this wouldn't affect usage numbers for iHam on iRye, I'd probably also believe that you have a bridge in Arizona you'd like to sell me.

Despite the (slightly) tongue-in-cheek title of this entry, I'm actually really impressed with this ability. The way Apple has implemented this is pretty much the way that users would want to use it for. Heck, even I've wanted a simple to use streaming solution for my iTunes library for a long time. Good show Apple!

So, you might ask, what's in the future cards for iHam on iRye? Well, first, I must qualify iHam on iRye for use with iTunes 4. It definitely wouldn't do to have the current (and very recent) release of iHam not be compatible with the newest version of iTunes. I will be doing some pretty strenuous testing over the next week and should post the results soon.

Longer term, things are a little murkier. Of course, the new iTunes release only supports Mac OS X 10.1.5 or newer?iHam on iRye will work with Mac OS 9.x and iTunes 2. Beyond that, it's a little to early to say. I can say that iHam will not be going away. There have been a number of new features planned for future releases of iHam that are still not possible to do in the current release of iTunes. It may be that I'll have to focus the iHam product more and more on those features than the remote control aspect of things. I'll definitely post more information as things become clearer.

In the meantime, again I must give kudos to Apple! This is a great release of iTunes and that whole new Music Store thing (which I've already tried out for one or two tracks) looks to be an excellent implmentation of an idea whose time is just around the corner. I plan on looking at the Store more closely in the days and weeks ahead and will hopefully share my thoughts with you in the future.

As for iHam, do you see the software as still being relevant? Do you have an idea of how to evolve iHam into the future with this new release of iTunes? Let me know!

Instead, life threw me not one, not two, but three knuckle-balls that really made me step back and look at things a little differently.

My family has had this misfortune this year of dealing with three deaths, one of which was completely unexpected. In April, an uncle of mine (on my mother's side) passed away unexpectedly of heart failure. He was only 53. This occurred shortly after I went incommunicado on this weblog. In May, my grandfather (on my father's side) passed away after a thankfully brief battle with pancreatic cancer. Then, in August, my other grandfather (on my mother's size) passed away.

I was pretty close with both my grandfathers (but, of course, as is often the case, not as close as I wanted to be). So, even though we pretty much knew that the deaths were coming, they still hit me pretty hard.

To add to the fire, I was thrown into some really unexpected situations with my job that were very, very stressful. Because of some of these changes, I ended up working 50-60 hour weeks for several months in a row. Although the paychecks were very nice (I'm not salaried), the continuous long hours were something that I ended up wishing I didn't have to deal with.

As all this has happened, it has really caused me to re-examine priorities in my life. I tried to mentally step back from everything I was doing and figure out exactly what I should be doing with my time.

Family is very important in my life. I realized that I hadn't spent enough time with either of my grandfathers despite the fact that it would not have been all that hard for me to do so. Yes, I realize that this is a common regret that people feel when a loved-one passes away. But, for example, despite the fact that one of my grandfathers lived maybe five minutes away during his last year of life, I saw him maybe 10 times during that period. Something else always came up. I was working late, was exhausted after work, needed to work on my software, etc.

Family was not prioritized where it really should have been. Even spending time with my wife was something that was getting pushed down the list at times.

So, I've decided to make some adjustments. Family, of course, is prioritized much higher now. This doesn't mean that I'm always going to drop everything for family all the time. But, my intent is to remember that family should remain much higher that it was.

I've also decided that I'm spending way to much time at one of my various computers. Working on my software, reading my e-mail, browsing the web, etc. was tying up way to much of my time. I sacrificed much time that I could have spent outdoors working on my lawn (something I love to do), riding my bike, taking walks with my wife, etc.

I've realized that the computer isn't all that I'm about. I have other interests as well that I need to spend time on. But, I will also admit that I over-compensated during these last several months and worked to spend as little time at the computers as possible. Because of this, new versions of iHam on iRye and Print Window are long overdue.

So, although I won't be spending the huge amount of my free-time working at my computers as I was, in favor of other priorities, I will be setting aside a good amount of time every week to work on my software and other SearchWare Solutions-related items. You should be seeing new versions of iHam on iRye and Print Window soon.

Really, I'm trying to re-budget my time in a way that will allow me to focus on each of my interests and loves, but giving none of them short-shrift. Hopefully, I'll be successful at this. I've ignored to much and too many people for too long. By doing this, I hope to be able to greatly reduce the stress in my life. It should be interesting to see what comes out of this.

I'll have something nifty to show you all very soon (probably tomorrow evening) in regards to a certain iTunes-related utility that you might be familiar with.

Believe it or not, the next upgrade to iHam on iRye is still in the works. In fact, it's almost ready to go to a public beta release. Here is the one thing keeping the public beta from release: Mac OS 9 support.

Apple has released iTunes 5.

Looking around the web, I've seen that there are varied opinions about the new release. Some people like it, other's don't. I think what has caused the most controversy about this release is that iTunes 5 introduces yet another new window type.

The new iTunes main window looks like a cross between the old brushed metal window and the new unified window introduced with Mac OS X Tiger (such as that used in Mail). The brushed look of the window is gone, but overall color is still there. It uses the same type of gradient look that the unified window uses.

Overall, I like the new look. I like the fact that the window borders are now gone on the left and the right. The overall look is a lot cleaner. iTunes doesn't look as busy as it did now.

But, there are two things about this that do bug me. The first of these is the corners of the windows. The corners have lost a lot of the Aqua-roundness. Although still round, the diameter of the base circle is much smaller. These corners look out of place, especially when layered with other types of windows. I'm wondering if Apple did this to make the interface fit in a little better on the Windows side of things. But, if so, why not leave the old corners on Mac OS X, especially since, as I've read elsewhere, this is a custom window (it's look and feel is completely drawn by iTunes itself, not the system).

The other thing that bugs me is that this is yet another new window type. I really don't understand why Apple can't stick with a few standard window types. As I mentioned earlier, this new window doesn't fit in well with the rest of the Aqua interface. Don't get me wrong, I like the look of this new window (except for the corners). I like the unified look window introduced in Tiger. But, why is Apple adding these window types instead of replacing older ones with them. There are so many window types running around now that any hope of a unified look to the OS is quickly disappearing. Apple needs to figure out some unity in the interface for Leopard (the next major Mac OS X release). Stop letting the graphic designers have free reign and make them work with some interface experts. Please!

Now, I'm off to do some testing with iHam on iRye.